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Our last day in Patterdale, and we decided we had to climb Place Fell, as we'd been looking at it from various angles all week...
Wainwright suggests climbing Place Fell early in the visit if you are staying in the Patterdale area, so as to get an idea for the lie of the land, but climbing it at the end of the trip - and therefore being able to see all the fells we have climbed in the preceding week - worked out pretty well too.
Rather than going up and down Boredale Hause, we decided to take the 'old path' that leads up from the Ullswater shore path. It's a gentle enough start until the path forks off up the mountain, then a bit of a pull up to the ridge. Once on the ridge, it's a very nice walk half a mile or so to the summit.
It had been a pretty cold night, and many of the boggy areas had an icy crust on top of them. A few isolated snowflakes too, but nothing settling.
Approaching the summit of Place Fell.Once at the top, the wind was picking up a little, and it was bitterly cold. Looking over to High Street, and seeing it clear, we wondered if we should have saved that walk for this day, but while we would have got the views, it would have been VERY cold, so perhaps we got it right.
View from summit.Spaces out of the wind for lunch were at a premium on the summit, but we found a space to eat. We didn't linger too long though - eager to get off the top to a warmer altitude.
View from summit.
Place Fell summit.
View from summit.
View from summit.
View from summit.The walk down to Boredale Hause was fairly steep but it's a good path and an easy enough walk. The upper path from the hause down to Side farm felt easier than the lower one had on the way doen from High Street, though it may have been just we were much fresher after such a relatively short walk. The teenagers strode off ahead on the descent, and arrived home 15 mins or so ahead of us old fogeys.
