The Mell Fells & Gowbarrow Fell
Start The Hause
Getting here Parking: Roadside parking for Watermillock Fell (free), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the UB1 and UB2 stop at Horrockwood, opposite The Quiet Site, a 1.0 km walk and 106 m of ascent from this start. The UB2 runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Hard distance: 15.78 km — a long day out. Hard steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 26% around the 4.1 km mark.
Before you choose
Conditions on this route
We score every Lakeland Wainwright each morning on cloud, wind, rain and underfoot, and this route crosses 3 of them. The worst summit governs the verdict — a route is only as kind as its roughest top.
Modelled guidance — not a substitute for the mountain forecast or your own judgement. See how every fell ranks today →
Daylight & turnaround
Daylight is short from October to February — check today’s sunrise and sunset before you set off, and carry a head-torch and spare batteries. On short days, decide your turn-back time before you start.
See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.
Route map
1 Little Mell Fell2 Great Mell Fell3 Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit)
Easy 85%Moderate 14%Hard 1%Severe
Heights on this chart and its high point are read from the track itself (a terrain model sampled along the line, or a GPS recording), so a top can differ from its listed height, usually reading lower.
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
The elevation profile is under the map; the stage notes follow.
The walk, stage by stage
- 1
Start → Little Mell Fell (0.5 km, 127 m)
Climb of about 127 m over 0.5 km (around 25% average).
- 2
Little Mell Fell → Great Mell Fell (4.4 km, 288 m)
Descent of about 252 m, then a climb of about 288 m, over 4.4 km.
- 3
Great Mell Fell → Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) (6.6 km, 251 m)
Descent of about 267 m, then a climb of about 251 m, over 6.6 km.
Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) → Finish (4.2 km, 111 m)
Descent of about 171 m, then a climb of about 111 m, over 4.2 km.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
Summits bagged (3)
- 1Little Mell Fell505 m
- 2Great Mell Fell537 m
- 3Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit)481 m
In the order you walk them — the same numbers the elevation profile, the stage notes and the pacing table use.
Conditions and timing
Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS (opens in new tab) and the Met Office mountain forecast (opens in new tab) before you set off.
When the sun reaches the tops
Not sunrise — the moment the sun clears the skyline from that summit, which on a fell with high ground to its east can be a good deal later.
- Little Mell Fell — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:15, with the sunrise. In late September, about 07:00.
- Great Mell Fell — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:15, with the sunrise. In late September, about 07:00.
- Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:15, with the sunrise. In late September, about 07:00. It waits longest in late December — about a quarter of an hour after sunrise.
How to read these times
The two equinoxes are shown because they fall in the walking season, and late December too wherever a top keeps you waiting then; the clock gap between the equinoxes is British Summer Time, not the hill. Rounded to the nearest quarter hour and meant as a general idea, not a schedule.
Modelled from a 30 m elevation model against each summit’s own skyline — the same figures the fell pages carry, never observed. Cloud is not in it.
Getting there and back
Parking
Positions are approximate.
Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.
If the parking is full
There is no real plan B here. Every place we know beside this route serves the same walks and sits close together, so expect them to fill on the same mornings. Worth starting early, or having a different walk in mind before you set off.
- Great Mell Fell layby — joins the loop at about km 3.4 of 15.8: a 60 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Roadside parking for Watermillock Fell (free) — at the start
- The Hause, Little Mell Fell (verge) — at the start
We never say whether anywhere has spaces today. Walks to the line are measured along mapped paths (OpenStreetMap), not in a straight line. How we choose these places.
No signal when you get there? RoutePark keeps this list on your phone: choose this walk’s GPX at home, keep it, and it opens offline.
Buses
The UB1 and UB2 stop at Horrockwood, opposite The Quiet Site, a 1.0 km walk and 106 m of ascent from this start. The UB2 runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. We haven’t published last buses, Sunday or winter service yet, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back.
The UB1 passes this route at 0.1 km (Horrockwood, opposite The Quiet Site, 740 m off the line). Other services cross it too — 509 at 8.2 km. Seasonal: the UB1 does not run from 2 November 2026 to 21 March 2027. Seasonal: the 509 does not run from 2 November 2026 to 21 March 2027.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Planning detail
How each grade on this page is set, and the timings stage by stage.
Difficulty profile
Hard overall — hardest: Length and steepness; terrain not assessed; exposure not assessed on the ground
Five independent axes, not one score. None of them was set on the ground: they are computed from the recorded track and the map, which measures the line rather than surveying the ground.
How we grade: each axis is Easy, Moderate, Hard or Severe, and a route between two bands takes the higher one. Length: under 8 km, 8–14 km, 14–20 km, over 20 km. Steepness, the steepest 500 m of the track: under 15%, 15–25%, 25–35%, over 35%. Terrain, navigation and exposure are judged rather than measured, and each note says why. How we grade.
Pacing
| Summit | Cumulative | Ascent | Time (fast–steady) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Little Mell Fell | 0.5 km | 127 m | 0:19–0:26 |
| 2Great Mell Fell | 4.9 km | 415 m | 1:40–2:14 |
| 3Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) | 11.6 km | 665 m | 3:25–4:33 |
| Finish | 15.8 km | 776 m | 4:27–5:55 |
A fast–steady range from Naismith’s rule, deliberately on the slow side. Breaks, weather, rough ground and the slowest person in your party all add to it. How we time walks.
Access & barriers
Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
- Knees: A sustained ~30% descent over 250 m around the 5.8 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: stiles and gates. The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 26% around the 4.1 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: Stiles of unmapped type at 0.0, 0.1, 6.4, 8.5 and 11.0 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 24 October 2026)
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Moderate. From gradient only (~26% max) — mapped crag data unavailable; treat exposure as unverified.
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
- Ways off early: No path off the line is recorded, but it passes a bus stop where you could end the walk: the 509 at Matterdale End, outside Brook House Farm, about 8.2 km. The buses section says which bus and when.
- Livestock, shade and water: Not recorded for this route yet. We never call a stream safe for a dog to drink, so carry enough for both of you. The lead rules, and what to do around cattle, are on dogs on the fells.
On the line: 5 gates · 5 stiles (type unmapped)
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 24 October 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Aira Force — 3.8 km from this start
- Walks from Pooley Bridge — 4.8 km from this start
Straight-line distance from this walk’s start. Those lists hold the routes we have mapped and every Wainwright and Outlying fell within about 5 km of the town, ranked nearest first.
