It turns out that the Lake District isn’t home to just one cat with a taste for adventure.
Melly, known as Melly the Mountain Cat on Instagram, has been on a mission to walk all 214 Wainrights since owners Amy Murfitt, 31, and Chris Manson, 40, started taking her in 2019.
The four-year-old Bengal cat is described by Amy as dog-like in nature, full of energy and easily bored, which means she needs a lot of stimulation and exercise to be happy.
But because Chris and Amy live on a main road, Melly’s safety was too much of a concern for them to let her outside alone.
So they started taking her on walks around where they live in Carnforth, but at first, they had to get Melly accustomed to her harness.
Amy said: “It took some doing, when we first put the harness on she tried to walk backwards out of it, but she got used to it in the end.
“We started on streets and Carnforth canal but it was just so busy with dogs we couldn’t keep going.
“So we took her to Arnside Knott and built up to doing the fells from there.”
Melly’s first proper climb was up Loughrigg Fell where the couple noticed her affinity for climbing everything from trees to crags.
Amy added: “She walks amazingly and she absolutely loves the climbing scrambly bits, people think she’s a dog at first but when they get nearer they’re like oh my gosh, I’ve never seen that before!”
“She likes it best when its Chris, me and her, when she feels like she’s got a pack. She likes to go in the middle of us and trots along beside us and she’ll stop and make Chris wait for me if he walks ahead.”
Melly’s Instagram was set up after the couple bumped into more and more people on the fells asking if she had one. They’ve even bumped into a few of their followers on their adventures.
Last year, Amy was gifted a book on the Wainwrights by Chris, which inspired the trio to take on the 214 peaks together. After now completing 170, they’ve had some very adventurous days out.
Melly’s favourite part of a climb is always the summit, where she enjoys clambering to the top of cairns and admiring the views.
Amy said: “We did Skiddaw and it was snowing, so that was pretty adventurous, it was fine on the bottom and as we got up higher and higher there was snow on the top and then it came over and it was an actual blizzard, the snow wasn’t new to her as she’s been out in it in our garden, she quite liked it.
“We also did Helvellyn early on back in the summer, that was really quite busy with people but she was so happy, and I mean, how many cats have been up Helvellyn? She did so well.”
Amy added that Melly has grown in confidence since going out on her adventures, and she no longer fears wet paws or the wind, but she still needs a bit of support when walking past cars.
The trio hope to finish the challenge in September, and Amy credits Melly for getting Chris into fell walking, which was originally only a hobby she had.
Aside from bashing out the Wainwrights, Melly has started paddleboarding, and she regularly visits cafes, she’s even visited Hawkshead Brewery and Bassenthwaite Lake Station.
The three of them plan to take on Ben Nevis and Snowdon next summer, so Melly can complete the big three.
Amy and Chris are also getting married next year and Amy wants Melly to walk down the aisle with the rings.
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