KYQ4: Place Fell, Lakes

Place Fell

Friday, 25 October, 2024

Ascent: 538 metres
Distance: 7 kilometres
Time: 1 hour 46 minutes

Place Fell 657m 58mins

After three days of visiting my childhood territories and spending time with my sister and brother, I headed home. I have always found it hard not to visit the Lake District on the journey between Lancashire and Scotland. I had suffered a back spasm the previous week and had not exercised for a week apart from a fast promenade along the Lytham waterfront yesterday. I scanned the map for a hill that would not be too taxing. Place Fell is an impressive hill overlooking Ullswater and the hamlet of Rooking. I had yet to climb it on the latest Wainwright round. It looked a perfect fit, although driving up the M6 in the grey clouds made me doubtful. I had not climbed Place Fell since the Karrimor (OMM) International Mountain Marathon in 1992, it was towards the end of a long day and I don't recall much about it.

Despite being in the game of buying a bike, I gave the enticing cycle shop in Stavely a miss and drove through Troutbeck and down the Kirkstone Pass to Patterdale where I found a large parking area managed by the hotel. It was noon as I began the walk on a mild autumn day, Place Fell was circled by a halo of blue skies although Helvellyn and the hills to the south were enveloped in clouds that seemed to be heading north towards me. I set myself a steady pace on the road to Rooking passing a family of three and a woman escorting her elderly mother on the steep path that starts from Rooking and is signposted to Boredale Hause and Angle Tarn.

The path climbs steadily with stone steps through the bracken. It gives good views back to Ullswater and the Helvellyn range and a direct view to the sombre-looking Brothers Water and Kirkstone Pass. There was no back pain and apart from a couple of photo halts, no pace dropping, and I was at Boredale Hause within 30 minutes. Two girls of about twenty were on their descent from Angletarn Pikes and encouraged me to go there but I had climbed them a couple of months ago so I hooked to the left to start the steep climb to Place Fell. It is a good path with a 260-metre ascent to be made, a steeper section below Round How and then a half kilometre across a flattish ridge to the rocky summit of Place Fell. The guidebook had said 1 hour 35 minutes for the ascent but I was up in less than the hour.

I had entered the clouds at about 500 metres and stopped to put on a jacket. I was hoping the clouds would disperse and they did for a fleeting few seconds just after I reached the beautifully constructed trig point that sits erect on a rocky plinth. I ate an orange and drank some water hoping that the clouds would break but no luck today, it was retribution for all the sun-kissed days of September.

I began the descent and bumped into three men nearing the summit, I had passed them on the way up. They asked where I was from and on telling them Scotland they said I didn't sound as if I did. They were from Preston and I discovered that the father of one of them had been brought up on the same estate as myself. The coincidence continued when he told me he had bought a £3000 bike at the Ribble Bike shop in Clitheroe the day before. I had been there two days ago but had yet to decide whether to buy the bike I had been measured for, it certainly wouldn't be as pricey as his. Another five minutes further on the descent I met a family from Stockport whom I had passed on the track to Rooking. They wanted a break from the climb and regaled me with their recent trip to Scotland with stops on Skye and Stirling. They had been mesmerised and intended to go again next year. I recommended some places for their next trip before I finally extricated myself and began to run down the path to catch up on time.

As I emerged from the cloud below Round How another couple appeared, I had spoken to the man earlier as he was struggling to get the car park payment machine to work. He was a farmer from Hexham and on hearing I was from Stirling told me his family had originated from Stirling. His wife prolonged the conversation as we discussed the felled sycamore tree on Hadrian's wall, Alnmouth, Armstrong's Cragside House and climbing the Wainwright's. This was the fifth Wainwright they were climbing and they had recently made it a mission to climb them all. They were surprised that I had climbed them all and began to ask questions. I showed them a route down Place Fell to the north and encouraged them to take this and walk Wainwright's favourite path alongside the shores of Ullswater back to Rooking. The conversation was endless and I half expected to be invited for a weekend in Hexham. Place Fell was shedding its cloud cover so I encouraged them to see it in all its glory so that I could escape.

I had lost 35 minutes to these enjoyable conversations during the descent so I ran most of the way down to Rooking where I paused to take a photo of a glorious Lakeland house decorated with a couple of pumpkins. It was almost 3pm, I changed my shoes and began the journey home. I was delighted to tune in to a 5 Live discussion with Helen Lewis and Armando Iannucci, both wonderful raconteurs, on the meaning or non-meaning of political words and phrases. I reached Hamilton before five and stopped to buy some provisions when the car computer told me to take a rest. The rain and darkness had fallen by the time I continued. Another interesting day had been hewn out of what could have been a tedious journey home.