Sunday saw us getting up bright and early ( ok, definitely less bright than early!) in the hope of catching the sunrise from the top of Hallin Fell. One of the more diminutive Wainwright climbs at 388 metres, Hallin makes up for it’s stature with impressive views of Ullswater lake and it’s surrounding peaks.
We arrived at the little car park by St Peters Church in Martindale very early. In fact it was pitch dark. And the car park was almost full! There were a few overnighting camper vans and other cars possibly belonging to people wild camping out on the fell.
It takes about 40 minutes to walk to the trig point on a clearly defined path. At 5-30am in the morning it looked like we were the first folk heading up there. The views were totally worth the early get up. But unfortunately the sun deemed to stay behind a cloud.
We enjoyed a flask of coffee and croissants at the top of Hallin Fell, drinking in the stunning vistas. It was calm and still with only a very gentle breeze. This was my 6th Wainwright fell and Hugo’s sixth too, on his 6th Birthday weekend.
Before heading back to the caravan we had a little look in the churchyard of St Peters at the bottom of the fell. There is still a monthly service there apparently. Noticed this grave stone adorned with an anchor.
As we left a few other folk were awake, drinking morning brews and maybe contemplating an early walk to the top.
Kirkoswald and Raven Beck Wander.
It was still early morning so after a chill at the caravan we drove the short distance to the Eden valley village of Kirkoswald. The village is named after the church of St Oswald. Oswald was a King of Northumbria in the 7th century. We took Hugo for a walk along Raven Beck, bought supplies from Raven Bridge Stores and I generally kept an eye out for ravens , though I didn’t see any. 😚
By Noon we were ready for a relaxing afternoon at the caravan. It had been a really enjoyable morning.
❤️
The views from the top of the fell look nice in proper daylight though I’d have been seriously miffed if I’d gone all that way up and there was no sunrise 🙂
There wasn’t one but it was still beautiful. A vast improvement on Skiddaw where we couldn’t see more than a metre in front of us. 😅
The number of times I’ve climbed a hill to see the sunset/rise!!!
I;ve given up.
Haha, yeh I expect you have to be very lucky.
That is a good idea to go to see the sunset in the top of a summit. I always say I want to do it but I can’t manage to wake up ha ha.
It was pitch dark when we arrived , like the middle of the night. 😅
It all looks really lovely.
It was a lovely mornings exercise. X
Beautiful. We climbed it on Tuesday morning and enjoyed the summit all to ourselves and were lucky to have clear blue skies for our walk. X
That’s great! Glad you did it. X
That is seriously early! Too bad of the sun not to play, but it was beautiful anyway. Many happy returns to Hugo.
Hugo looked at us strangely when we got up that morning. A bit early even for him! He soon rallied when he realised there would be breakfast and a walk. X
I liked Hallin Fell, its a good little one which means you can take your time and still be up and down in an hour if you wanted to. I’d recommend Steel Knotts (Pikawassa) from the same car park just go the opposite way, the path is clear from the back of the car park and is a similar steepness to Hallin Fell as it goes straight up the front
Thanks for the recommendation. 🙂 X
Didn’t know there were two 5.30s in a day! Sorry to hear the sun didn’t put in an appearence. Still a lovely experience.
Haha, yeh I probably won’t see that time in the morning again very soon! X
Hallin – a modest climb with a terrific view.
The views up there are gorgeous.
They are indeed.
My goodness gracious me, that was early, but the view looks stunning. The village looks very attractive indeed.
I love the red sandstone buildings in the local villages in the Eden valley. X
Happy birthday, Hugo. I hope Shazza gave you a special treat! 🙂
Great views from that little fell. And you do have to be up early to get a parking spec around there!
Sounds like an enjoyable morning. The sun never seems to appear for us when we get up early either lol xx
I love Hallin Fell it is the first hill both my children walked up to the top off. We go up there to watch the sunset on the winter solstice it is a beautiful spot. I got married in the church at the bottom, 20 years ago this week!
Wow, what a wonderful place to get married. A truly beautiful place. And must be brilliant seeing the sunset from the top of the fell. X
Belated happy birthday to Hugo. I haven’t been on WordPress for a while so I hope he enjoyed his special day. 🙂
Aw thank you, he did very much! Hope you and the cats are okay. X
We’re all good, thanks. X