Hallin Fell (up, down and round)
Walk date – 26th July 2024
Distance – 3.5 miles
Weather – cloudy, occasional glimpses of sun, light breeze
Here we are, almost at the end of July, still waiting for the summer weather to appear. I don’t know about the rest of the country but up here in Cumbria we have had day after day where the skies have consisted of a blanket of flat grey or white cloud with only the occasional day of intermittent sunshine. Naturally, such a day usually happens when something else is scheduled to occur which prevents us getting out on the fells. The garden plants are not doing as well as they should be either, fewer pollinating insects, no flowers or late flowering, stunted produce etc. etc. The usual flat grey cloud cover was there again this morning and hung around until almost noon when the cloud seemed as though it was turning slightly brighter, there were even some tiny blue bits. We decided against driving any great distance so, as we haven’t set foot on Hallin Fell since 2019, that’s where we went. It was an ok sort of afternoon with only a few glimmers of sunlight now and then, we even had a brief rain shower when we reached the obelisk. Not many photographs were taken today given the flat light, cloudy conditions and poor visibility which prevailed today. All the things you can well do without when compiling a photographic diary, if the weather continues in this state you begin to wonder whether its worth taking a camera at all.
Route
Off road parking below the Hause – The Hause – Hallin Fell summit – path above Hause Farm – Hallinhag Wood – Sandwick Bay – Kailpot Crag – Geordie’s Crag – off road parking below the Hause
Looking down to the off road parking at the bottom of the road which zig-zags up to The Hause. Just as we crossed the cattle grid we spotted an empty space so we nabbed it sharpish. That’s our spot towards the bottom left of the shot. We knew there was a steep path from the car which led to an higher path leading up to The Hause but we had quite a fight with the bracken to get to it. It was very high and J, who was leading the way, disappeared in it from time to time even though he was higher up than me. It had its uses though as it gave me something to hang on to.
When we reached the higher path we had a pause and brushed the bits of bracken from our clothing and hair before setting off up the path towards The Hause. A little further along I took a look back towards Ullswater. Arthur’s Pike and Bonscale Pike are the fells in view over on the right.
The Hause was full of cars when we reached it so we were lucky to find the empty parking space when we arrived. We’ve started out up Hallin Fell on the path that we’ve usually come down on in previous walks just for a change and, although this fell is one of the lower ones, it is quite steep in places. This shot of Beda Fell was taken from one of them and where I got my breath back. Just beginning their climb are two more walkers on the path below us. There are paths all over the fell so it doesn’t really matter which one you take, just keep climbing until you reach the obelisk at the top.
Beda Fell in close up in an attempt to cut out as much of the dull sky as possible.
J waits for me to catch up. I’m usually lagging behind as I’m usually on the lookout for unusual or interesting views to take a shot of. Interesting how the bracken seems to flourish no matter what the weather is like.
Ullwater reflecting the colour of the sky, dull whitish grey. No sail boats down there at the moment, just one of the Ullswater ‘steamers’ making its way from Pooley Bridge over to Howtown.
Just below the obelisk on the northeastern side of the fell is this old pyramid shaped cairn above a lovely view of Ullswater. The view would be even better with some sunshine and blue sky illuminating it.
Up at the obelisk where it was this view or none at all. A group had decided to take a break on the other side and had spread themselves out behind the rock plinth the obelisk stands on.
The same view as the previous shot but with J now doing his modelling bit just to add some scale. He’s nearly 6′ tall which gives you some idea of the size of the obelisk.
Looking along Boredale from the summit area. On the left is Beda Fell, on the right is Place Fell. The dark area on the skyline behind Place Fell is Dove Crag.
Another shot from the summit area this time looking along Howe Grain towards The Nab, the fell in the middle of the shot. The Nab also creates two further valleys on either side of it, Ramps Gill, on the left as you look at the shot, and Bannerdale, on the right.
Making our way back towards The Hause with a view of Birkie Knott and Steel Knotts. On the skyline is the long ridge between Bonscale Pike and High Raise (Mardale).
Much lower down and another view of Birkie Knott and Steel Knotts. A little further down we start keeping a lookout for the next path we need, the one which will take us above Hause Farm and over to Hallinhag Wood and the lakeshore path.
A look down towards Hause Farm as we follow the path around the fellside and fight our way through some very tall bracken once again.
A glimmer of sunlight on Beda Fell just as we reached some shorter bracken.
J leading the way through the less tall patch. This was one of the very few places where I could actually see him, most of the time it was above his head.
Another glimmer of sunlight so another shot of Beda Fell …..
….. followed by a shot of Sleet Fell, one of the subsidiary tops of Place Fell, which can just be seen right behind it.
At long last we reach the end of the bracken and passing through the gate leads us down through …..
….. Hallinhag Wood. The lighter colour in the top left corner isn’t the sky its Ullswater.
After an uneventful walk down through the wood the path we end up right on the lakeshore path at Sandwick Bay. Nobody here today but it is a very pleasant spot on a sunny afternoon.
A sail boat slowly making its way along Ullswater …..
….. and another one doing the same some distance ahead of it.
Making much faster progress was this Ullswater ‘steamer’ on its way to Howtown …..
….. and so was this one, on its way from Howtown back down to Glenridding. Both shots were taken from Kailpot Crag
Looking along Ullswater from Kailpot Crag. A family group .just out of shot, were located on the beach and some of the younger members of the group had obviously been been in the water and were now standing with towels draped around their shoulders. They didn’t look warm.
Another sail boat glides by, no doubt making its way back to its berth at the Ullwater Yacht Club. The tree covered hill behind it is Birk Crag and the bigger hill behind that is Little Mell Fell. We’ve even got a reflection of the sail, things are looking up!
Typically, almost at the very end of our afternoon walk, the sun decided to shine on us as we made our way back to the car across the lower slopes of Hallin Fell.
Bonscale Pike and Loadpot Hill in the background and J already has the boot open and his rucksack off by the time I get there. I put my gear in too and off we went back home. Much to J’s relief we didn’t meet a huge tractor pulling a very long trailer along the narrow lakeshore road like we did a couple of hours ago on the outward journey. Why the bloke driving the tractor needed quite such a long trailer when it was only loaded with one of those square plastic crates of water remains a mystery. As we approached Pooley Bridge we could see that the large camp sites on either side of the road at Park Foot were absolutely heaving with people, tents, caravans, camper vans and all the associated equipment. It rained during the night and continued until early afternoon today (|Saturday) so I hope the weather turns better for them this coming week.