Flat Fell is a hill located on the edge of the English

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

, standing at 272m. It is included in

Alfred Wainwright Alfred Wainwright Order of the British Empire, MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalking, fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume ''Pictorial ...

's ''Outlying Fells of Lakeland'' book, sharing a chapter with Dent. Wainwright's clockwise route to the two summits starts at Wath Brow.

Topography

Flat Fell has an elongated, slug-shaped profile, with a steep slope known as Flatfell Screes at the Eastern end. Flatfell Screes forms the one side of the valley of the Nannycatch Beck, along which runs part of the

Coast to Coast Walk The Coast to Coast Walk is a long-distance footpath between the west and east coasts of Northern England, nominally long. Devised by Alfred Wainwright, it passes through three contrasting national parks: the Lake District National Park, ...

. Unlike Dent, Flat Fell is not forested and is mostly covered by open grassland, grazed by sheep and horses. The Southern and Eastern slopes are carpeted with large areas of

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that undergo alternation of generations, having both large plants that produce spores and small ...

and

Gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...

(Ulex europaeus).

Ascent

Flat fell is flanked by two rights of way; a bridleway along the Southern slope and a footpath along the Northern aspect. The latter links to the Fell Road at the

Kinniside Stone Circle Kinniside Stone Circle (or Blakeley Raise Stone Circle) is a reconstructed stone circle in the civil parish of Ennerdale and Kinniside in Cumbria, England (). Description Kinniside Stone Circle is situated next to the fell road from Ennerdale B ...

. Both tracks link together at the end of Nannycatch road, to the West. There are no distinct paths leading from either track to the summit.

Summit and Views

The Summit of Flat Fell is marked by a cairn (not present at the time of Wainwright's visit) and provides extensive views over West

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

and the fells of Dent, Grike,

Blakeley Raise Blakeley Raise is a fell in the English Lake District, standing at 389m. Unlike its neighbours Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg it is not listed as a Wainwright. Despite this lack of status, Blakeley Raise is a worthy climb, providing extensive v ...

and

Lank Rigg Lank Rigg is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands to the south of Ennerdale in the Western Fells. A sprawling hill with gentle grassy slopes it can be climbed from various points on the Coldfell road. It carries various remains from a ...

Gallery

Image: Flatfell.JPG , The Summit of Flat Fell, looking East towards Grike,

and

Image: Flat fell east face.jpg, East face of Flat Fell

References

{{Outlying Fells Fells of the Lake District Cumberland (unitary authority)