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" Mellbreak and Wedding Decorations "

Date & start time: Saturday  31st May 2014, 2.15 pm start.

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

Places visited : Loweswater Church, Mellbreak, Harry's Pool and back to the Kirkstile.

Walk details :   4.5 mls, 1,560 feet of ascent, 3 hour 20 mins including several stops.

Highest point : Mellbreak's North Top 1,655 ft - 509m

Walked with : Jo, Gareth, Ann and our dogs, Amber, Harry and Dylan.

Weather : Sunshine and blue skies all the way, hardly any breeze at all.

 " Mellbreak and Wedding Decorations " at EveryTrail

[ Alter the settings to zoom or change the Map, use Everytrail to download the Gps route ]

 

Jo is over for the weekend and she joins Gareth and ourselves on a longer, local walk. 

As she hasn't been over for a while she wanted to climb a mountain . . . so climb a mountain it will be. 

Mellbreak is 1,654 ft (509m) at this end so that will do well as a destination for the afternoon.

Meet the team . . . starting out from the red phone box.

(l to r) Myself Harry, Jo, Amber, Dylan and Gareth . . . Ann is taking the photo of course.

The object of Jo's desire . . . and what a lovely day for a walk.

The Hawthorn is in full bloom . . .
. . . stunning against the blue sky.
   
There's also some lovely flowers on the Church gate . . .
. . . and finery in the village today.

There has been a grand wedding at Loweswater Church and folk are just leaving for the reception.

Inside the flower display is superb.
Westminster Abbey comes to Loweswater.

The Church has been decorated with real trees, saplings of Silver Birch.

There were a few extra outside too.
A happy couple . . . clothing matching the flowers.

Across the road is the Kirkstile Inn . . . maybe we'll manage a visit on the way back.

Walking up the lane to the farm Dylan meets another puppy, five weeks younger than himself.

Turning so fast his head almost fell off  !
The submissive pose . . . deferring to an older dog.

[ Note:  No dogs were harmed in the making of this web page ]

A grand panorama on a grand day.

The photo make it looks as if we're walking away,

but in fact we'll walk up this lane, round behind the camera and continue on to the front of Mellbreak on the right.

The optical illusion of the panorama makes the virtually straight route appear almost semi-circular (see the track on the map above).

Mother and son.

Ann leads the way up the start of the fell.

Loweswater, Darling Fell and Low Fell make up the background.

Ann's view of Gareth is a bit closer.

Together we start the steep climb up to and through the crags.

If you are following this route, try and avoid the screes which seem the obvious path and go for the zig-zags in the heather.

Taking the first diagonal . . . definitely sun glass weather.

That's Jo in the dark glasses . . . in case you didn't recognise her.

Climbing above Raven Crag . . . the delightfully named Dropping Crag is the rock on the right.

The view down Lorton Valley is stunning.

Low Park houses below us, the Kirkstile to the left and our cottage in the centre.

Zooming in on the cottage and the six temporary sheds at Godferhead Farm

where Ross is rearing pheasant chicks . . . a new venture for him and for Godferhead.

The wider view over Loweswater.

Click here or on the photo above for a really wide Loweswatercam annotated panorama.

Walking up through the rocks and heather there are new young ferns, bright green in the sunshine.

The " Peep round the corner" giving stunning views to the head of the Buttermere Valley.

Time for the dogs to sit down in the shade to cool off.

Close-up on Hopegill Head . . .
. . . and shadows crossing Lad Hows and Whiteless Pike.

Both dogs catch a few moments 'shut-eye' while we've stopped to admire the view.

Onward and upward . . . out into the full sunshine again.

Ann reaching the flatter ground at the top of the fell.

The final part of the track to the first of the two summits at this end of the fell.

I hold back on one while the others walk over to the marginally higher top.

The reason for the delay is to enable me to take in the full view from here.

Click here or on the photo above for a full value Loweswatercam 360 degree annotated panorama

The rock bastions on the face of the High Stile Ridge looked even more impressive in real life.

The air was clear enough to see every detail.

Over to the higher cairn to join the others.

The far end of the fell is in fact three metres higher and should be visited for the definitive Wainwright summit, but this will do us for today.

This is a little patch of water is known to us as Tom's Pool . . . one of our grandson's favourite places for a dip when he's up in the Lakes !

Hold your cursor over the picture and Ann will show you how deep it actually is.

When we reach the middle of the fell we take the path down to the right

which gives us extensive views down into upper Mosedale.

Zooming in with an 'incredible zoom' on the lonely Mosedale Holly.

It is special in that it qualifies for its own tree symbol and a specific mention on the O.S. 1:25k map of the area.

Our traversing path cuts across the top of the dry gully and started its way down the fellside.

There are other trees up here. . .
. . . the result of wind-blown or bird-carried seed dispersal.

The Mosedale Holly can still be seen far below.  

The traversing path cuts sideways across the steep flanks of Mellbreak . . .

. . . heading slowly but inexorably down towards the valley.

Rather than follow the gentle line, we leave the path and head down to get to the track below.

Down through the shorter bracken . . . down to the track. 

As the bracken grows it will become more difficult to take this shortcut to the shimmering waters of the Mosedale Beck.

A quick visit to Harry's Pool but no photos this time . . . as we head back to the cottage.

"The long and winding road . . .
. . . that leads to the door "

. . . of the Kirkstile Inn.

Cheers !   

A great walk on a lovely day in the Lakes.

- - - o o o - - -

 

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon Sureshot SX220, or my Nikon P520 digital camera.

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

This site best viewed ... without falling in the water of Tom's Pool.

Go to Top . . . © RmH . . . Email me here

Previous walk - 27th May 2014 - Hopegill's Dodd with Ian

A previous time up here - 2nd June 2011 Mellbreak with the Family

Next walk - 1st June 2014 - (June) Ling Fell with Gareth