The English LakesBradley, A. G. (Arthur Granville)
History
The English Lakes
Bradley, A. G. (Arthur Granville)
Lake District (England)
Stern and wild enough under the shadow of night or beneath stormy skies,
Crummock thrusts its gradually narrowing point deep into richer scenes
of woody foot-hill, and radiant meadow, overlooked by the picturesquely
perched old hostelry of Scale Hill, familiar to generations of Lakeland
tourists. And here the Cocker leaps rejoicing and in fuller volume to
sparkle down the long, lovely vale of Lorton towards its junction with
the Derwent at Wordsworth's birthplace. A mile or so to the westward
Loweswater lies bewitchingly in the lap of fells, but overhung upon one
bank for its entire length by the opulent foliage of Holm Wood, and
lacking the more rugged features which dominate the others, seems to lie
somewhat aloof from them in quality as it does in fact.
But one privilege of a sojourn in the valley is its easy access, over
the single ridge that divides them, to the famous but secluded trough
of Ennerdale, lying parallel to that of Buttermere. The prospect from
Scarth Cap before descending into one of the wildest valleys in all
Lakeland has a peculiar grimness, for the long array of precipitous
steeps and crags that confront one above the twisting thread of the beck
hurrying down to Ennerdale Lake turn their savage fronts so
uncompromisingly to the north. The more radiant the summer morn, the
brighter the summer day, the darker by contrast with the interludes of
spring verdure that no north aspect can quench are the impenetrable
shadows which mask all detail, and make fearsome precipices out of
rugged but accessible steeps. For above them the Pillar Mountain almost
touches 3000 feet, and the far-famed Pillar Rock springing from its
outskirts, whose naked walls need no black shadows for their
enhancement. But this is wandering from our immediate subject, and
involving us in the group of big mountains that cluster round Scafell.
Far down the valley the lake of Ennerdale, in size and shape resembling
Crummock, glistens at the fringe of civilization. If local genii count
for aught, that of this valley, though not nearly so familiar, should
surely be "t'girt dog of Ennerdale".
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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