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| The start of the track to Racy Cottage |
Slightly further along the track |
| Parking at the spot where the FRCC book says
is space for three carefully parked cars we got ready. It was quite cold
so every layer went on right from the start including John's new Berghaus
and my new Quechua . Parts of the track
were covered in ice and this made it interesting as we set off up the track,
well interesting for Sarah as she seemed to choose the ice to walk on!
Without any map of the area it was a case of setting off and seeing what
we would see! I knew that Great Mell Fell was not that big and any way
that led upwards was bound to reach the top eventually! |
|
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| Access onto Great Mell Fell |
And along the path on the eastern side |
| A short distance up the track was a National
Trust sign that announced that this was Great Mell Fell, so far so good
then! Passing over the stile we started to follow the path alongside a
fence. At first this was a nice easy path but after a short distance it
turned into a stream bed, this was strange, but it led upwards so it was
OK with us. |
|
 |
| Higher up the path |
Crossing Routing Gill |
| This stream come path thing began to gain height
and we soon found ourselves walking on snow. We had a choice of walking
in the stream bed or up next to the fence. I chose the fence but soon crossed
over the stream as Sarah warned me about walking to close to the barbed
wire with my new coat in case I snagged it. This was sensible advice! John
and Mike also started to keep away from the fence. Even though this was
easy walking John and Mike soon raced ahead and reached what turned out
to be Routing Gill and waited for me and Sarah to catch up. |
|
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| Heading up alongside Routing Gill |
The sort of path |
| Heading up by the side of Routing Gill there
seemed to be a sort of path. It was a sort of depression in the ground
that made its way straight up the fell side, something like a small drainage
ditch, it is really quite difficult to describe what it was! It had two
things in its favor though, 1) it headed upwards and 2) it had footprints
in it! Using this we quickly started to gain height with the only problem
being the dead bracken that was hidden under the snow, this tried its best
to trip you up at every step! By now it was not as cold as when we had
set off, John started his usual strip down routine now, removing his new
berghaus. I was a bit warm too, but I couldn't be bothered to take off
my coat! |
|
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| Fox tracks |
Little Mell Fell |
| Unfortunately John's sense of smell let him
down and it came as a surprise when we found a sheep carcass. Normally
John can smell these at a distance of a mile (See Selside
Pike and Branstree), he blamed the cold weather and the
wind blowing in the wrong direction. Not far away from the carcass we found
first one leg and then another leg of the sheep, I noticed some tracks
in the snow that I presumed where from a fox. We all agreed that whatever
was on the menu at the pub later we would not be eating lamb! |
|
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| Heading up the steep fell side |
Sarah trying out the micro sledge |
| For some reason the path sort of thing that
we had been walking in disappeared soon after and we were confronted with
quite a steep dead bracken strewn fell side. As they say the only way was
up and up we went. After all the christmas indulgence I found this hard
work, rather the dead bracken made it hard work! We headed straight up
amongst all the dead bracken, no paths or footprints, as well as no map
to guide us! For some reason I kept wanting to traverse across the fell
side to my right and then head up the slope, it seemed to be easier than
straight up. I was finding this hard work (Wimp!) At
last Sarah seemed to tire as well and a break was called. I suggested to
Sarah that now was the time to try out the sledge as there was a fair amount
of snow about. Unfortunately this was the wrong sort of snow! After sitting
on the sled for just a few seconds without making any downwards progress
Sarah sank into the snow, it was too soft, or not frozen or Sarah was not
a kid or the sled was defective or something! |
|
|
| Deep snow amongst the trees |
Leaving the trees as we near the summit plateau |
| Soon we came across a strange area of devastation,
well I say soon but it really took us quite a while. The snow that we were
walking on insisted on giving way at every step, plunging you shin deep
into the snow, sometimes the snow supported our weight but mainly it just
gave way and made each step forwards an adventure, we really did not know
if we would sink of walk, an interesting but frustrating experience! Getting
back to the devastation, most of the trees around here had been uprooted,
the ones that remained standing looked rather worse for wear! It must get
very, very windy up here! We came across a likely looking spot for a sledge
run and the others began to try it out. At first it was like Sarah's' first
attempt but once a track had been compressed into the snow they had much
more success! |
|
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| An uprooted tree |
A solitary tree on the way to the summit |
| I did not hang around to see this sledging as
I wanted to get a bit of a head start on them. I wandered upwards trying
to find a way amongst the fallen trees, If there was not a fallen tree
trunk in the way then the over hanging branches made progress a somewhat
zigzag sag affair! It was fun though, accompanied all the time by the laughter
of the others as they began to gain more success at this sledging thing! |
|
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| Looking across the fell side |
The others rejoin me after there fun |
| Leaving the shelter of the trees I came out
onto the open fell side. It was quite windy and very cold. Up here the
wind had blown most of the snow away, leaving some left between the tussocks
of grass. It was still hard work walking and I can remember one occasion
when I sank knee deep into the snow! It was very strange up here, in the
cloud there was nothing to see apart from the gently sloping fell side
and the wind swept trees. On the odd occasion when the cloud did lift it
went even stranger. The clouds lifted, or were blown away but you could
sort of see that clouds were being formed off the fell side that I was
on. The wind sort of took some moisture off the snow and blew it away,
it was very surreal, something that I have never noticed before. I was
left on my own up here for quite a while until I spotted the others coming
up towards the solitary tree that I waited behind. They had had fun sledging
whilst I had been totally engrossed in the weather and what it was doing (I
really need
to get out more!) |
|
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| The summit plateau |
Nearing Great Mell Fell's summit |
| Once we were all together again we regaled
each other with story's of sledging and weather patterns, I think the sledging
sounded more fun! The summit came into view and as we walked up towards
it we startled a grouse, I think it was a grouse, it was one of those birds
that live in the heather or bracken anyway. I don't know who was more startled,
us or the bird, it made lots of noises as it flew away! |
|
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| The summit of Great Mell Fell |
The terrible trio plus one at Great Mell Fell's summit |
| At last the summit was reached, no snow and
no view! After taking a picture of us all at the top we had a wonder round
to see if we could see the large patch of snow that we had seen from the
A66. It overlooked Troutbeck so I wondered over and found no trace of it.
I did not want to go too far as this side of Great Mell Fell gets very
steep, I did not want to retrace my steps back up if I couldn't find
the snow (Lazy or what!) |
|
|
| Looking north towards Souther Fell, Bowscale Fell and Carrock Fell |
Looking south west towards the higher eastern fells |
| Without any signs of snow up here I returned
to the summit and contemplated taking a 360 degree panorama. With the cloud
level so low it wasn't worth it! I got a brief glimpse of some of the Northern
Fells but could not see as far as Blencathra, something that I had been
looking forward to! Looking the other way towards the Dodds looked quite
interesting. I could not really make out any of the summits but it looked
very cold and bleak, not a day to be up there then! |
|
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| Looking over Troutbeck |
Mike surveying the high fells |
| I had another wonder over towards Troutbeck,
took another photo and rejoined the others at the summit. I was tempted
to wait up here for the cloud to go somewhere else so I could get my panorama
but the others decided to head back the way we came for some sledging (Democracy
in action once more!) John followed a path that led in a slightly
different direction to see if he could find a likely spot. Mike took a
glance at the higher fells once more before joining us on our way back
down. The original photo looks quite good, it gives the impression of wanting
to be "over there" and not here. Oh well, that's file sizes and download
times and stuff for you! |
|
|
| John returning from his search for snow |
John and Sarah deep in thought |
| Heading back down Sarah was making a beeline
for somewhere else, I had to point her in the right direction. I knew that
there was a great big patch of snow near to the solitary tree that I had
waited for them, Sarah was not heading for this at all! Once heading in
the right direction I got chatting to John. We started talking about the
photos that I use on this web site, he commented on the fact that there
don't seem to be many of us doing things, something that shows what we
do, too many photos of the scenery! I was surprised by this, I must admit
that I do sometimes tell them to get out of the way when I am taking a
photo of some scenery but I thought that I did a not too shabby job, I'm
not David Bailey but I do try! in fact I thought that this was a bit harsh
so I purposely started pointing the camera at him for the rest of the day! |
|
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| John finds his perfect snow |
and narrowly misses Sarah |
| Wen we reached the snow by the solitary tree
the sledging began. I waited patiently for my turn, taking loads of photo's
of John and the other two. Once I thought I had proved a point it was my
turn! |
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| Mike getting it wrong! |
And a rare shot of the author! |
| This was great fun (testing
the suitability of the sledges for children!) We had found a great
spot, a gentle slope that was hard enough to provide a good run until we
reached that point where speed slowed and we just sank into the softer
snow, usually with a back wrenching jolt! |
|
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| John try's out a new technique |
Sarah using the conventional method |
| We tried different routes and different angles
across the slope (all in the knowledge that my kids
would appreciate the effort we took in test driving the sledges!) John
tried a snow shoes method, Mike went backwards , Sarah just found it fun
whichever way she tried! |
|
|
| Mike |
John |
| The more we followed a previous track the faster
the sleds went, the compacted snow made a sort of track that got faster
and faster! I took loads of photos of the others having fun, even managing
to try out the odd run or two myself. After about half an hour we all decided
that we should head back down to the place where they had sledged before,
time for some dinner and a brew before some more sledging! |
|
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| John (again!) |
Heading back down to the previously prepared place |
| John had to have one last go of course! We headed
back down and Sarah again insisted on going in the wrong direction. I had
no map or compass, well I did have a compass because I had given it to
Sarah as she was in charge of navigating, not much use without a map really!
I have noticed this in the past about Sarah on the fells, no sense of
direction, funnily enough you find the same thing when women drive, no
sense of direction (Oops!) |
|
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| Track repairs being undertaken |
whilst the author makes the hot chocolate! |
| Pointing her back in the right direction we
soon found ourselves back at the place where they had been sledging before.
Whilst the others set about vital track repairs I set up the cooker to
make some hot chocolate. This was my secret weapon for this time of year,
the hot chocolate would be welcome warmth and something a bit tasty instead
of the luke warm coffee in my flask or Sarah's sort of hot soup! The only
problem was I spilt the pan just as it was ready to pour out amongst everyone.
There was only enough for two cups now, even though John swears that he
only got a quarter of a cup! To stop a mini riot I heated up Sarah's soup
for her, I think she was impressed, especially as John and Mike looked
on in envy at the steam rising from the pan as she tucked into it! |
|
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| Sarah enjoying her hot soup whilst John and Mike look on in envy! |
A three man bob sleigh |
| The next hour or so was spent sledging! The
more we gouged a track into the snow the faster we went, the more people
we had together the further we went! This was fun! |
|
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| Mikes face says it all. Fun, Fun, Fun! |
Until the crash landing |
| We must have climbed the equivalent of Scafell
Pike the number of times we trudged back up to the start point, every run
made the track longer and longer! |
|
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| A three man sledge with the author steering! |
Mike making more track repairs! |
| Occasionally we had the odd derailment and
had to spend time repairing the track, this then helped to increase speed
higher up and meant an even further increase in distance lower down. There
is science in this sledging business! Mike even admitted to breaking one
of the sleds as he hit a hidden tree root thing lower down the slope (It's
a good job we tested the sleds before the kids got hold of them!) |
|
|
| John going backwards! |
The long trudge back up to the starting position |
| John seemed to be in the freestyle mood as he
quite often went spinning around and traveling backwards at great speed,
I have some cracking video taken with the camera that shows John hurtling
downhill totally out of control and me trying to get out of the way, unfortunately
I don't know how to put it onto the web! I know it was one of those had
to be there sort of things but it was funny! |
|
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| Trying to un entangle a three person sleigh after a crash |
Mike trying the one man method again |
| As time passed by we eventually reached the
end, of the snow that is! The sled run had outgrown its usefulness as over
time we had managed to get further and further downhill. It was getting
to be hard work walking back up to the start point! Enough was enough and
the pub was open now! |
|
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| The last ride of the day |
Heading across slope |
| With one last ride we set off back to the car.
I decided that it would be a good idea to walk across the top of Routing
Gill and walk down the other side from which we ascended (I don't really
like retracing my steps) So off we went. It was not easy to walk across
the snow again as we occasionally sank down to the shins again or not as
the case may be, hard work! |
|
| Little Mell Fell |
| At last I managed to get a photo of another
hill, even if it was only Little Mell Fell! The weather was greatly improved,
or was it our spirits that had improved after the sledging. |
|
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| Gowbarrow Fell and Place Fell in the distance |
Deep snow again, hard work! |
| Passing past the top of Routing Gill I started
to head downhill towards the woods that were above the track that we had
originally set out on. The snow over here looked like it could be sledged
down (another reason for coming this way) but
it was the same as Sarah had originally tried, too soft. |
|
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| John tried running down, until he fell! |
Looking back up towards the tree line |
| At one stage John got a bit frustrated with
this so he decided to see if he could run down the slope without sinking
in. This he managed for about ten paces before he dramatically tripped
and fell, I thought that this was funny! |
|
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| The higher eastern fells |
Heading back down through the trees |
| Leaving the snow we soon reached the woods.
As I look at my maps now I can see that there is a path that follows the
top of the wood around to the track to Racy Cottage. Unfortunately as there
was still the odd bit of snow we couldn't see any path so it was into the
trees and straight down for us. Most of the time this was OK but soon Sarah
and myself started to lag behind John and Mike. |
|
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| The car is down there somewhere! |
Sarah having fun going down hill |
| This was hard work and unfortunately my toes
began to hurt, back to the doctors on monday for me then and some more
of those Hydrochloroquinine tablet things again! As we left the snow we
were confronted with a steep fell side full of dead leaves. This was very
slippy and I had to get out a walking pole, I offered one to Sarah saying
how much easier it made going down, that is until I managed to slip and
fall! Sarah declined, trying her best not to laugh at my slip! Of course
there was no sign of John or Mike but we soon spotted my car through the
trees, is that navigation for you or what! No map and an unused compass
and I still managed to get us back to the car in one go. I bet that if
I had wings I could even fly south for the winter! |
 |
| The GPS Track log from today's outing.
Does the big white area represent 1) The snow or 2) A serious flaw in the
Anquet (Harvey's) mapping of the Lake District. I will let you decide! |
| Back at the car we somehow managed
to dislodge all of the snow that had found it's way to where it wasn't
wanted and got changed into dryer clothes. I even managed to leave behind
my solitary walking pole there! I had obviously got my "lets get to the
pub" head on! |
|
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| Aprez ski in the Cross Keys Inn in Tebay |
| So that was Great Mell Fell. According to John
before we set foot on the fell, not worth the drive, but I guess we all
had fun in the snow. Now it was time for some food and the Cross Keys Inn
in Tebay was just there waiting for us! |
|
Arriving there with an hour or so before
they started serving food we had no choice but to indulge in some games
of pool and darts (its
a hard life!) Once again I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws
of victory, at both pool and darts! I thought that my luck would change
as I played Sarah at darts. At first she needed to stand on a stool to
enable her to reach the top half of the dart board. I was fooled into
a sense of superiority then! Don't ever take on Sarah at any sort of
game, she always wins (well against me she does!)
The great thing about the Cross
Keys is two fold 1) the food is excellent and 2) it is quiet enough
to get on the pool table or darts board. After a walk we used to drive
straight home and then eat, well I did! Then for some reason we started
to visit various pubs for food as well as an after walk drink. I think
we all agree that the Cross Keys Inn at Tebay is the best pub that we
have come across so far. The Black Bull in Coniston must be our next
fav pub. |
| Sarah needed a couple of extra inches to ensure
she could hit the dart board! |
| It will take a lot to dislodge the Cross Keys
Inn from our number one spot, the steak and mushroom pie is out of his
world! Sarah had a steak on a plate that was bigger than my sink!, John
somehow managed to forget the dead sheep that we had come across and had
Lamb Henry, plus his half a pound of pepper that usually gets everyone
in the pub sneezing! We all enjoyed the food and then it was time for home.
Great Mell Fell was one of those little fells that I had often thought
about how to make interesting, today's weather did that for me! |
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