Mellbreak is a hill in the Western part of the English Lake District. Despite being surrounded on all sides by higher fells (the Loweswater Fells, the High Stile Ridge and the Grasmoor Group), it stands in isolation. It is surrounded on three sides by a "moat" of deep marshy land, and on the east side by the lake of Crummock Water. The fell forms a partnership with the lake, running parallel to it, falling sheer into it, and regularly providing the backdrop for pictures of it. Name Mellbreak's name is derived from differing sources: the Celtic "moel", meaning "bare hill", and the later Old Norse of the Vikings, "brekka", which means a hill slope. Topography The Western Fells occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley. Mellbreak and the other Loweswater Fells form the extremity of the northern arm. The Loweswater Fells have been compared to the digits of a hand, radiating out south westward from the "palm" centred on Loweswater village. From the west these are Burnbank Fell, Blake Fell, Gavel Fell, Hen Comb and Mellbreak, the "thumb". To continue the hand metaphor, the opposing thumb of Mellbreak is the tenuous northern extremity of Starling Dodd, whilst the other Loweswater Fells are satellites of Great Borne. The fell has been likened (by Alfred Wainwright and others) to the shape of an upturned boat, having north and south tops of roughly equal height and a wide flat depression in between. On the eastern side the steep slopes run down directly to the shore of Crummock Water. Low Ling Crag, a rocky projection into the lake, is a continuation of outcrops higher up. Other crags rim the depression between the two tops. The southern boundary is formed by Scale Beck and its tributary Black Beck. Mellbreak has a third much lower top overlooking this steep sided valley, Scale Kott (1,109 ft). At the head of Black Beck is the connection to Starling Dodd, running south west from Scale Knott. This could hardly be considered a ridge in