After a slow start to Wainwright bagging this year, last weekend I took the opportunity to pop up Great Mell Fell off after seeing Sam off on the Grand Tour of Skiddaw. I just wanted a quick dog walk so that I could get back to dot-watching, and being just a half hour drive from the start near Dalston, Great Mell Fell fit the bill perfectly. It also meant I could bag a Wainwright which is a fairly short walk without having to drive over for the day to do an hour’s walk!
I followed the 2 mile linear route from WalkLakes, with parking for about 4 cars by the road at the start. I arrived at about 8.45am on a Saturday in August and I was the first one there – but with this walk being very short, I imagine people come and go throughout the day, so getting there later doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get parked.
The walk sets off up a good track which is bordered by trees. Soon, there’s a gate on the right with a National Trust sign for ‘Mell Fell’ – don’t be deceived into passing through here, as you want the next gate along. After crossing through the second gate the path continues to climb, with the trees thinning and bracken becoming the main feature. Happily, the bracken didn’t encroach on the path so I stayed dry!
The path climbs steadily all the way to the top, with a few short steeper sections. There’s a nice view over to the left most of the way up, and then once you reach the summit a good view of Blencathra appears. Altogether it took me about 40 minutes to get to the top from the bottom, and a bit less than half an hour to get back down again. I feel like I did march up pretty quickly as there were quite a few midges flying around lower down, and I was keen to get higher up into windier territory to get away from them.
I wore my walking boots for this walk, but aside from one small boggy section (which really wasn’t too bad), you could probably get away with doing this walk in trail running trainers or similar – there’s not much in the way of rocky terrain, being mostly surfaced tracks or grassy/earthy paths. This fell was lovely and quiet too, although I was there rather early, so perhaps it got busier later in the day! With Wainwright 119 in the bag, it was time to get back to dot-watching so I could pick Sam up at the end of his race.
Dog friendly rating: 4/5. This is a nice little dog walk, and when I did this route there was no livestock hanging around, so after I’d checked everything out on the way up I did let Coal have a little bit of time off lead on my way down. There is a stile on the way, but this can be bypassed with a gate right next to it, so it shouldn’t pose any problems for dog owners.
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