Little Mell Fell

Matterdale from Little Mell Fell

Saturday, 29 June 2024

Ascent:       215 metres

Distance:    4 kilometres

Time:          57 minutes  

Little Mell Fell       505m    36mins

Gregor and I were on the way to Langdale, 40 years exactly since our first visit when Gregor was 3 months old and we climbed the Langdale Pikes, carrying and cajoling our three under four-year-old children. We watched the family grow and banked our memories as we explored every corner of the lakes. We swam, walked, climbed, sailed, canoed, raced, visited museums, attended events and had a drink and meals in most of the pubs. This year it was just the two of us.

We had started slightly late and after calling in at Penrith for some provisions, I thought there would be time to climb Great and Little Mell Fells. We headed east on the A66, Lakeland was dressed in dull colours and rain was threatening. We decided to climb Little Mell Fell from Green Barns after failing to find parking on the road to the north of the hill. We squeezed into the start of an unused tractor track that made a zig-zag to the higher slopes. At the end of the track, a small herd of cows with many calves were grazing with bucolic nonchalance.

The final part of the climb was through grasslands towards the lonely trig point. Ullswater snaked its way through the fells to the south and east and clouds skimmed the tops of the eastern fells. The music was provided by skylarks as they dipped and dived in the gentle breeze. We descended down the main path to the south to create a circuit and then headed back along an empty road to Lowthwaite and Green Barns. It was beginning to rain and time was pressing if we were to make Langdale in time for the Euros that began at 5pm. I suggested that we forget Great Mell Fell, it would allow Gregor to have a 9-kilometre run from Ambleside to Langdale if we continued via the Kirkstone Pass. I would sign in and unload the food and stuff for the week, it would jolt my memories of all the wonderful previous holidays with Aileen and the children. 

I checked the news before the game started. Amidst all the depressing news about the general election campaign and the fallout from Joe Biden's fall from grace during his debate with Trump, there was sad news about the death of Joss Naylor, the legendary 88-year-old fell runner. He had been an astonishing athlete on the hills, training by proxy as a sheep farmer on his hill farm in Wasdale. I had the pleasure of meeting him during a Mountain Marathon in North Wales when he was partnered by Mike Walford, one of my school cross-country colleagues who had become a successful fell runner in the Lake District. We sat with them by the tents at the end of the first day and Joss regaled us with tales from his remarkable career. He also competed in the world's biggest liar competitions held in the Bridge Inn pub in Wasdale every year but his achievements were the truth.

Great Mell Fell from the ascent of Little Mell Fell

Little Mell Fell 

Peak Joss Naylor