Place Fell

Hiking up, looking down

It was a respectable time for greeting the morning, not too early since breakfast here doesn't start until 8, but acceptable. With a 5-hour time change, it was still in the wee hours of the morning at home. I could have happily slept longer, but forcing myself to stay up all day yesterday seemed to work for jolting my body in the direction it doesn't like to go. For some reason, time adjustments to the west seem to be a lot easier for me. (Of course I could find that statement to be totally untrue when I return home next week.)

Breakfast, conversations, and a visit to the shop across the sreet to pick up some snack food left me almost ready to wander. Caroline & I meandered into the mountain shop since she was on the hunt for a hat. I ended up buying a Buff after a quick demonstration. Funny, I had looked at them in the past, but somehow seeing someone demonstrate its use made so much more sense than trying to understand the drawings on the packaging. What is it? It's a tube of light fabric that can be worn around your neck as a crumpled scarf, spread out a bit more for some protection, and in several variations of hats. It looks to be a good extra layer, a quick hat, thin enough to even fit beneath a cycling helmet.

We decided to walk together today, Caroline, her Border Collie Bessie, and me. It was noon by the time we headed out on the trail, amazing how fast time can just disappear, isn't it?

Our destination for the day was Place Fell. There were varying descriptions of the hike in the three guidebooks that I managed to accumulate, from 'A steep climb up a moderately high fell overlooking Ullswater' in the tiny Walks Ullswater to 'Place Fell rises steeply from the curve formed by the upper and middle reaches of Ullswater and its bulky mass dominates the head of the lake' in one of Wainright's classic guides. I had looked for the Wainright books at home, but the only way I could have purchased on before flying over the ocean was to order it from the UK. I would have happily done that, but there were so many different Wainright guidebooks that I didn't have a clue which one I needed. Not only does the Wainright book include notes on the trail, it also points out the sights that can be seen from the top.

The hike started in Patterdale - the next town to the south of where I am staying. Since it was a very short walk between the two towns, we started our walk from Glenridding. The 'trail' started with a short stretch down a 1-lane 2-way road. I first encountered these tiny roads on my two-wheeled trip in Ireland back in 2003. They surprised me then, and they surprise me now.

We went through a gate, and the trail started headinng up. Ah, a split in the trail, shall we take the upper path or the lower one? Look - there's a bench up a bit on the upper path. That was a good decision point, a walk to the bench, a bit of a rest, a chance to experiment with (camera) filters for a bit, and then we continued our upward walk.

Up, up, and then a decision point. Ah, follow the path to the left. We were close to the top when the trail headed up through some rocks in a path steep enough that I thought I'd have a problem coming back down. I opted to stay there while Caroline continued to the high point of the trail. Lucky for me, as soon as she climbed up that steep bit she saw a trail lower down (and close to where I was waiting) and called down to tell me about it. i didn't see the trail at first, but then I saw a couple coming down that way. I'm so glad that I was able to join Caroline and our hiking pal Bess at the high point of Place Fell.

The scenery was beautiful even though the valley seemed to be softened by gray haze. It wasn't really hazy, but it wasn't sunny either. I'd love to see the sights from Place Fell on a day that was more brightly lit.

There were sheep scattered through the hills, and as usual i was trying to grab their images. They weren't very cooperative though; as soon as I looked at them they turned tail and trotted away. By the end of the day I decided I needed a non-existent lens for my camera. I'd love to be able to get close-up shots of animals but still maintain the panorama behind them.

The hike was described as a loop. By the time we reached the high point it was quite late in the day, so instead of completing the loop we chose to reverse our hike. I wonder, does that mean that I need to do it again?

On the way down, Bess kept turning around to look at us, as if to say 'can't you walk any faster'? Oh, to have a dog's feet!