Silver Point
Walk date – 4th February 2026
Distance – 4.6 miles
Weather – total cloud cover, light rain at start, mild, no breeze
Another woeful weather forecast today with low cloud covering the higher fells and, depending on height, lots of snow/rain showers. Also mentioned were strong easterly winds and thus it would be very cold and blustery. The forecasters got the low cloud and rain showers right, but happily the latter two didn’t occur. The air current came from the south so the wind was either very light, or non-existent in our case, with milder temperatures than we’ve all become accustomed to. Very few people were out and about today and we saw only four people while we were out.
Route
Patterdale cricket ground – George Starkey Hut – Side Farm – Low level path – Silver Point – High level path – Quarry area – Rooking – Side Farm – George Starkey Hut – Patterdale Cricket Ground
We parked in the usual spot by the cricket ground and got ready to begin today’s outing as light rain was falling. Place Fell was looking very drab and its meagre snow covering didn’t help to brighten it up a little.
Very little traffic as we crossed the road when we reached the George Starkey hut and took the path alongside it to the farm access track. Here we’re approaching Side Farm along the puddle filled lane. The spoil from the former quarrying area is spread all over the lower slopes of Place Fell right behind the farm.
On a banking below the farm building we came across this display of snowdrops which lifted our spirits a little. A tiny sign that plant life is beginning to emerge from its winter hibernation.
From the lower track leading from the farm towards Silver Point we catch our first glimpse of the snow covered Helvellyn group along Grisedale. A bank of white cloud creeping between them can be seen over towards the left of the shot.
The view from the stile which I think leads over to the Side Farm camp site. We were busy peeking over the wall to get some idea of where it would lead when a couple of walkers came past and exchanged ‘Mornings’ with us.
This is called ‘The Artists Stone’ which celebrates all the artists who have been inspired in some way by the Ullswater valley. The installation is part of the Heritage Trail and features twelve such installations each of which spotlights different aspects of the cultural heritage of the Ullswater valley. It mentions three such artists by name but we were more interested in the names of the men who did the stonework one of whom is the same chap who comes to sweep our chimney every summer. He’s also a dry stone waller and turns up at the Penrith Agricultural Show every year to assist with the dry stone walling competition. For more information re The Heritage Trail take a look at this site – https://www.ullswaterheritage.org/heritage-trail
The low cloud began to smother the tops of the Helvellyn group along Grisedale. It had also spread across the valley and was beginning to slowly creep up the slopes of Saint Sunday Crag, just to the left of centre in the shot.
We’d been doing the ‘jacket hood hokey cokey’ as we walked along the path. You know the sort of thing – has it stopped raining yet? Hood down, no it hasn’t, hood back up again etc etc. I think it was somewhere around here that it stopped raining and hoods remained down. I took the low road and J took the high road but neither of us ended up in Scotland! We were re-united beyond the path bifurcation, minus hoods and gloves now that the rain had stopped.
Silver Crag came into view as the path began to turn slightly upwards. We were beginning to get quite warm, insulated as we were by the various layers of clothing we were wearing i.e. waterproofs, jackets, thicker mid-layers etc. but couldn’t be bothered to pack away our wet waterproofs.
At the top of the rise the path turned towards Ullswater where the Aira Force launch was on its way back to Glenridding from Howtown which, as far as I could make out, is the only route and boat in operation at the moment. On the opposite shore the skyline view is of Watermillock Common.
The descent down to the lakeshore path is stepped in many places and grassy where it isn’t. Although it had stopped raining everything underfoot was still wet and slippery so a bit of care was required …..
….. and eventually Silver Point came into view, and so did Gowbarrow on the other side of Ullswater
The view back towards Saint Sunday Crag where the rogue cloud hanging over Grisedale hadn’t quite made it to the top of the fell.
Looking towards Sheffield Pike whose summit also seemed about to be covered although Heron Pike managed to stay clear of it.
A view of the Glencoyne Valley and Glencoyne Head from Silver Point …..
….. and a closer look at Gowbarrow which seemed to have the merest glimmer of very weak sunlight on it for a few seconds.
The cloud in Grisedale has almost encircled Saint Sunday Crag now.
Silver Point is way down below us now and after the steepish and stony climb up from it we both stop and take a breather. The path between this point and Silver Point is very rocky and uneven and seems to have got worse every time we use it. J’s plated ankle was not a happy bunny at that moment.
A look back down the path we have just clambered up and where Ullswater looked more like a mountain tarn in the murky conditions rather than the huge body of water that it is.
We were on the high level path at this point and making our way back to Side Farm when we noticed that the Grisedale valley cloud had more or less covered the Helvellyn group and was doing much the same over on Saint Sunday Crag.
In contrast the knobbly tops of Arnison Crag were untroubled by any type of cloud.
Glenridding with Birkhouse Moor filling the skyline behind it, which also looked as if its summit had been engulfed by the cloud.
A look back at Silver Crag from the high level path which, as can be seen, is also not completely smooth and grassy.
On the way down we passed this small cave with a huge tree branch which has over the years forced its way out into the daylight from somewhere inside the cave.
We had another set of fells ahead of us at this point, Hartsop Dodd with a clump of cloud in front of it and behind it Caudale Moor and just a part of St Raven’s Edge.
A green metal bench had been situated just here and on the ironwork was the following ‘Queen Victoria 1897’ which was the year of her Diamond Jubilee. Apart from the occasional repainting of the bench I guess that the bench has remained unchanged and in situ ever since it was first installed almost 130 years ago. Of course we sat on it, no point in the bench just being there otherwise. From the bench I took this shot looking back towards Glenridding village. Above the village are Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike, to their left is Raise, and on the extreme left is the cloud covered top of Birkhouse Moor.
Over on the left is Hartsop Dodd, Caudale Moor et al again while over on the right Hartsop above How has now appeared, behind the steep slope of Arnison Crag (extreme right), with Red Screes right behind it.
Another opening in the side of Place Fell, not just a cave as it appeared to have been the site of a small quarry which was deep, dark and wet. Two waterfalls were draining into it, one on the inside which can be seen in the dark patch on the right, and the other one coming down the fellside on the left, which circled around in front of my feet and then down a steep drop into the quarry.
Approaching the former quarrying area above Side Farm at this point …..
….. and the view down to Side Farm from the old spoil heaps above it. As we reached the scrambly section in the previous shot we noticed a solo male walker heading up to the path we were on. Next was a female walker who was coming up towards us along one of the quarry paths so we stopped to let her pass in front of us. She had a dog which was on the same path but was a short distance behind her and when the dog saw us it wouldn’t go any further. She tried encouraging the dog but it refused to budge and only when we were out of its sight did it respond to her calling out to it. We eventually reached the turn off path down to Rooking and she and the dog carried on up the path to Boredale Hause. That’s two occasions recently when we’ve had animals stopping in their tracks when they’ve caught sight of us so I suppose we must be really frightening after all!
J smiling again now that we’re down in Rooking and back on a much less rocky/stony path. The signpost behind him points the way back down to Side Farm and back to Gkenridding …..
….. and from where I took this last photo of today’s walk. Side Farm is just coming into view, rearing up behind it are Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike, and over on the left skyline is Raise and the Sticks Pass route. Well, that’s it for today folks and all things considered its not been too bad overall. No, there wasn’t any sunshine and yes we did have rain, but we had waterproofs, and we didn’t get blown all over the place, so all in all it was a 50/50 sort of day. At least we had some views which is more than could be said of the fell top assessors climbing Helvellyn who, it seems, didn’t have any at all.