Issue #95 Mellbreak: third time lucky?
Plus BST celebrations down by the river
Despite its relatively small size, Mellbreak looms ominously as you approach by road towards Crummock Water. Distinct from the surrounding peaks, it is a solid chunk of rock rising steeply out of the earth, craggy and roughly conical; the shape of a mountain if you were to draw one idly on a scrap of paper. On this sunny Sunday, Mellbreak loomed especially large having warded us away from its summit twice previously and this being our THIRD attempt and probably our final chance to redeem ourselves.
I say redeem, but redemption isn’t really what this was about. We don’t really set out to conquer summits, or have any particular desire to climb all the Wainwrights, but we do try to always have fun in the outdoors which we failed to do the last couple of times we were here, and we wanted to put that right.
In the car on the way, we made a deal in that no matter what happened we were getting to the summit. Even if one or other of us had to be carried up there. No matter how bad the weather, no matter what we had forgotten to pack or what injuries we picked up, we would not be beaten back a third time. It was mostly in jest, but partly serious. It was beginning to feel as if a spell had been cast on the summit; was the mountain itself barring us from getting to the top? Thou shalt not pass.
We planned to go straight up and back down the same way, the shortest most direct path, to get it over and done with. Despite a blustery wind and clouds that came and went, it was warm and the going was easy. No one cried. We were at the summit in no time - the whole thing was so pleasant and so much fun that it was laughable to think we had struggled previously.
We ended up extending the hike and taking a circular route along the edge of the lake, accompanied by gorse bushes glowing vivid yellow, the summery scent of coconut in the air and the sound of skylarks and meadow pipits chattering away merrily. The spell was broken.
I feel like there should be a lesson we can glean from this whole experience, but I’m not sure what it is. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again is the obvious one. But maybe another is that we needn’t feel bad about giving up on things if they are not going to plan, it’s ok to bail on a hike and try again on another day when things will be better. Adventures don’t always have to be about pushing yourself through hardships or conquering summits, they can also be about the simple pursuit of joy, beauty and a deeper connection to Nature.
It feels good to have finally succeeded where we failed previously. Mellbreak had become symbolic of other challenges we were all facing, perhaps in order to make peace with the mountain, we just needed to make peace with ourselves first.
BST
Every year, we celebrate the start of British Summer Time (BST). It’s big deal for us, we gain a whole hour of extra daylight in the evenings which increases scope for after school and after work adventures, for eating outside and for long hikes free from the threat of impending darkness. It is easier to go slow. Our yearly ritual celebration is to eat dinner outside on the first day of BST - this year we headed to one of favourite spots and fried steak, mushrooms and potatoes over fire which was absolutely delicious. The perfect way to welcome longer evenings spent outside…
Well, that’s all for this week. The weather has been ridiculously (alarmingly?) good for the last couple of weeks and everything is bursting into life. There’s a sort of frantic feeling that we need to make the most of it whilst we can, especially after last year’s dismal spring, so we’re hoping to be hiking and camping out as much as we can over the next couple of weeks.
Until next time, warmest wishes,
Andrew, Emma and Benji
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Ha! This was so much fun , and I love that challenge of not being defeated a third time!
I'm glad it was third time lucky for you - I've not climbed Mellbreak but it did go on our to-do list after a lovely walk over Rannerdale Knotts and around Crummock water a couple of years ago. The scree put me off, but going up it on a circular is probably easier than coming down the scree! It certainly looks beautiful in your photos.