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

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Page 127:-
roads from Buttermere, Ennerdale, and Wastdale. The guide left them on the right road, and with full information as to the rest of the way. They took the wrong side of the brook, however, and so got bewildered. It was only four p.m., when the guide left them: but darkness overtook them still wandering. When they came down upon Tyson's house, early in the morning, the family could not believe the story of their descent, so perilous was the way they had come. One of the ladies had, however, lost a pocket-book; and they had seen a dead sheep: and, somebody immediately going up, these incidents were verified; and the adventure of the Kendal ladies remains one of the wonders of the dales.
  Blake Fell
  mountain guide
  rain

We had once an adventure in this neighbourhood, the moral of which is, the comfort and security of having a guide. We wanted to cross Blake Fell to Loweswater. The distance to Scale Hill Inn was only six miles; the time summer; and the track well marked on map and mountain. If there ever was a case in which a guide might be thought unnecessary, it was this: but two out of the party were young strangers; and the third would not assume the charge of them. The heat was excessive that day; so we lagged behind the guide, on the ascent, though he carried knapsack and baskets. He was a quiet-looking elderly mountaineer, who appeared to walk very slowly; but his progress was great, compared with ours, from the uniformity and continuity of his pace. In the worst part of the walk, we tried the effect of following close behind him, and putting our feet in his tracks; and we were surprised
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