Place Fell

Place Fell

Far Eastern Lake District

Route: Place Fell

Area: Far Eastern Lake District

Date of walk: 2nd March 2017

Walkers: Andrew and Gilly

Distance: 4.9 miles

Asxnet: 1,900 feet

Weather: sun, hail, sleet and rain

We’ve been up Place Fell before and, like most other folk, have always followed the well known route from Boredale Hause and along Steel Edge. Today we decided to try a different way up the fell

We parked in the Patterdale Hotel pay and display car park and turned right at the George Starkey Hut to follow the track to Side Farm. The wonderful path along the shore of Ullswater – one of the best in the Lake District – runs through the farm, and it was with reluctance that we left it after a short distance to start the climb up to Place Fell

The path leads through an area shown on the OS map as Hare Shaw and it’s clearly not used very often, though the route was never in doubt. Thanks to some sun and blue skies, and snow on the higher fell tops, we were able to enjoy spectacular views back over Ullswater

Beyond Hare Shaw we gained the summit ridge and started the ascent to the top of the fell. The path was covered in snow and we may have strayed from it from time to time, but there were no difficulties and before long we reached the summit cairn. This was no place to linger as a gale force wind had blown up from nowhere, making progress very difficult

We immediately set off on the descent to Boredale Hause, an easy way down – though made harder today by the ferocious wind and showers of hail, sleet and rain which plagued us most of the way down. This didn’t dampen our spirits in any way, since the views we’d enjoyed earlier were of the highest order

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