It is 3 years almost to the day that I was last on top of Great Mell Fell and I thought of that walk as I climbed. It was memorable as Connie was with me that day and some of the things we got up to made me smile; the weather turned out to be remarkably similar too. I ended up at Great Mell Fell almost by accident today as it was not my intended walk – that was over in Mardale – but the rain over there was like stair rods bouncing higher than the car. This upturned pudding basin stood out clearly from the greyness of most of the rest of the Lake District so that was good enough for me. I have to admit that this is far from my favourite and Great Mell and Little Mell Fells would certainly be in my bottom 10. Walking grassy and boggy slopes does not really do it for me; I much prefer some Lakeland rock underfoot but that was not to be today.

The sun started shining by the time we reached Ullswater at lunchtime. We stopped off near Glencoyne Bridge to see Wordsworth’s daffodils before ascending Great Mell Fell, that great pudding basin, in the sunshine. We had good views from the top with plenty of snow visible on the higher fells. On the way down we could see a band of hailstones coming from the east which caught us just before we got to the car. Great Mell Fell and all views were completely obliterated when the storm reached us.