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
=Hell Gill.=--There are many gills and becks bearing this name. Speaking
of one in Yorkshire, Leland says it is 'a Bek called Hell Gill because
it runnithe in such a deadely place. This Gill commithe to Ure.' The
idea is amplified by Camden: 'Where Richmondshire bordereth upon
Lancashire amongst the mountaines it is in most places so vast,
solitary, unpleasant and unsightly, so mute and still also that the
borderers dwelling thereby have called certaine riverets creeping this
waie "Hellbecks." But especially that about the head of the river Ure,
which having a bridge over it of one entier stone falleth downe such a
depth, that it striketh in a certaine horror to as many as looke downe.'
The best known Hell Gill, which at one time had considerable reputation
as a climb, is quite near the foot of _Bowfell_ on the Langdale side.
Though on a small scale, it is highly picturesque. The south fork is
hardly passable in ordinary weather owing to a small waterfall, below
which is a deep pool flanked by perpendicular walls of rock, and except
in very dry seasons it is necessary to crawl up the red rotten slabs,
steep, slimy, and wet, which form the north fork. The gill should be
visited more often than it is, as it is directly on one of the best ways
up the mountain from Dungeon Gill and Langdale generally.
=Helm Crag.=--Colonel Barrow, speaking of this hill, observes that
climbing among these rocks requires care. There are places quite as
dangerous and as difficult as on any rock-work on the Alps. He was
deterred from climbing the rock which is supposed to resemble a mortar,
by a slab of rock slanting sideways, but in his opinion there was no
great difficulty, except that arising from the absence of hold for hand
and foot--an exception of some importance.
=Helvellyn.=--A mountain which belongs equally to Grasmere and to
Patterdale, though the latter has by far the finest side of it.
_Striding Edge_ on this side was at one time considered to present
terrors such as the hardy mountaineer was not likely to encounter
elsewhere. This side is cut up into deep coves, which are exceedingly
steep and afford many opportunities for scrambling, and near the path in
Grisedale there is one of the numerous _Eagle Crags_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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