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lakes; it is in many places not more than half a mile
across, but seldom exceeds three quarters; it is less than
Windermere, but larger than the rest of the English lakes.
Ulls Water lies engulphed at the feet of majestic mountains,
which rise sublimely from the valley: Place Fell descends
shivering into the lake, almost perpendicularly, from a vast
height; its skirts the lake from Birkfell Force higher than
its head. The opposite mountains are less uniform, their
summits being removed to various and greater distances from
the water, and the rocks project from their surfaces in a
bold and imposing manner.
Were these mountains divested of wood, they would exhibit a
vastness and sublimity rivalled only by those of Wast Water.
Nothing can exceed the dresses and decorations of this
sublimity; the whole space from Gowbarrow to the Inn at
Patterdale is one rich scene of vegetation; oak, ash, birch,
alder, and other trees of stately growth, and in the wildest
luxuriance, undulating and impending over the rocky
protuberances every where starting from the mountains,
render this the loveliest ride among the lakes.
The mountains on the immediate head of Ulls Water are not so
steep as those which border it half way down, but they are
rich in wood: St. Sunday, or St. Sundian Crag, swells
sublimely above them, and is a fine object from many parts
of the valley. From Gowbarrow on one side, and Place Fell on
the other side of the lake, the mountains gradually diminish
into little hills, and from a gigantic ruggedness into a
soft and verdant meadow and pasturage.
Though there is something good in every part of Ulls Water,
yet the finest scenes lie between Lyulph's Tower and the Inn
at Patterdale; and the best method of seeing this desirable
part is to take a boat at the head of the lake, and passing
the islands called Cherry-holm and Wall-holm, come within
sight of Stybarrow Crag, which is a fine object in various
distances; land near the Crag, and walk about half a mile to
the farm-house called Glen Coin, occasionally turning round
to admire the local beauties of the scenery.
Having got upon that pleasant craggy summit, from which the
road winds suddenly and steeply down to the lake, turn to
the left by an oak, out of which springs a birch tree, and
pass the nearest way to Glen Coin.
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