Melbreak with Young Tom

Date & start time: Tuesday 16th February 2010, 1.55 pm start.

Location of Start : The red phone box, Loweswater , Cumbria, Uk ( NY 143 211 )

Places visited : Kirkhead, Mellbreak North Top, Thomas's pool and back via the traverse path.

Walk details : 3.65 mls, 1350 ft, 2 hrs 50 mins including a dip.

Highest point : Mellbreak North Top 1654 ft ( 509m).

Walked with : My grandson Thomas and the dogs, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Fine but cold with a very wintery breeze on the top.

A walk up our local fell for myself and my grandson,

but a search for a boggy puddle turns into a bit of an unexpected adventure.

Tom at the start of the walk.

The red phone box always adds colour and a positive note to the start of the walks from here.

Every local Mellbreak walk passes the AW signpost and the pub !

[ I wish they wouldn't throw road grit & salt on the grass by the sign . . . but I suppose we ought to be grateful that we've actually got some road grit ! ]

Weather wise it was an ok sort of day, but there's a cold edge to the gentle breeze, even down here.

Zooming in on snow covered Hopegill Head and Sand Hill at the top of the Gasgale Gill valley.

An interesting shaft of sunshine lights up the lower part of the fell.

[ As Tom and I walked Mellbreak, Paula, Abi and Ann were walking over there in the sun ]

Climbing the approach path to the steep front of Mellbreak.

Harry was close at hand but Bethan is further away as usual . . . but did actually grace us with her presence for this photo.

Our route climbs left across the scree and then zig-zags up the left hand edge of the fell.

The main path was washed out in last November's heavy rain so Tom takes to the rough ground.

It's a great view from up here.

Looking down from Raven Crag . . . half way up.	Climbing is easy provided you don't fall off the dog's back !

Round the corner and up a bit and there's a surprise view in store.

Also there's the first of the snow beneath our feet . . . we've not had so much as the south Lakes, or other parts of the country this time.

Fleetwith Pike at the head of Buttermere.	Tom talks to Harry on the narrow path.

Hey . . . someone else is talking to us . . .	No . . . you just started earlier !

Looks like we've been beaten to the top today ! ! !

Tom sits at the first cairn but we decide the second one is higher.

Loweswater below, with some good sunshine on Darling Fell and the more distant Fellbarrow beyond.

Looking round, the recent new snow has settled well on the high fells giving them a real wintery feel again.

We look over to High Stile and Red Pike, with the Ennerdale Fells in the clouds beyond.

A wider panorama of Fleetwith Pike and just a few reflections in Buttermere lake.

Time for a little snack after the big climb . . . " Mmm . . . that looks tasty ".

Mellbreak's true top is the other end . . . but the big cairn here and the perspective makes it look lower.

- - - o o o - - - Back in the summer of 2006, when we were up here with his Dad and his cousins, Tom was playing in the puddles and slipped in one that was rather deeper than the rest. After lifting him out and changing wet clothes for dry he continued the walk. - - - o o o - - - Today, Tom and I had decided to go and find " His " pool on the top of Melbreak to show him what he fell in that day. - - - o o o - - -

Unfortunately when we got there he mistook the edge of the pool due to a covering of ice . . . and the edge gave way.

Oh dear . . . that wasn't planned . . . and it looks cold too.

After helping him out I decided that we had better, three years on, repeat the clothes change option again.

The trousers were wrung out and the boots emptied of water, my fleece, gloves and socks were put on and things were looking a lot better.

This was the photo I had planned to take, and which I was getting ready to take when Tom decided to walk the wrong way.

Still he's dressed again, has had a chocolate to make him feel better and it's time we were off . . . walking a little faster if only to warm him up.

The minor cairn at the start of the traverse path off the fell.

Two extra energy sweets, one for each leg, and warmth was returning nicely.

Descending slowly along the side of the fell,

the path gradually makes its way down to the main track in Mosedale Valley.

By the time we were down we were warm ( if not totally dry),

having conquered the mountain . . . and made it back in one piece.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon 75 or my Canon G10 digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . a little less ice on the side of the pool please !

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Previous walk - 15th February 2010 The Low Fell Tree walk

A previous time up here - 26th May 2006 Mellbreak with Al and Richard and the boys

Next walk - 13th to 19th February 2010 Half Term Walks