Climbing in The British Isles. Vol. 1 - England — John Shaqi
Climbing in The British Isles. Vol. 1 - EnglandHaskett Smith, W. P. (Walter Parry)
History
Climbing in The British Isles. Vol. 1 - England
Haskett Smith, W. P. (Walter Parry)
Mountaineering -- England; Mountains -- England -- Guidebooks
=Buttermere=, a pleasant stopping-place from which many of the
Cumberland fells can be explored. It is a good centre for _Grassmoor_,
_Melbreak_ and the _Red Pike_ range, while _Borrowdale_ and _Ennerdale_
are quite within reach. Once a day the Keswick waggonettes swoop upon
the place, bringing trippers by the score, but at other times it is a
quiet and enjoyable spot.
=Calf (The)= (2,220 ft.), in Yorkshire, near _Sedbergh_. _Cautley Crag_,
on the E. side of it, is very steep. In this corner of the county the
Yorkshire climber experiences the intense relief of seeing rocks which
are neither chalk, limestone, nor millstone grit.
=Camping.=--Camping out by rivers has always been more popular in
England than the same form of airy entertainment among the mountains.
The labour of carrying tents or sleeping-bags acts as the chief
deterrent. It is true that some thirty years ago a distinguished member
of the Alpine Club applied to Scafell Pike, and one or two other spots
where England is loftiest, the practice, which he has carried out on
many of the higher peaks of the Alps and Pyrenees, of watching sunset
and sunrise from the loftiest possible _gîte_ which the mountain can
afford. Mr. Payn, too, has given us a most humorous narrative of how he
and his friends encamped on Fairfield. Also, about twenty years ago,
four stalwart climbers from Penrith made a regular camping tour of the
Lakes. Their tent was pitched on these spots: Penrith Beacon, Red Tarn
on Helvellyn, in Langdale under Pike o' Stickle, Sty Head, in Ennerdale
under Gable Crag, and on Honister. It weighed only 5-1/2 lbs., and yet
had a floor space of 8 ft. by 8 ft.
It may be that, just as bicyclists suffered by the scathing definition
'cads on casters,' so the enthusiasm of the camper may have received a
check when he heard himself described with cruel terseness as 'a fool in
a bag.' Perhaps, again, our climate is not one which offers much
encouragement to any but the hardiest of campers. In the Lakes by far
the most popular (and probably, therefore, the most convenient) place
is the shore of Ullswater, where tents have been seen even in the depth
of winter.
=Carl Crag= lies on the sea-shore in Drigg parish. Mr. Jefferson says
that it is of syenite, and measures in feet twelve by nine by five and a
half, but it is deep in the sand. The legend is that while Satan was
carrying it in his apron to make a bridge over to the Isle of Man, his
_apron strings (q. vid.)_ broke and let it fall. It is probably an
erratic. With the name compare _Carlhow_, _Carlwark_, &c.
=Carrs=, in Lancashire, in the _Coniston_ range, north of the _Old Man_.
It is craggy on the east side. In _Far Easdale_ there is a line of crag
which bears the same name. Clearly neither can have anything to do with
'carrs' in its usual sense in the north, viz. 'low marshy ground.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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