Walk Summary
Short walk to the top of Wainwright, Great Mell Fell. The best route avoids the woodland.
Date: 12/09/2022
Length: 1.88 miles
Height Gain: 262 m
Terrain: Woodland, muddy/slippery paths, grass paths. fern wading
Navigation: Fairly easy (if avoiding woodland - see map for details). Trickier if using the woodland paths. Map/compass and gps useful
Start: Roadside parking near Brownrigg Farm
Route: Roadside parking near Brownrigg Farm, Great Mell Fell. It is preferrable to avoid going through the woodland for the ascent and descent, i.e. use the same route for the ascent and descent. See map for details.
Map: OL5 The English Lakes North Eastern Area
Weather: Misty
Walkers: Nun, Calse and Mo
Gallery
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Path Through Ferns In Woodland
Captain's Log
Parking Palava
This was our second walk of the day (see Bagging Binsey, for the first walk) during a 3 hour weather window. It wasn't raining but the mist hung low over Great Mell Fell and the surrounding peaks. There was limited roadside parking at the start of the walk, and I ordered Calse and Mo out of the car so that I could get nearer the stone wall at the side of the road. As I reversed a maniac farmer in a 4WD with a sheep trailer on the back came steaming around the bend. Even though he had more than enough room to pass me he pressed his horn and didn't release it until he got to Penrith. I started reversing again keeping one eye on the road in front, one eye on the road behind, one eye on the stone wall, and one eye on Calse and Mo who were meandering around at the back of the car like suicidal squirrels. The car wheel then got stuck on a large stone in the parking area. I stopped, sighed and decided to give it up as a bad job. I decided to just park where I was originally.
Calse and Mo seemed to think my reversing antics were hilarious and I was still sulking as we entered the woodland at the base of Great Mell Fell. The decision to enter the woodland turned out to be a bad choice since it was very muddy and slippery. The path was also covered with ferns. These were wet and draped on our clothes as we passed. Soon we were drenched too. We all agreed that this was a hellish path.
Great Mell Fell
Eventually the gradient eased, and we broke free of the woodland. A crossroad of paths loomed out of the mist. The path to the left disappeared downhill and appeared to avoid the woodland; I decided we'd try that path on the descent. The path to the right appeared to be going back towards woodland and so we avoided that one. We followed the path straight across the crossroads and this took us uphill. After about 10 minutes we saw a couple of figures ahead of us in the mist. The man turned out to be a Scotsman and the woman was dipping into a bag of Fruit Pastilles. I'd not had a Fruit Pastille for ages and I wondered if she'd think I was taking a liberty if I asked for one. I didn't get chance though since Calse and Mo had continued walking along the path into the mist. I had to follow them to keep them in vision. I have a fear that one day they'll wander off and I'll lose them. I've been thinking about fitting them into a climbing harness and then attaching that to a retractable dog lead. I'd then always be able to get them back.
The summit of Great Mell Fell is marked by a small cairn and is quite unremarkable, especially on a misty day. There was nothing to delay our departure and we set off back down.
View From Woodland
Great Mell Fell's Summit
The Easier Descent Path Avoiding The Woodland
Crossroads Return
A few minutes later we could just see, through the mist, that Scotsman and Pastille Woman had diverted from the main path on to one to the left. I figured that their path would still arrive at the crossroads of paths we had found on our ascent. 'Come on', I said to Mo and Calse, 'let's see if we can Tommy Top them by getting to the crossroads first'. We increased our pace, and rather than finding Scotsman and Pastille Woman nearby, we found another elderly couple there. They were having exactly the same conversation as we'd had on finding the crossroads on our ascent. That is: the path through the woodland was a bit of a nightmare, and that they'd take the path downhill to the left on the descent. The man was a dead ringer for Sir Tony Robinson and even sounded a bit like him too. 'Those ferns were horrible', said the woman, 'I'm sure they are bigger now than they used to be'. 'I think it's because we shrink as we get older', I explained and then considered that this might not be politically correct, as an afterthought.
We set off on the alternative descent route. After a while I looked back and could see that Sir Tony and Fern Lady had been joined by Scotsman and Pastille Woman. 'Hey, we forgot to Tommy Top them', I said to Mo and Calse. I suggested going back to do this, but Mo and Calse weren't interested.
The alternative descent route was infinitely preferrable to the one we had used for our ascent. There was no woodland, no mud, and the ferns kept socially distant. 'The views becoming clearer', Mo announced, as though a man who has just regained his sight. 'Yes, that's because we are dropping out of the mist', I informed him. The path delivered us down to the lane we had been on at the start of the walk, and we followed this back to the car.
Somebody had parked so close to the rear of my car, and so close to the front of the car behind it, I could only assume it had been airlifted into that position by winching it down from a Chinook.
When we got back into the car, the windscreen received a few droplets of rain. It looked like we had timed the walks in our 3 hour weather window to perfection.