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both ways; in front rises Wallow-crag and Castle-hill, the town,
the road to Penrith, Skiddaw, and Saddleback. Returning met a
brisk and cold north-eastern blast, that ruffled all the surface
of the lake, and made it rise in little waves that broke at the
foot of the wood. After dinner walked up the Penrith road two
miles, or more, and turning into a cornfield to the right, called
Castle-rigg, saw a druid circle of large stones, 108 feet in
diameter, the biggest not eight feet high, but most of them still
erect: they are fifty in number [1]. The valley of St. John
appeared in sight, and the summits of Cachidecam (called by
Camden Casticand) and Helvellyn, said to be as high as Skiddaw,
and to rise from a much higher base.
Oct. 6. Went in a chaise eight miles along the east side of
Bassenthwaite-water to Ouse-bridge, the road in some part made,
and very good, the rest slippery and dangerous cart road, or
narrow rugged lanes, but no precipices; it runs directly along
the foot of Skiddaw. Opposite to Wythop brows, clothed up to the
top with wood, a very beautiful view opens down the lake, which
is narrower and longer than that of Keswick, less broken into
bays and without islands [2]. At the foot of it, a few paces from
the brink, gently sloping upwards, stands Armathwaite, in a thick
grove of Scotch firs, commanding a noble view directly up the
lake; at a small distance behind the house is a large extent of
wood, and still behind this a ridge of cultivated hills on which,
according to the Keswick proverb, the sun always shines. The
inhabitants here, on the contrary, call the vale of
Derwent-water, the Devil's chamberpot, and pronounce the name of
Skiddaw-fell, which terminates here
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