Here’s a few images from today’s walk up GT & Little Mell Fells
We did well not to get a soaking as there were heavy showers following the A66 up the valley at Threlkeld and up the Ullswater side just catching some fine drizzle at the edges of the squalls .
I did 2m and 40m on Gt Mell but decided not to put the HF gear up as a grey wall approached from the W . Again we just got the edge of it as we descended .
On the way home we were passed by the Red Arrows heading low up the lake at Bassenthwaite beside us , heading North to a display at Ayr I believe .
Richard
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I’ve done the Mell Fells in all weathers, and they can be a bit unkind with no summit shelter.
I remember about 5-6 years ago doing Little Mell Fell one bleak winter’s day with a very strong summit wind blowing the fallen snow into a low-level white-out and trying to use my bothy bag as a windbreak for me and my two cocker spaniels. But - with the BB flapping noisily like a wild thing - the dogs were too spooked by my attempts. Almost a failed activation (thank goodness for regular 2m FM chasers).
About 2 weeks previous Steve M0XUP and I did Little Mell Fell with wind gust of 40 mph and rain. We had great difficulty keeping the roach pole and antenna up ,we only made 4 contacts in 30 minutes so made a haste retreat
Mrs XGO has a great set of photos again, i like the one over the trig point leading the eye in to the distance and same with the stone’s never the bog standard landscapes that i take
Reg
There seems to be a weather corridor running up The St Johns / Threlkeld valley and these fells can either be right in the path of the precipitation, or just miss it . The other day we were just getting the increased winds and the drizzle round the edges of the squalls . I remember one day sitting on Gt Mell in the sunshine while I was putting a few hours in while My Wife was doing her craft workshops at Greystoke . There were Huge grey columns of rain following the A66 line obscuring the Village from view , and she couldn’t weigh up how I’d not got wet as it had rained there very heavily on and off most of the day .
Many is the time we’ve hit a heavy downpour as you descend the hill on the road down toward Threlkeld and you come out of it by the Bridge over the R Greta where the road is bone dry .
Richard
Whilst daughter Raine was at County Hockey in Penrith one year Alex and I tackled Little Mell Fell and she definitely got close to hypothermia on there. Interesting about the weather route which would make sense.