Theo and I set off on a beautiful autumn morning to go to the west side of Thirlmere and to complete two fells in a day. But.......the road to the west side of Thirlmere was still closed from a few months ago and so we had to go Catbells instead. But......there was nowhere any place close to Catbells to park. By this point I was beginning to wonder what the point to coming up here today.
We were both thinking we should have stopped in Grasmere and gone up Helm Crag to knock off Calf Crag and Gibsons Knott. Then I had a brainwave. We missed Great Mell Fell when we stayed in Threlkeld last month! So off we went. We parked up easily enough and off we went....The wrong way!
We went through the first gate which has a National Trust sign on it saying Mell Fell. The path which barely existed soon gave up on life and was nowhere to be seen!
Now you see a path...........
Now you don't!
We checked our bearings and realised a northwest direction should put us back on the proper path and, after cutting through some bracken which suggested we weren't alone in our folly, there was a proper path up the fell.
Fairly obvious one really.
This is another of those fells that is straightforward to get up. It's not the biggest (number 155 on the list) but once you get to the top of a clear day like this was the views are spectacular.
A spot of lunch was taken whilst we enjoyed the views before the obligatory photos of me and Theo at the top.
Theo now up to 40 of the Wainwright fells climbed!
I'm on 45, having climbed 38 of them this year. Maybe, if we get another glorious day like today, I can push that up to 40 in the year - not far from my original, if slightly optimistic target, of 50 in this calendar year!