I suppose that the Old Man must be my most-climbed mountain. The reason being that during summer holidays in the '70s and '80s we visited my mother-in-law's friend Peggy, who lives in Tent Lodge on the shores of Coniston. While the children played in the lake, I would drive to Torver and climb the Old Man.
The best place to park is on the wide grass verge just before the bridge over Torver Beck. Walk up the lane on the right, which after passing above a camp sight, climbs onto the open fell-side. The path winds past flooded quarries and piles of debris before meeting the Walna Scar path from Coniston. Don't follow it, but keep to the path which climbs to the right above the stream. The ground now becomes rougher, and when it rounds the shoulder Goat's Water lies before you, backed by the imposing bulk of Dow Crag.
The path alongside Goat's Water is very rough and stony, and progress is slow for a while. Eventually it climbs steeply away from the tarn, heading for the depression of Goat's Hause on the skyline.
When the hause is reached there are views of the Scafell range and back to Dow Crag. Bear right across boggy ground and begin the ascent to the summit of the Old Man, keeping to the edge of the drop for views of Small Water and Levers Water.
The summit cairn is an imposing structure, but by now you should know my views of the inhabitants of such places. On my first ascent I paused only to remonstrate with a group of boy scouts who were throwing stones over the edge. I've no idea where their irresponsible leader was!
There are several options for the descent. You can retrace your steps, but that is boring. You can descend the steep, shaly path to Coniston, but then you have a long walk back to the car. My preferred option is to stand with my back to the summit cairn, and walk straight ahead down the south ridge. Unless you are very sure of the route, don't attempt this in mist; there are disused quarries lurking all over the Old Man. Just to prove this, we got lost in the mist once, although I had taken this way down several times. We must have gone just a bit too far right, because we came across Cove Quarries, and had to descend steeply to the Walna Scar path via the spring at Nettle Crag. On a clear day, however, this descent presents no problems, and before long you can see down into the valley. There are no paths, but it's easy to pick one's way between rocky outcrops.
A longer, but more interesting, variation to the ascent is to follow the Walna Scar path across the bridge. Almost at the top of the pass take the path to the right and climb Dow Crag via Brown Pike, finally descending to Goat's Hause. There should be some fine views down the gullies of Dow Crag, but we did it in thick mist. I must try it again sometime. It was on this particular day that Bill modified his over-trousers. He had been slipping on the grassy sections because they were too long, and kept getting caught under his heels. When I mentioned this, he took out his swiss army knife and hacked six inches from the bottom of his trousers.