button to main menu  Martineau's Complete Guide to the English Lakes, 1855
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The Yorkshire people put the alternative of dirty and clean rather strongly in their proverb, "Better hev a bairn wi a mucky feace than wash its noase off:" but the Cumberland folk view the matter more in a moral way, and refuse to have their children baptised into thievery.
  Kirk Fell
  lost walker
Kirkfell, which stands backward, between Yewbarrow and Great Gable, was very tempting to a tourist who explored this neighbourhood some years ago; and he set out to get to Buttermere by Blacksail and Scarf Gap. After hours of walking, he struck into the deep ravine between Kirkfell and Great Gable; and when he arrived within sight of a lake at night, he was confounded to find it still Wast Water. He had walked completely round the mountain, instead of getting on. We observed to a comrade that this could not have happened if the tourist had carried a pocket-compass. "And not having a compass," said our friend, "he fetched one." Wastdale Head is the place whence the ascent of Scawfell should be made: but we must defer that; as it would occupy the energies of a whole day. The party will now return the way they came; for there is no road, of course, under the Screes, though the shepherds venture along a perilous thread of a path in the loose débris.
After breakfast, the travellers will address themselves to the very different spectacle of Calder Abbey and its environs.
After climbing the long hill from Strands, an eager look-out will be kept for the Isle of Man: but the most probable point for seeing it is at the top of the
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button -- "Kirkfell" -- Kirk Fell
button -- Screes, The
button -- Wasdale
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