A nice Place to spend the night!

[Jaxter]

Previous day - small but perfectly formed

After saying goodbye to both sets of parents in Langdale, we headed up the road towards Patterdale – it was really busy but a kind man arriving back to the car park on his bike said to give him 5 minutes and we could have his space. He also gave us his parking ticket which would last the rest of the day – faith in humanity was restored

We decided we might as well use the bikes rather than leave them in the car park; just under a kilometre took us to the bottom of the Place Fell path. We locked the bikes up and headed up the path. It was roasting hot already


Looking down the glen to the Kirkstone Pass


The path climbed gradually – it was slow going in the heat but the views across Ullswater were tremendous


We reached the col where Malky cheerfully told me we’d done half the ascent. Given how knackered I was feeling I was rather hoping we’d done significantly more than half


We could see the path ahead snaking up the mountain


Now on the ridge we were exposed to the wind – it was breezier than we’d expected and it was cold! But the views back down were still impressive


The path became steeper and rockier until at last we climbed out onto the summit ridge – the trig point ahead


Now most of the ascent was over it was a relatively easy stroll over to the summit, where the views were truly fabulous


Looking down the ridge towards the tip of Ullswater


Looking back to High Street, Stoney Cove Pike & Red Screes


Summit of Place Fell


Ullswater and Helvellyn


It was relatively early and there were plenty of people around so we sat and enjoyed the views for a while. Around 6 we figured it was getting quieter so got the tent up


We managed to find a fairly sheltered spot for the tent, and also to get a cup of hot chocolate on. The sun was dropping – although it was beautiful at the moment it was going to get cold once it had set!


The Mell Fells and Gowbarrow


Lovely evening light on High Street


We already had all our layers on


Sun getting ready to drop down behind Helvellyn


Looking down towards Ullswater


Blencathra and Skiddaw peeking out










High Street


Stoney Cove Pike & Red Screes


The sun disappears


With the sun gone, there was a small amount of bouncy light on the hills. But now it was cold and we had run out on sun!


The light was gone so we went into the tent to warm up a bit. After a while I poked my head out to see if I could use the trig point as a tripod…not total success but better than expected in the wind!


We could see various lights on the hills – either walkers coming down late or people camping


Penrith


The big dipper


The Milky Way (a bit rubbish but wind and no tripod don’t exactly help )


I poked my head out the next morning and there was no sunrise happening. The cloud had rolled in in the east and it was sitting on the hills.




We went back to sleep for a while before people started arriving and we figured we had better get the tent down. The cloud had cleared off the main tops and it was getting warmer!


There was still an impressive blanket of cloud on the High Street ridge




We enjoyed some breakfast and packed things up before enjoying the views again


We decided to head down the wee path that dropped off the front of Place Fell as it would give us some views of Ullswater. Malky led the way


The path was largely in the shade initially, and a bit slippery. We took care and managed to stay on our feet as well as keeping them dry!






The views of Ullswater were worth it


The boats were busy on Ullswater


As we dropped lower, Sheffield Pike stood out more


The path became steeper and rockier before eventually dropping onto the main path which was a bit easier to walk on


Unfortunately the path wasn’t quite as flat as it looked on the map


We stopped to top up our water bottles in a beautifully cold burn. Then it was a short walk along the “flat” path


Back at the bikes it was a couple of minutes cycle around to the car, where we loaded everything up and stopped at the post office for a cup of tea and bacon sandwich. Yum

Next day - Doddering about

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[cparky3]

Beautiful photos! It does indeed look like a great Place to camp!