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It’s a while since I've posted and have quite a few to catch up on, but I think I'll just do a series of photos from each of the walks. It's about time and feeling like spending even more time at a keyboard.
So this little Xmas jaunt was to get another couple of AW’s best namely the Mell Fells. It also served as an opportunity to have a bite to eat with my mates (more of which later).
There aren't many photos for this walk, as the weather was quite frankly, appalling (high winds and lots of rain) which was the reason for doing these two little hills. I'm sure on a good day these two would be a great picnic spot with views to please everyone, but today was just a slog, sorry splash up them both. We parked the car at a road junction and kitted up, Jim and Mick were well prepared as you can see and even Lassie got a high viz vest to protect her from the elements and to make sure she didn't get lost in the clag.
![Mell Fells - Dec 2012 001.JPG]()
- Jim,Mick and Lassie kitted out for weather
A short walk up the road and the path to LMF (Little Mell Fell) was obvious and signed. We just followed it; noticing as we gained height the wind gained strength. By the time we were near the summit the wind was as often quoted by MWIS ‘buffeting’ us around. The trig point duly appeared and was delightfully constructed in stone as opposed to the normal concrete. Apart from this feature there was s*d all else to see!
As the weather was iffy I decided to take a bearing just in case and found that it took us in the direction of the obvious path that led away from the summit. What it didn’t do is show us that as we lost height and to a degree the wind, we also discovered that LMF has a lot of big gorse bushes. Consulting the map and figuring we were above Foxhill Farm, we headed down towards the road negotiating the bushes without too much discomfort, had we been there on a hot summer’s day (Oh do I wish!) it could have been a very different story, waterproofs are pretty ‘gorse proof’ too.
We got to the road and turned right discussing where the path to GMF (Great Mell Fell) might be. Some kind person had very clearly marked it with a big green arrow saying ‘Great Mell Fell’ and provided a new gate to go through, so as all good navigators do, we followed the sign.
Across a bog (it was a field, ‘was’ being the operative word) and over a bridge, speculating how we would have got across the beck without it, the beck was deep! We followed the little green and yellow arrows around Brownrigg Farm on to the road turning right and heading for the narrow lane at the foot of GMF.
Strangely enough a National Trust sign said ‘Mell Fell’ so we knew we were okay. A brief stop for a brew and a bite, it was still raining. Jim decided that he had put his gaiters on wrong (see Photo) and changed them to the inside of his waterproofs, ‘I thought my feet felt a bit wet’ he said ‘never too old to learn’ I thought.
Break over, we headed along the lane and found the clear path to the summit of GMF. We skirted the trees as recommended by AW noticing that a few had been blown over and given the strength of the wind, a few more looked likely. With every footstep a splash and leaning well to port to keep upright, the summit, a small pile of stones eventually came into view. Jim took this photo for the collection and proof and we beat a hasty retreat.
![Mell Fells - Dec 2012 003.JPG]()
- Its me on No 198! Great views!!!
Just an opportunity to get the starboard side thoroughly wet! We may well have been at sea, in fact staying at home and chucking buckets of water at each other would have had the same effect on our clothing. But we dedicated walkers know how to cope! We started planning our next walk, Jim’s ‘coast to coast’ trip and Mick‘s Wainwright total to date.
Returning to the road we turned right and followed the signs back to the car, the trip had taken about three hours or so.
We decided to have a go at Gowbarrow Fell as the day was still relatively young, but not knowing the area that well, we just ended up getting to the river that forms Aira Force and finding that we had picked the wrong place, no bridge and we weren’t wading! Gowbarrow will keep for another day.
So returning to the car we headed for the Mortal Man at Troutbeck, good beer, great food and a roaring fire to dry out in front of. What more could a man ask for!
