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Page 143:-
AN ACCOUNT OF AN EXCURSION TO THE TOP OF SKIDDAW.
IN A LETTER FROM A FRIEND.
WE rose at four in the morning, in order to ascend to the summit
of Skiddaw, a distance of nearly six miles. The top of the
mountain was veiled from our view by heavy clouds: but we were
not to be intimidated by this circumstance; the barometer was
rising, and we were in hopes of their clearing off; besides it
was the only day we could spare for the purpose. We were advised
to take ponies, but that we declined - naturalists should never
follow a beaten track, and we were determined to be at liberty to
explore on the right hand and on the left, as fancy might direct
us.
Taking the Penrith road for half a mile, we crossed a bridge over
the Greta, and turning at an acute angle to the left, we slanted
by a pleasant occupation road along the side of Latrigg - a hill
sometimes designated by the whimsical cognomen of 'Skiddaw's cub'
- which we were told was about one third of the height of the
parent mountain; but, judging by the eye at setting out, we
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