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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