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Not in Cumbria for a walking holiday unfortunately, but I was keen to get out occasionally if I could. Had a bit of free time this day but conditions looked pretty dire for walking all through the morning - looking out the window in Whitehaven I could just make out the house next door, but not any further down the street due to a blanket of fog. I'd happily have stayed in the house all day if I hadn't arranged an early evening visit to see an old school friend who lives within the bounds of the Lake District. As I was going to be heading there anyway, I decided at lunchtime I might as well head in that direction; MWIS seemed more positive about conditions than the view out my window, and I could always do a lakeside walk on a clear path if nothing else turned out to be visible.
I was so relieved I did drag myself out, as the fog was just blanketing the valleys and low ground all the way to the coast, the hills themselves were clear - MWIS had it spot on
I hadn't left enough time to do a long walk, but Mellbreak is a fine looking hill, in the right area for where I was heading, and would fit the roughly 3hr window nicely ... so I parked in Loweswater village and did that. With more time I'd have added Hen Comb, but that'll wait for another day - missing it out and taking the path back alongside Crummock Water instead meant it was easy to add on a quick visit to Scale Force. So the route I took was:
A really enjoyable afternoon walk
:
- Sign post by the Kirkstile Inn in Loweswater - for the outward route I set off along the one signed "No Through Road" and returned to this point at the end of the walk from the one signed "No Road To The Lake". Given the murkiness, at this point I still wasn't totally sure I'd go up Mellbreak, or just do a walk around its base.
- A short distance later, passing the farm buildings, the first inkling that things might not stay so murky after all! The triangle of Mellbreak's northern face was almost visible through the mist, and there were impressive rays of sunshine making an appearance
- I continued along the lane between dry stone walls, then after passing through a gate, took the path straight ahead to start heading up to the base of Mellbreak. It didn't take much ascent to get above the cloud and start getting views.
- By Cuillin standards the path up Mellbreak's scree slope might not be too daunting, but it was still a bit "2 steps up, 1 slide down" in places.
- You wouldn't think it from Mellbreak's long flat-ish summit plateau, but it's a mountain which can throw a lovely pointy shadow like a 'proper' pointy mountain :)
- The cloud inversion was beautiful, the Fellbarrow and Low Fell cluster to the north looked like an island. The layer of fog stretched out to the sea, no towns or villages visible.
- The northern summit area has 2 decent sized cairns, but the southern (cairnless) summit is actually a bit higher
- View from the northern summit to the southern summit, an easy walk on a day like this, no wind and blue skies up here (Yes, this wide, flat mountain is the same one that produced a pointy pyramid of a shadow)
- Grasmoor to the east. Wish it'd been weather like this when I was up there doing 9 Wainwrights of the Coledale Round a few months ago, instead of in wet clag.
- Hen Comb runs parallel to Mellbreak on its western side, but I'll come back and do it another time, no time today
- I had a wander around the southern summit area trying to decide which patch looked highest. (All those utterly pointless cairns in random places in the Lake District and not even a wee 'un here!)
- No sign of Crummock Water and Buttermere today; Fleetwith Pike just rising up from the end of the cloud
.
- There were a couple of guys wandering around the southern summit area, I thought admiring the views. Chatted briefly to them and it turned out they were trying to decide which side of the hill to paraglide off! I started to make my descent down Mellbreak's south end and a few minutes later saw them airborne. Just hope they landed safely by finding a momentary break in the fog below!
- The southern slope is easier terrain than the northern one I came up. This looking back at the initial descent from the summit, still basking in sunshine.
- Temperature dropped markedly as I got down into the shade. Gave me a slightly better look at Hen Comb to the west now I wasn't looking into bright sunshine through.
- Continued down (nice easy fence to cross!), Robinson on the left here, Fleetwith Pike at the end of Buttermere (not that you can see the lake)
- My target now was Scale Force, the highest waterfall in the Lake District, hidden away in that gully in the middle of shot
- Scale Force, though not the clearest view of the 170ft long drop section in the background. Described by Wordsworth as ‘a fine chasm, with a lofty, though but slender, fall of water’ which seemed pretty accurate. Even by the easiest route it's over 2 miles from the nearest car park, so not as busy a waterfall as Aira Force for example
- From Scale Force I took a path heading (roughly) NE to pick up another path which runs along the length of Crummock Water's western shore. It felt quite strange, by now walking on frozen ground and dressed in coat, hat and gloves, seeing my own breath, when it was still t-shirt weather up the mountains (Grasmoor across Crummock Water ahead)
- Side on view of Mellbreak as I got to the lakeside path, quite far from the base of the hill at this point. The walk all the way back was in the shade, so pretty chilly
- The path is a mix of boggy sections, grass, and dry stony sections, but is clear all the way (Low Ling Crag jutting out into the lake here)
- Looking back along the path, Red Pike was in view
- Towards the north end of Mellbreak the path forked and I took the left one to head diagonally up the slope and then alongside a dry stone wall. It then went through this copse of trees (Flass Wood?), keeping some houses on the right, until a gate was reached. Through the gate, down the rough track, then down a lane, over a bridge and left along the single track road, arriving back at the signpost by the Kirkstile Inn.