Lake District April 2010 (Walk 2)

12/4/10 Lake District Walk 2
Place Fell
(8 Miles)
Pathfinder Eastern Lakeland Walk#20
Our Time: 6 Hours
(Wainwright)

Place Fell overlooks Patterdale and at 2,165Ft elevation is possibly the highest thing us relative novices have climbed. Beda Fell last year coming a very close 2nd.

The day started at 9am in a similar manner to the Grisedale walk, after finishing a hearty breakfast, only this time crossing the road through the village and over the beck to head out to Boredale Hause. The ascent to reach this was fairly steep (for us!) and a reminder of last years walk to Beda Fell.
Boredale Hause is a interchange of various pathways leading off to different fells. We rested for a while here having taken around an hour to reach this point with a good few short stops to gather our breath and admire the views across and down to our Patterdale start point.

After consulting the Eastern Lakes Pathfinder guidebook (Walk#20) and GPS we headed off towards Place Fell. The pathway was quite obvious and in good repair, and we took our time as the ascent steepened, resting frequently with the weather warming and little wind evident.
The trip log above shows clearly the ascent at the early part of the walk, the route back via Ullswater lake side and relative less ascent/descent after the main event of the Place Fell cairn summit.
The route screen shot from my SATMAP is shown right below, and the ascent path from Boredale Hause.








The view below shows Patterdale village, seen from a spot near to Place Fell summit. The view here, actually being better than the summit cairn itself, particularly down to Patterdale.



It was good to reach the summit and a well earned rest to enjoy
the view, a packed lunch, and the fine weather.
We saw very few other walkers, so unusually had peace and quiet whilst we ate our lunch.

The descent was via reasonable paths leading down to Ullswater lake shore. We passed by Scalehow Force waterfalls and then several miles (considerably busier) along the familiar (to us) lakeshore path.

We reached the Patterdale mid-afternoon around 3pm, and a well earned drink, reflecting over the fine views we had experienced, and possibly one of the finest walks we had completed. (Although Haystacks, in my mind at least, was just about there!!)

Score: 8.5/10