Low Fell and Fellbarrow

Tuesday 23rd December 2025

On my second day in the Lake District last Christmas I continued my quest to bag the Wainwrights that I had previously done only once before. A Wainwright is a hill, known as a fell, in the Lake District that Alfred Wainwright devoted a chapter to in his seven pictorial guides to the Lakeland Fells. To bag a Wainwright means to visit the summit of the fell and the first Wainwright I wanted to bag on this day was Whinlatter, a fell in the north western part of the Lake District, north of the pass that is named after the hill. There is a car park at the top of Whinlatter Pass so after parking there I set off for a short distance along the road to a forestry track that climbs through the conifers north of the road and it wasn’t long before the experience of walking along the track and climbing the hill was easing my mind of the worries and weight of the modern world. At a junction I had a view through the trees, but hardly anything could be seen of the valley below so I turned around and headed along the path that continued the climb until I reached a gate that led me out of the wood and onto the open fell. Initially I had to climb up beside the fence until a clear path appeared heading across the broad ridge leading me towards the top of Whinlatter. The ground was wet and boggy with low cloud all around me, but it was not particularly thick and at least it wasn’t wet or windy, which is all I really ask. Before too long I reached Whinlatter Top, the highest point on the fell, but there was little to see so I turned around and retraced my steps.

However, when Wainwright wrote his guides the only top that the Ordnance Survey acknowledged on Whinlatter was at Brown How, at the western end of the ridge, so that is the location of Wainwright’s summit. I did not realise this when I climbed it last Christmas and looking at modern Ordnance Survey maps the east top is now shown as higher than Brown How and named as Whinlatter Top, so that was as far as I went. When I previously visited Whinlatter in 2007 the weather had been good and I traversed the entire ridge as far as Brown How as part of an epic walk. Bagging summits is a rather pathetic activity in this way, up and down in less than an hour for no other purpose. Who cares if I actually ‘bagged’ the Wainwright summit? Back at my car I drove down the other side of the pass into Lorton Vale and parked at Lanthwaite. My goal now was a pair of hills that I had previously climbed Christmas 2010 and I began with a pleasant walk through Lanthwaite Wood to reach Scalehill Bridge before branching right across a couple of fields and up towards the steep slopes of Low Fell. An interesting woodland path took me across the foot of the hill before finally turning left to ascend via a diverted path which did little to relieve the steep gradient, so after working up a sweat I finally reached the top of Low Fell.

Despite the misty conditions I had great views south across Crummock Water and towards the Loweswater Fells, so I lingered for a while, eating my lunch, before finally setting off along the path that traverses the fells, which was an enjoyable walk because it was clear and not too muddy along the gently undulating ridge. Eventually I climbed up to the northern top of this pair of Wainwright fells, Fellbarrow, soon turning around and branching left across the top of Meregill Beck to reach a clear track, an old drove road, that provided me with an easy and pleasurable descent all the way down to the tiny community of Thackthwaite. A lengthy walk along a narrow, country lane brought me back to Scalehill Bridge where the bridleway through Lanthwaite Wood led me back to my car. Now, it was only two o’clock and even at this time of the year I still had a couple of hours of sunlight left, which is the same problem I had fifteen years earlier after climbing Fellbarrow and Low Fell for the first time. My solution on that occasion was to climb Binsey, a small hill on the northern edge of the Lake District, and this seemed to be my best option again. I made my way past Bassenthwaite Lake to a side road off the A591 road, and parked in the same place I had parked in 2010, not far from a muddy track that directed me up the hill towards Binsey. After crossing the fell wall I found a good, firm path that led me all the way up to the windswept summit of Binsey.

I had previously visited this fell twice before, first in 2008 in the dark and then in 2010 while the sun was setting. Although it was also late afternoon for my third ascent, the time stamp on my pictures indicates that I was now at the summit more than half an hour earlier than in 2010 so I had better light and much clearer views towards Bassenthwaite Lake and towards a small body of water that I had not noticed before, Over Water. I was overjoyed at having a proper view from the summit and during my descent down the other of Binsey, back down onto a road and along the quiet, country lane to my car while the light held. Although the weather on this day was not as good as on the day before, it was good enough for walking as it wasn’t windy, except on Binsey and that was not so blustery. It was very satisfying for me to be revisiting fells that I had not climbed in a long time, that lie on the edge of the Lake District and are difficult to reach without a car.

Mell Fell Medley

Monday 22nd December 2025

After a long and difficult autumn I was excited that it was finally Christmas and I could make my annual pilgrimage to that most delightful of places for walkers, the Lake District. Rather than taking the train, this time I thought I’d drive so after a long journey I made my way to Ullswater parking at the Hause, the top of the road that passes between Watermillock and Matterdale End. My goal on this short stay in the Lake District was return to the hills, known as fells, that I hadn’t visited for a long time with my first goal being to visit the fells in the north eastern corner called Little and Great Mell Fell following a walk on the O.S. Maps app called Mell Fell Medley. I was at the start of the path up Little Mell Fell, which I had visited only once before back in 2008 and neglected all these years mainly because it is very small and inconsequential, but because Wainwright devoted a whole chapter to it in his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, then it is obligatory to waste time climbing it. The ground was very muddy after the large amount of rain that the Lake District had recently endured but it wasn’t long before I had climbed the short, steep slope to the top. It was great to be walking and with the sun shining, though it was a bit hazy with cloud capping most of the fells, so the best views were probably towards the neighbouring fells. 

Previously I had gone straight up Little Mell Fell and back down the same way, but this time after reaching the summit I turned west to head towards Great Mell Fell crossing a series of gates and wire fences despite this being open access land. Eventually I reached a narrow road where I took a path across the shallow valley to reach another road and the start of the path up Great Mell Fell, which was much more interesting than the one on Little Mell Fell, and more prolonged, passing through bands of rock and trees on a good path until the gradient eased over the broad, waterlogged top. It felt great to be on top of a hill and I realised that the last time I had been this high was on the Cambrian Way more than six months earlier and my reward was a fabulous view towards Blencathra, despite the haze and cloud. Except for the two weeks I had spent last summer crossing Scotland and down the Northumberland coast I had hardly done any walking in the last six months, so I was feeling very emotional to be back in the Lake District and doing what I love. I dropped to the ground a short distance down the western slope from the summit to have my lunch and gaze in awe and wonder at my surroundings absorbing the feeling of being back in the Lake District.

The heat that I had generated during my ascent soon left me so when I set off to head back down the fell I had to don extra clothing including gloves and a woolly hat. A walker is always regulating their body temperature through many different ways from taking layers off and on all the way down to fine adjustments of your zip. Climbing a hill generates a lot of heat that soon dissipates when you stop, which needs to be carefully managed. I love it. Eventually I returned to the road where I had started my ascent of Great Mell Fell and now I headed south along the road branching right and then left to head towards the third fell in the Mell Fell Medley. Although there are only two Mell Fells, it is possible to add a third fell in Gowbarrow Fell, which is not far away and easily included. The road soon brought me to Ulcat Row below the impressive northern crags of Gowbarrow Fell, but there is no path up the steep slopes so I had to follow a path that passes below going all the way round Norman Crag and now I felt like I was really in the Lake District as the path passed over the rocks below the crags and eventually brought me to the western slopes and the path that climbs to the summit beside a wall. This was a typical National Trust, heavily manufactured, path that felt even more Lakeland, though Wainwright was dismissive of this route up saying it was less attractive than the alternatives. I appreciated the rapid ascent and I was still able to take in the view across Ullswater towards the sun setting over Glenridding.

I enjoyed the path as it snaked up the fell and eventually brought me to the summit of Gowbarrow Fell which I had previously visited just once before all the way back in 2007, more than eighteen years ago. A steep craggy descent, that I could or should have gone around, took me off the summit and onto an easy path that circles Gowbarrow Fell and provided me with an interesting walk until I reached the remains of a shooting lodge where I turned left into a conifer plantation, Swinburn’s Park, on a good path that eventually brought me to the road that passes over the Hause. This was a great, little walk over three minor fells that vary considerably. Great Mell Fell deserved to be climbed if only for the view of Blencathra, while the ascent of Little Mell Fell is too short to be worthwhile. Gowbarrow Fell is a great little fell on its own and deserved more time spent exploring it than I had on this occasion or even in 2007.