button to main menu  Martineau's Complete Guide to the English Lakes, 1855

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Page 87:-
the early part of it is steep and slow. The turn is to the right, at about a mile from Scale Hill, leaving the Cockermouth road, which traverses the vale of Lorton. The higher he ascends, the more lovely are the views over that vale that the traveller obtains, till at length the Solway gleams in the sun, and the Scotch mountains appear beyond. If he has good eyes, the driver will point out to him, at a vast distance, the famous old Lorton yew, appearing like a dark clump, beside a white farmhouse. When fairly under Whinlatter, six or seven miles from Scale Hill, he cannot but admire,- in one or the other sense of the word,- the colouring of the hill itself if the time be anywhere from June to September. The gaudy hues of the mingled gorse and heather are, at that season, unlike any exhibition of colour we have seen elsewhere,- exceeding even the far-famed American forest. As the north-western vision vanishes, the south-eastern opens; and the vale of Keswick, with Skiddaw in its noblest aspect, and the lakes far below, looks finer than ever. After passing through Braithwaite, he soon recognises the road, and returns to Keswick by the well-known bridge over the Derwent.
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