Part 2

The 'Lowgh' is, of course, Derwentwater, and Borrowdale is the heart of the finest scenery and the best climbing in England. It may be said to stretch from _Scafell_ to _Skiddaw_, and excellent headquarters for climbers may be found in it at _Lowdore_, _Grange_, _Rosthwaite_, and _Seatoller_. With the aid of its wad mines and its _Bowder Stone_, it probably did more during last century than anything else to arouse public interest in the Lake country. The natives were not famed for their intelligence, and many stories are told in support of their nickname of 'Borrowdale gowks.'

There is another _Borrowdale_ in Westmorland, and _Boredale_ is perhaps the same name.

=Bowder Stone= in _Borrowdale_ was already a curiosity about a century and a half ago, when it was visited by Mr. George Smith, the correspondent of the _Gentleman's Magazine_. Clarke, writing some years later, says it bore the alternative names of _Powderstone_ and _Bounderstone_; and being 'thirty-one yards long by eight yards high, must therefore weigh over 600 tons, and is said to be the largest self-stone in England.' It is not really a 'boulder' at all, but the word is rather loosely used in Cumberland.

=Bow Fell= (2,960 ft.).--The name is probably the same as that of _Baugh Fell_, also called _Bow Fell_, in Yorkshire. This graceful peak, standing as it does at the head of several important valleys--_Eskdale_, _Langdale_, _Dunnerdale_, and _Borrowdale_--is a great feature in Lake scenery. There is not much rock-work on it, but a good deal of rough walking and scrambling. From _Borrowdale_ or _Wastdale_ it is approached by way of _Esk Hause_. On this side there is no climbing, except that _Hanging Knot_, as the N. end of Bow Fell is called, descends to _Angle Tarn_ in a long, steep, rocky slope which offers a pleasant scramble.

On the _Eskdale_ side there is a gully or two which might be worth exploring.

By inclining to the right hand on emerging at the top of _Hell Gill_, or to the left hand from the pony-track at the foot of _Rossett Gill_ we reach _Flat Crags_, huge glacier-planed slopes of rock, overlooked by what in winter is a fine _couloir_ of most alpine appearance. When Messrs. J. & A.R. Stogdon ascended it (_Alpine Journal_, v. p. 35) the inclination of the snow increased from 30° at the foot to 63° after 350 ft. or more, and there was a large cornice at the top. In the account which the same party inserted at the time in the Wastdale Head Book steeper angles are given.

In summer it is merely an open scree-gully; but the insignificant-looking chimney just N. of it, and only separated from it by a narrow ridge, is quite worthy of attention, though it has but one pitch in it after the one at the foot. The descent is harder than the ascent, and takes about twenty minutes.

There is a fine rocky walk along the S. ridge, called _Shelter Crags_ and _Crinkle Crags_, which descends towards the head of Dunnerdale, but it is extremely unfrequented.

=Bram Crag= and _Wanthwaite Crag_ flank the coach road between _Threlkeld_ and _Grasmere_ on the east. The best part is rather more than two miles south of Threlkeld station. The climbing is somewhat similar to that about _Swarthbeck_ on Ullswater, but on better and sounder rock, and there is more of it. A good day's work will be found among these crags, and a fine specimen of a 'sledgate' is deserving of notice.

=Brandreth= is between _Borrowdale_ and the head of _Ennerdale_. The name, which occurs elsewhere in the neighbourhood, denotes a tripod (literally a 'grate,' usually made with three legs). The meeting-point of three boundaries of counties, parishes, &c. is often so named. Brandreth has only one short bit of bold rock--one of the many _Raven Crags_. It is hardly worth a special journey, but may very easily be taken by any one who attacks _Great Gable_ from _Borrowdale_.

=Brimham Rocks=, in Yorkshire, are very easily visited from Harrogate or from Pateley Bridge. From the latter they are only four miles to the eastward. The station for those who come from Harrogate is Dacre Banks, from which the Rocks may be reached in an hour's walking. They are of millstone grit and well deserve a visit, for nowhere are the grotesque forms which that material delights to assume more remarkable. Some resemble the sandstone forms common about Tunbridge Wells, and many might very well stand for Dartmoor Tors; but others at first sight seem so evidently and unmistakably to suggest human handiwork that one can feel no surprise at the common notion that they were fashioned by the ingenuity of the Druids. Several of them, though very small, can only be climbed with considerable difficulty.

=Broad Stand=--a term commonly but, in my opinion, incorrectly used to denote a particular route by which the crags of _Scafell_ may be ascended direct from _Mickledoor_. There are numerous other places within a few miles of this into the names of which this word 'stand' enters, and a consideration of them leads me to the belief that it signifies 'a large grassy plot of ground awkward of access.' This is exactly what we find here. A break in the cliffs produces a large open space which is the key to the ascent by the _Mickledoor Chimney_, to that by the _North Climb_, and to that which, being the oldest, easiest, and most frequented, has arrogated to itself as distinctive the name of a feature which it should only share with the other two. Really all three routes are merely different ways of reaching the Broad Stand.

One of the earliest recorded ascents is that of Mr. C.A.O. Baumgartner in September 1850, an account of which was sent by one of the people of the dale to the local paper in these terms: 'The Broad Stand, _a rocky and dangerous precipice_, situated between _Scaw Fell_ and the _Pikes_, an ascent which is perhaps more difficult than even that of the _Pillar Stone_.' The late Professor Tyndall climbed it in 1859, and described it in the _Saturday Review_ of that year. It evidently had a great reputation then, which was not, in his opinion, entirely deserved. It seems to have been known in 1837 (see the _Penny Magazine_) to the shepherds; and even in Green's time, at the beginning of the century, one or two daring spirits had accomplished the feat.

=Buckbarrow= (C. sh. 79).--_Broadcrag_ (more north-east) is really part of it, and about 400 ft. high. Buckbarrow rises near the foot of Wastwater, opposite the best part of the Screes. When approached from the head of the lake it appears as two huge rocky steps; but, as in the case of _Eagle Crag_ in _Greenup_, the steps are not really in the same plane. Seen from the slopes of _Lingmell_, it forms the boundary between the mountains and the plain, to which it sinks in one very graceful concave curve. It is not lofty--there are perhaps some 400 ft. of rock--but by the shepherds it is reputed inaccessible. This is only true in the sense that there are stiff bits on it which have to be evaded. It is haunted by both the fox and the buzzard--connoisseurs on whose taste in rocks the climber can generally rely. There is also climbing in the whole line of rock (Broad Crag) which stretches away towards _Greendale_. Since 1884, when the writer first became acquainted with it, Buckbarrow has become rather popular, considering its remoteness from _Wastdale Head_.--At Christmas 1891 a strong party, led by Messrs. Robinson, Hastings, and Collie, ascended it 'from the fox's earth to the hawk's nest,' and on April 15, 1892, a party containing several of the same members climbed 'the first main gully on this [the north] side. There are two short chimneys at the end of this little gill--one in each corner, about ten to twelve yards apart.' The left one, up which Mr. Brunskill led, was considered the harder. Afterwards Dr. Collie led two of the party up the face of the cliff to the right of the next gully on the west, which is marked by a pitch of about fifty feet low down. To a house near the foot of Buckbarrow old Will Ritson and his wife retired, after giving up the inn which they had kept for so many years and made so famous at _Wastdale Head_.

=Buresdale=, the proper name of the valley between Thirlmere and Threlkeld. Hutchinson, for instance, says: 'At the foot of _Wythburn_ is _Brackmere_ [i.e. Thirlmere], a lake one mile in length ... from the N. end of this mere issues the river Bure, which falls into Derwent below Keswick.' He also mentions Buresdale in connection with _Layswater_, yet another equivalent for Thirlmere. Guidebook writers seem to have conspired together to obliterate this name from the map, and to substitute for it the name _Vale of St. John_, which Sir Walter Scott made famous. To revive the name of the river would be an act of only posthumous justice, now that the Manchester waterworks have taken away all its water; but the valley is still there, and ought to be called by its genuine old name, which is of Scandinavian origin; compare with it the Bure river in Norfolk, and fishermen will recall similar names in Norway.

=Burn=: the Scotch word for a brook is hardly found south of the river Wear. In Wythburn, Greenburn, and other cases it probably represents _borran_ (stone heap).

=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.'

=Castle Rock= (C. sh. 64).--This rock in _Borrowdale_ is said to have been crowned by a Roman fort. The west side is craggy for a couple of hundred feet. It may serve to occupy a few odd hours for any one stopping at _Grange_, _Rosthwaite_, or _Seatoller_.

=Caw Fell= (C. sh. 73).--The name is possibly the same as _Calf_, _Calva_; compare also _Caudale_, _Codale_, &c. On the north side there is a craggy bit about 200 ft. high.

=Chalk.=--Though this can hardly be regarded as a good rock for climbing, much excellent practice can be gained on it. As a general rule, it is only sufficiently solid for real climbing for the first twenty feet above high-water mark, though here and there forty feet of fairly trustworthy rock may be found. These sections of hard chalk are invariably those which at their base are washed by the sea at high tide; all others are soft and crumbly.

Whilst any considerable ascent, other than up the extremely steep slopes of grass which sometimes clothes the gullies and faces, is out of the question, traverses of great interest and no slight difficulty are frequently possible for considerable distances. A good _objectif_ may be found in the endeavour to work out a route to the various small beaches that are cut off from the outer world by the high tide and cliffs.

The best instances of this sort of work are to be found along the coast to the eastward of Dover (between that town and St. Margaret's). Between the ledges by which these traverses are in the main effected, and the beach below, scrambles of every variety of difficulty may be found, some being amongst the hardest _mauvais pas_ with which I am acquainted. Owing to the proximity of the ground, they afford the climber an excellent opportunity of ascertaining the upper limit of his powers. Such knowledge is a possession of extreme value, yet in most other places it is undesirable to ascertain it too closely. Chalk, it must be remembered, is extremely rotten and treacherous, very considerable masses coming away occasionally with a comparatively slight pull. In any place where a slip is not desirable, it is unwise to depend exclusively on a single hold, as even the hardest and firmest knobs, that have stood the test of years, give way suddenly without any apparent reason. The flints imbedded in the chalk are similarly untrustworthy; in fact, if they project more than an inch or so, they are, as a rule, insecure. The surface of the chalk is smooth and slimy if wet, dusty if dry, and does not afford the excellent hold obtained on granite. As a whole it may be regarded as a treacherous and difficult medium, and one which is likely to lead those practising on it to be very careful climbers.

To the westward of Dover (between it and Folkestone) a great amount of climbing on grass and crumbly chalk slopes can be obtained; almost every gully and face can be ascended from the sea, or the S.E. Railway, to the top. It is desirable to remember that in dry weather the grass and the earth which underlies it is of the consistency of sand, and great care is requisite; after rain the grass is of course slippery; but the underlying material adheres more firmly to the cliff. It is unnecessary to add that a slip on any of these slopes would almost certainly prove fatal. On the face of _Abbot's Cliff_, and to the westward (about halfway between Dover and Folkestone), some traverses may be effected at a height of 200 ft. or more above the base; they do not, however, compare for climbing with the traverses on the other side of Dover.

As one goes westwards, the angle of the cliffs becomes less, and from _Abbot's Cliff_ towards Folkestone it is rarely necessary to use one's hands, though very nice 'balance' is essential, as the results of a slip would usually be serious. Above the _Warren_, still nearer Folkestone, the slopes become easy, and after heavy snow afford excellent _glissades_.

The cliffs between Dover and St. Margaret's vary from 200 to 350 ft., whilst those between Dover and Folkestone vary from 250 to 500 ft. in height.

In Sussex the chalk is well developed at and near _Beachy Head_, where it attains a height of some 600 ft. Just west of this come several miles of cliffs, lower indeed (about 300 ft.), but amazingly vertical.

About _Flamborough Head_, in Yorkshire, this formation attains fine proportions, while as far west as Devonshire _Beer Head_ is upwards of 400 ft. high.

=Chimney=: a recess among rocks resembling the interior of a chimney open on one side. (See _Back-and-knee_.)

=Chockstone=: a northern word for a stone wedged between the sides of a gully. A short word for this is greatly needed, and I would suggest that it might be called a 'chock,' simply.

=Clapham=, a station on the Midland Railway, is an excellent centre for _Ingleborough_ and the _Potholes_.

=Clark's Leap=, near _Swirl's Gap_ on Thirlmere, is a jutting rock, so called from a suicide which took place there over 100 years ago. It is one of many local absurdities of the novel called 'The Shadow of a Crime' that this name is brought in as an antiquity in the eyes of characters supposed to be living two centuries ago.

=Clough= (_Cleugh_, _Cloof_, _Cluff_, _Clowe_) is a North of England word for a kind of valley formed in the slope of a hill. The first cut in carving a shoulder of mutton produces a typical 'clough.' There is seldom any climbing about a genuine clough, because it implies soil rather than rock. Dr. Murray tells us that the word has no connection with the Icelandic 'klofi,' yet assigns to the latter word the origin of 'cloof,' in the sense of the fork of a tree, or of the human body. To a layman in such matters the two words bear a singular resemblance, both in sound and in sense.

=Collier's Climb= on _Scafell_ was made by Messrs. Collier and Winser on April 2, 1893, and a very severe climb it is. It begins from the _Rake's Progress_ at a point 105 ft. west from the _North Climb_. After a direct ascent of about 40 ft., a grassy platform on the right (facing the wall) is reached. From here a narrow and somewhat awkward traverse leads back to above the first part of the climb. This traverse could probably be avoided by climbing directly upwards. There follows an easy ascent for 30 ft. still directly upwards. By traversing broad grassy ledges to the right--i.e. towards _Moss Gill_--one of the inclined cracks so plainly seen on the face of the cliff is reached, and the rest of the ascent made in it. The only severe difficulties in the climb are: 1. at the beginning, in leaving _Rake's Progress_; 2. at one point in the crack where there is not much handhold for 10 or 15 ft.

=Combe Gill=, a fine gill in the north end of _Glaramara_. The climb is a little over two miles from _Rosthwaite_, and about a mile less from _Seatoller_. A very fine mass of rock (one of the many _Eagle Crags_) stands at the head of the little valley, and up the centre of this crag lies the way. It was climbed on September 1, 1893, by Messrs. J.W. Robinson and W.A. Wilson, whose account of it is as follows: 'This very fine gorge has three good-sized pitches in the lower part. These were passed by climbing the right-hand edge of the gill--interesting work. A return on to the floor of the gill was made near the top of the third pitch, when a little scrambling led to a very fine waterfall more than 100 ft. high. Here climb in the water as little as you can; then diverge slightly on to the right-hand wall of the gill just where the water spouts over a small recess; next traverse across a rather difficult slab into the cave under the final boulder, which is climbed on the left-hand and is the last difficulty.'

=Coniston=, having the advantage of both railway and steamboat, is very accessible, and, notwithstanding this, it is agreeably free from the rush of excursionists. Practically it has one fine mountain--the _Old Man_--and no more, though _Bow Fell_ and the _Langdale Pikes_ are not entirely out of reach. There is much good scrambling in the rocks which fringe the _Old Man_ and _Wetherlam_, and superb climbing in _Dow Crag_.

=Coniston Old Man.=--Quarrymen and miners have between them done an immense deal towards spoiling a very fine mountain. They have converted to base industrial uses the whole east side of the mountain, which Nature intended for climbers. They have not yet invaded _Doe Crag_ (q.v.), which is really part of it, but practically no one goes up the _Old Man_ proper, except for the sake of the view, which is magnificent, and no one ascends except from Coniston, varied in a few cases by working north along the summit ridge and descending via _Grey Friars_ on to the pass of _Wrynose_.

=Copeland.=--Camden says of Cumberland: 'The south part of this shire is called _Copeland_ and _Coupland_, for that it beareth up the head aloft with sharpedged and pointed hilles, which the Britans tearme _Copa_.' Leland alludes to this when he makes a ludicrously pedantic suggestion: 'Capelande, part of Cumbrelande, may be elegantly caullid Cephalenia.' _Cop_ is found in Derbyshire also, as a hill-name, and hunting men will not need to be reminded of the Coplow in Leicestershire.

=Cornwall.=--To the true-souled climber, who can enjoy a tough bit of rock, even if it is only fifty, aye, or twenty feet high, the coast of Cornwall with its worn granite cliffs and bays has much to offer. It is interesting almost the whole way round the coast. Granite prevails, but at _Polperro_ we have cliffs belonging to the Lower Devonian period, and for some ten or twelve miles going west from _Chapel Point_ we find rocks of the Silurian order. At many points round the _Lizard Promontory_ there are remarkable rocks; but some of the finest cliff scenery in England is to be found between the _Logan Rock_ and the _Land's End_. These are on the regular tourist tracks, and conveniently reached from good hotels; but the north coast of Cornwall is here easy of access. There are fine cliffs about _Gurnard's Head_ and _Bosigran_, which are well worth a visit, from St. Ives or Penzance (7 or 8 miles). There is a small inn at _Gurnard's Head_. _Bedruthan Steps_ are well-known, and _Trevose Head_, _Pentire_ (Padstow), _Tintagel_ and _Penkenner Point_ are only a few of the many grand rock-scenes on this coast.

=Coterine Hill.=--Leland, in his 'Itinerary,' says that Ure, Sawle, and Edon rise in this hill, and that 'the Hedde of Lune River by al Aestimation must be in _Coterine Hill_, or not far fro the Root of it,' adding that, in the opinion of Mr. Moore of Cambridge, the river Lune 'risith yn a hill cawlled _Crosho_, the which is yn the egge of Richemontshire.'

There is _Cotter-dale_ on the Yorkshire slope of the hill in which these rivers rise, and the celebrated Countess of Pembroke, in 1663, when she crossed from _Wensleydale_ to _Pendragon Castle_, calls her journey 'going over _Cotter_, which I lately repaired,' the last words showing that it was a recognised pass.

In all probability Leland's form represents '_Cotter End_,' by which name, though not given in most of the maps, part of the hill is still known.

=Cove=: often means 'cave' in Yorkshire and Scotland, but as a rule it is a large recess in a hill-side.

=Craven=--_Camden_ remarks that the country lying about the head of the river Aire is called in our tongue _Craven_, 'perchance of the British word _Crage_, that is a _Stone_. For the whole tract there is rough all over, and unpleasant to see to; which [with?] craggie stones, hanging rockes, and rugged waies.'