_THE ENNERDALE CENTRAL GULLY AND TWO LITTLE CHIMNEYS_ There is no royal road to learning, and the converse proposition is equally true. There is no learning along a royal road. Some years ago I went up the Central Gully of the Gable behind an experienced climber, when conditions were at their best. It was a royal road to me, and I came away with but a vague notion of its difficulties, without having learnt anything. It is the leader that can give the truest description of an easy climb. Where the one man can do all the work, his followers go up without a thought beyond their rope’s length. When difficulties are shared discussion is necessary, and the memory is assisted by subsequent references to faulty moves or to troubles that all were instrumental in overcoming. It is astonishing how few men can recall the details of a rock climb to the extent of recapitulating the successive pitches in, say, two hours of gully work. And yet the faculty is well worth cultivating, inasmuch as it accentuates the pleasures of retrospection and may be called into active service by the inquiries of others wishing to follow. Indeed the best introduction to guideless climbing is to ascend rock peaks that we have afore-time accomplished with guides in front of us, where we shall find our memories taxed now and again in the effort to recall the route taken previously. To lie in bed and remember every foothold on the Matterhorn may require more ascents than one; but however wicked it is for a Zermatt guide to indulge in such a pastime, the average amateur may well envy him his accomplishment. [Illustration: PLATE IV. THE ENNERDALE FACE OF GREAT GABLE, Showing about 400 feet of Cliff. A Wind Gap. B Stony Gully. C The Oblique Chimney. D The Bottle-shaped Pinnacle Ridge. E The Sheep Walk. F The Ennerdale Central Gully. G Scree Gully. H The Doctor’s Chimney. K An Easy Scree Gully. L Gable Crag Traverse. X Engineer’s Chimney. _d_ The Bottle-shaped Pinnacle. _f_ Chimney Finish of F. _g_ Smuggler’s Retreat.] Quite recently I had the opportunity of joining a party up the Central Gully. We had come over to Gable Crag after an hour or two on the Eagle’s Nest _arête_ and the neighbouring rocks. Our plan was to get up the chief pitches in the gully, and then, instead of bearing up to the right at the foot of the final wall, to take to the narrow vertical chimney that passes up its centre and leads to the highest point of the crags--to treat it as an old friend with a new face.