button to main menu   West's Guide to the Lakes, 1778/1821

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Page 95:-
seen, from the pass of Borrowdale, till it joins the lake; the lake itself spotted with islands; the most extraordinary line of shore, varied with all the surprising accompaniments of rock and wood; the village of Grange at the foot of the crag, and the white houses of Keswick with Crosthwaite church at the lower end of the lake; behind these, much cultivation, with a beautiful mixture of villages, houses, cots, and farms, standing round the skirts of Skiddaw, which rises in the grandest manner, from a verdant base, and closes this prospect in the noblest style of nature's true sublime. From the summit of this rock, the views are so singularly great and pleasing, that they ought never to be omitted. The ascent is by one of the narrow paths, cut in the side of the mountain, for carrying down the slate that is quarried on its top.
The view to the north, or the vale of Keswick, is already described; that to the south lies in Borrowdale. The river is seen winding upward from the lake, through the rugged pass, to where it divides, and embraces a triangular vale, completely cut into inclosures of meadow, enamelled with the softest verdure, and fields waving with fruitful crops. This truly secreted spot, is completely surrounded by the most horrid, romantic moun-
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