Monday January 24th

 To The Lakes- to stay 3 nights in Dockray near Ullswater. We arrived at Brownrigg Farm at 1pm, having driven up from Stockport via the customary and welcome stop at Tebay.

We decided to do Great Mell Fell first, and it was an easy walk up the slopes to the top.

Approaching the summit of Great Mell Fell- Little Mell Fell in the background

The modest cairn at the summit of Great Mell Fell

Great Mell Fell is rather unfairly described in Stuart Marshall's book as "Quite extraordinarily dull". In fact, it was a good vantage point and good views were to be had.

Atmospheric views from near the summit of Great Mell Fell

We retraced our steps, went through Brownrigg Farm and then set off across the fields towards Little Mell Fell. It seemed to take quite a while to reach the summit, following a path which looked as if it had been gouged out by a digger. We did, however pass our first lot of classic Herdwick sheep.

"Herdies" on the way to Little Mell Fell

At the summit we met an Outward Bound instructor, awaiting a group of Year 8s from Bradford who were romping up the steeper side of the hill.

Trig Point at the summit of Little Mell Fell

We then went down and made our way over pretty (knee deep in places!) boggy ground back to the car.

David descending Little Mell Fell

We got back to the car just in time for the 5 o'clock news, eagerly awaiting future revelations about Westminster and Boris Johnson. A total of 6.2 miles.

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