=Pike o' Stickle=, also known as _Steel Pike_ and sometimes as the _Sugarloaf_, drops into Langdale from the north in one continuous slope, which for length and steepness has not many rivals in England. The top piece of the hill is curiously symmetrical, and resembles a haycock or a thimble. It is not easy to find satisfactory climbs on it. Mr. Gwynne says of it: 'A very fine peak, that, viewed from the valley, has very much the appearance of the Mönch. It runs down towards the _Stake_ Pass in a spur, which must be the starting-point of most of the climbs on this mountain. There is a curious gully here, too, which is worthy of the climber's attention. It does not run from top to bottom, but suddenly begins about the middle of the crag. The difficulty is to get at this gully, and some pretty climbing can be obtained in the attempt.' =Pillar Rock.=--There are but three directions from which the _Pillar_ is commonly approached--namely, Ennerdale (Gillerthwaite), Buttermere, and Wastdale Head. In each case the guide-books (except Baddeley's) exhibit a suspicious shyness of specifying any time for the walk. Wherever the present writer gives times, they must be understood to be the quickest of which he happens to have made any note; for the best test of times is a 'reductio ad minima.' A journey may be indefinitely prolonged, but it cannot be shortened beyond a certain limit; thus, _Scafell Pike_ cannot be reached from Wastdale Head in much less than 60 minutes of hard going, while the walk up the Pillar Fell cannot be cut down much below 75 minutes. This supplies us with a trustworthy comparison, although for a hot day that pace is not to be recommended; in each case double the time is not more than a fair allowance. Never let yourself be hurried at starting, come home as hard as ever you like; it is the chamois-hunter's system, and by far the best. Baddeley seems to reverse the principle, for he allows 2 to 2-1/2 hours for the ascent via Black Sail, and says that it is shorter by Wind Gap; yet for the _descent_ from Wind Gap (which is, say, 20 minutes short of the summit) he gives as a fair allowance 2 to 3 hours. Perhaps he preferred conforming to what is apparently the approved fox-hunting style: [Illustration: PILLAR ROCK A, B, Summits of Shamrock; C, Shamrock gully; D, Pisgah; E, High Man; G, Curtain; H, Steep Grass; I, Foot of Great Chimney; I, K, Walker's gully; J, Low Man; L, J, West route; M, Waterfall; N, I, East Scree.] Harkaway! See, she's off! O'er hill and through whol We spank till we're gaily nar done, Than, hingan a lip like a motherless fwol, _Sledder heàmmward, but nit in a run_. [Illustration: PILLAR ROCK FROM THE NORTH A, _High Man_; B, _Low Man_; C, _Shamrock_; D, _Walker's gully_; E, Below this is the _waterfall_. The _terrace_ runs past the foot of Walker's gully to the foot of the _waterfall_.]