button to main menu  Description of Sixty Studies, pp.96-97
button title page
button previous page button next page
page 96:-
to a good distance; Yew-barrow lies on the left, and under it, the enclosed lands of Bowderdale; part of the Screes are on the right; Wastdale Head at the end of the lake, by its enclosures, serves as a scale whereby to judge the vastness of the mountains; and over them is Great Gable, so called from its resemblance to the roof of a house: between Gable and Yew-barrow see a part of Kirk Fell, and between Gable and the Screes, Lingmell, from which rises Scho-fell, the summit of which cannot be seen from this place.
Wast Water is not fine when enlightened by a meridian sun from a cloudless sky, for then the mountains on the north and west are uniformly illuminated; nor is it better at three, for then the sun's rays dart down the middle of the vale. In cloudless weather, the evening and the morning will be better than the mid-day or afternoon; but cloudy weather, with occa-
page 97:-
[occa]sional gleams of the sun, will exhibit Wast Water to great advantage - mists and clouds travelling the surface of the rocks, sometimes, displaying their huge forms as if hung in vapour, alternately light, and of the deepest air tints, will not fail of giving great pleasure to all who are capable of being moved by the wonders of God in the works of his creation.
Those who delight in the beautiful rather than the sublime, or in its mixture, Wast Water, it is feared, will not satisfy. Wastdale is seldom seen to advantage, and those who view it under unfavourable circumstances, will, perhaps, return disgusted.
Those who go on foot or on horse-back to see this lake, travel much less ground than those who visit it in carriages; besides which, the short lines display a much greater proportion of fine scenery than the long lines.
The account here given of Wastdale
button next page
button to main menu Lakes Guides menu.