Climbing in The British Isles Volume I Part 6

=Hope= (_-hop_, _-up_): used by Leland as equivalent to 'brook,' but usually taken to mean a retired upland valley. The Icelandic 'hop' is applied to landlocked bays.

=Hough=--a hill name in east Yorks.h.i.+re. Phillips says that it is equivalent to 'barf,' and means 'a detached hill.' It is p.r.o.nounced 'hauf.' If this be the exact sense, it can hardly be the same word as 'heugh,' which is used further north for 'crag' or 'precipice,' and it is perhaps merely another form of 'how' or 'haugh.'

=How= (_-oe_, _-ah_, _-a_, _-haw_): a Norse word for a burial mound, found all over the North of England.

=Ice-axe.=--On the high Fells in time of snow an axe is a safeguard of vital importance. Quite apart, too, from the comfort and security which it alone can give, it is an implement which can only be properly manipulated after long practice, and consequently a beginner should eagerly avail himself of every opportunity of acquiring dexterity in the use of it. From Christmas to Easter there is nearly always snow enough on the fells of c.u.mberland to give excellent practice in step-cutting.

=Ill Bell.=--A Westmorland hill forming a series of three with _Froswick_ and _Rainsborrow Crag_. Its north or north-easterly face is very steep for a height of about 300 ft. Staveley is perhaps the best starting-point for these three; but they can be managed quite easily from Ambleside or Mardale Green. _Ill Bell_ is on sheet 20 of the Ordnance map of Westmorland.

=Ingleborough=, 2,361 ft., one of the most striking of the Yorks.h.i.+re mountains, of which the poet Gray spoke as 'that huge creature of G.o.d.'

Readers of the 'Heart of Midlothian' will remember how it reminded Jeannie Deans of her 'ain countrie.' The most exaggerated ideas of its height formerly prevailed. Even in 1770 it was commonly reckoned at 3,987 ft., and Hurtley actually gives 5,280 ft.

Its top is only about four miles from Clapham, and ponies can go all the way. It is ascended far and away more frequently than any other Yorks.h.i.+re hill, and consists mainly of limestone cliffs and slopes of shale, with a certain amount of millstone grit.

Here are some very remarkable caves (see _Alum Pot_ and _Gaping Gill Hole_), and of some of these there is an early description by Mr. Adam Walker in the _Evening General Post_ for September 25, 1779, which is quoted by West, and an account of an ascent of it made in the year 1761 is also extant.

=Jack's Rake= is a natural pa.s.sage across the face of _Pavey Ark_ in Langdale. The first notice ever taken of it by any but shepherds was a note in the visitors' book belonging to the inn at Dungeon Gill by Mr.

R. Pendlebury, who spoke highly of it, considering it to be a striking yet simple excursion among magnificent rock scenery. After a time the world came to look at _Pavey Ark_, and seeing an impossible-looking combination of ravine and precipice, concluded, not unnaturally, that it must be what Mr. Pendlebury had found a pleasant yet simple stroll.

Under this delusion, they began to try to climb what is now known as the Great Gully in _Pavey Ark_, and did not expect to find a place anything like the real _Jack's Rake_.

Mr. Gwynne, in 1892, says of it: 'Along the face of the cliff there runs a ledge that looks from below hardly wide enough for a cat to stand upon. However, if an attempt is made to climb it, it will be found wide enough for two fat men walking abreast. Towards the top it tapers off again, and the climber will have to do a bit of scrambling to get on to the summit of the precipice. This is a climb which offers no difficulty whatever, unless the climber is given to attacks of giddiness, and if that is the case there will hardly be any need to tell him that he has no business there at all. This ledge, however, offers a mult.i.tude of good opportunities to the climber. It runs obliquely across the face of the precipice, but it need not necessarily be followed throughout its length by the mountaineer who wishes for something a little more exciting.

'About halfway up there runs on to the ledge a chimney which, when it is not a small waterfall, forms a pleasant climb to some broken rock above, whence the summit is easily reached. If, however, the water in the chimney makes it uncomfortable and unpleasant for the climber, he may still arrive at the top of it by choosing a long bit of steep smooth rock to the left. There are two cliffs which afford fairly good hand and foot holds, and from there the top of the chimney is attained.'

It is remarkable that a gallery more or less resembling this is found on many of the chief precipices in the Lakes. There is a steeper one on the Ennerdale Crags of _Great Gable_; there are two on the Ennerdale face of the _Pillar Rock_, and on _Scafell_ the _Rake's Progress_ and _Lord's Rake_ in their mutual relation closely resemble this rake and the wide gully at the north end of it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PAVEY ARK AND STICKLE TARN A, Narrow gully; B, Big gully; C, D, Smaller gullies; E, Wide scree gully. From the foot of E to A runs _Jack's Rake_.]

=Kern Knotts= are on the south side of _Gable_, close to the _Sty Head_.

There is a short but difficult gully here on the side facing Wastdale, which was climbed by Messrs. Owen Jones and Robinson in 1893, but described by them under the name of _Tom Blue_, a rock much higher up the mountain.

=Keswick.=--Though rather too distant from the very best climbing, this is an excellent centre in point of variety.

Of _Skiddaw_ and _Saddleback_ it enjoys a monopoly, while _Helvellyn_, _Gable_ and _Scafell Pikes_ are all within the compa.s.s of a day's work.

The railway is a convenience, of course, but not as useful as one might expect in extending the field of operations, because most of the places to which it goes are of little interest. The town is very well supplied with driving facilities, such as coaches, breaks and omnibuses.

The clay-slate of which the Skiddaw and Gra.s.smoor groups are composed provides climbing of smaller quant.i.ty and inferior quality to that found among the harder rocks of what is called the 'Borrowdale Series,' but there are a few good scrambles west of Derwent.w.a.ter, such as _Eel_ (or _Ill_) _Crag_, _Force Crag_, and _Hobcarton_. The nearest good rocks are in the neighbourhood of _Wallow Crag_, but there is no pleasure in climbing with a crowd of gaping excursionists below. A much pleasanter day may be spent in a visit to _Wanthwaite_. Of Keswick itself an early writer says that the poorer inhabitants subsist chiefly by stealing or clandestinely buying of those who steal the black-lead, which they sell to Jews and other hawkers; but whatever changes the character of the people has or has not undergone, it is not easy to believe that the scenery is the same as that which the early writers describe.

Camden's tone is neutral: 'Compa.s.sed about with deawy hilles and fensed on the North side with that high mountaine _Skiddaw_ lieth _Keswike_;'

but two centuries later, when the place began to be fas.h.i.+onable, this description would not have satisfied any one. The great characteristic of the scenery was considered to be its power of inspiring terror. Dr.

Brown in his famous 'Letter' dwells upon the 'rocks and cliffs of stupendous height hanging broken over the lake in horrible grandeur, some of them a thousand feet high, the woods climbing up their steep and s.h.a.ggy sides, where mortal foot never yet approached. On these dreadful heights the eagles build their nests, ... while on all sides of this immense amphitheatre the lofty mountains rise round, piercing the clouds in shapes as spiry and fantastic as the very rocks of Dovedale.... The full perfection of Keswick consists of three circ.u.mstances, _beauty_, _horror_ and _immensity_ united.'

=Kirkfell= has two fine b.u.t.tresses of rock at the back, facing Ennerdale, but they are broken up and so only fit for practice climbs.

They are, however, not unfrequently a.s.sailed by climbers who imagine themselves to be scaling the crags of Great Gable. The direct ascent from Wastdale is one of the steepest lengths of gra.s.s slope to be found among these hills. The only gully on this fell is _Illgill_, which faces _Lingmell_ and contains two or three severe pitches. It is rather seldom visited, and is exposed to falling stones.

=Lancas.h.i.+re.=--Though some of the rough country which borders on Yorks.h.i.+re contains a rocky bit here and there, Lancas.h.i.+re climbing has no real interest except in that part of it which belongs to the Lake country. The climax of this part is reached in the neighbourhood of _Coniston_. South of the Lakes there are some limestone crags of striking form. The impression produced on Defoe by what we consider the exceptionally beautiful scenery of the Lune valley is curious. 'This part of the country seemed very strange and dismal to us (nothing but mountains in view and stone walls for hedges; sour oatcakes for bread, or clapat-bread as it is called). As these hills were lofty, so they had an aspect of terror. Here were no rich pleasant valleys between them as among the Alps; no lead mines and veins of rich ore as in the Peak; no coal-pits as in the hills about Halifax, but all barren and wild and of no use either to man or beast.'

=Langdale.=--(See _Bowfell_, _Pavey Ark_ and _Pike o'Stickle_, _Gimmer Crag_, _Harrison Stickle_, _Oak How_.) By many thought the finest valley in Westmorland; the name is often written Langden or Langdon by old authorities.

Dungeon Gill has always been a favourite haunt of climbing folk, and from this base strong walkers can easily manage to reach _Scafell_, _Gable_, _Coniston_, _Old Man_, or _Helvellyn_ in the day.

=Limestone= is abundant in Derbys.h.i.+re and Yorks.h.i.+re, and forms the fine cliffs of Cheddar in Somerset, Berry Head in Devon, Anstis Cove and others; indeed most of the south coast of Devon and Cornwall east of Penzance is of this material. Chudleigh Rock and Morwell Rocks on the river Tamar are very striking. West, speaking of this rock in Lancas.h.i.+re, says, 'The whiteness and neatness of these rocks take off every idea of _horror_ that might be suggested by their bulk or form.'

In England it is very rare to find limestone which is a satisfactory material on which to climb.

=Lingmell=, called _Lingmoor_ by Wilkinson, is a mere shoulder of Scafell Pike. It has, however, some fine cliffs facing those of _Great Napes_ on Gable; between these two Housman thought a collision imminent.

These used to be thought inaccessible, but were climbed by Mr. Bowring about 1880. There is a striking view of them from near Sty Head. The eye looks right along the dark ravine of Piers Gill, which is apparently overhung by the long line of these crags, rising from tongues of rock divided by huge fan-shaped banks of scree. There is a good deal of chance about the climbing here. It may be exciting, or you may just happen to avoid what difficulties there are. It is a very treacherous rock, especially low down, where curious long stone pegs are lightly stuck in the ground and come away at the first touch. A few feet below the top stands a curious pinnacle of forbidding appearance, of which a sensational photograph has been taken; but Mr. Robinson found one side from which the top is reached with ridiculous ease. Further west there are gullies facing Kirkfell which are worth climbing, though there is much unsound rock. (See also _Piers Gill_.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: LINGMELL AND PIERS GILL]

=Lingmoor=, rather over a mile south-east of Millbeck Inn, and near Oak How, is a little pinnacle of which a photograph and a description by Mr.

H.A. Gwynne will be found in the Climbers' book at that place. In old maps the name is sometimes found applied to _Lingmell_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LORD'S RAKE AND RAKE'S PROGRESS A, The foot of _Moss Gill_; B, The foot of _Steep Gill_; C-D, _Lord's Rake_; C-A, Part of _Rake's Progress_.]

=Lord's Rake.=--A well-known scree-shoot in the north face of Scafell, for the ascent of which from Mickledoor it offers an easy route without climbing. The earliest account of its being used for this purpose is in the _Penny Magazine_ for 1837 at p. 293: 'It is very laborious and looks dangerous, but in fact there is no risk except that of a sprained ankle. It is through the Lord's Rake, a shaft between two vertical walls of rock about five yards across all the way up, and twenty or twenty-five minutes' hard climbing on all fours up a slope of about 45.

The place must have been cut out by a watercourse, but is now dry and covered with light s.h.i.+ngle. It looks right down into Hollow Stones (the deep vale between the Pikes and Scafell), and most fearful it does look, but it is not dangerous. When we reached the inn at Eskdale over Scafell my shepherd was very proud of having brought me through the Lord's Rake, and the people were much surprised. It seems to be rather a feat in the country. It is the strangest place I ever saw. It may be recommended to all who can bear hard labour and enjoy the appearance of danger without the reality.' 'Prior's Guide' contained the first good description of this rake.

=Luxulion=, in Cornwall, is of interest to the mineralogist and the travelled mountaineer on account of its enormous block.

According to Mr. Baddeley, this is the largest block in Europe, larger than any of the famous boulders at the head of the Italian lakes, and it may take rank with the largest known, the Aga.s.siz blocks in the Tijuca mountains near Rio Janeiro. He gives the dimensions as 49 feet by 27 feet with 72 feet girth, yet makes no allusion to the _Bowder Stone_ in _Borrowdale_, which in another work he describes as being 60 feet long, 30 feet high, and weighing 1,900 tons. It would appear, therefore, that the _Bowder Stone_ is considerably larger than the largest stone in Europe without being so remarkable for size as another stone in England.

=Malham Cove.=--A fine example of the limestone scenery of the Craven Fault. The river Aire gushes forth from the base of the cove, which can easily be seen in the same excursion as _Gordale Scar_. The nearest town is Skipton-in-Craven and the nearest station Bell Busk, but Settle is very little farther and will generally be found the most convenient starting-point.

=Mardale Green=, at the head of Hawes Water, is a delightful and little visited spot. In the way of climbing it commands _High Street_, _Harter Fell_, _Froswick_, _Ill Bell_, and _Rainsborrow Crag_. The best near climbs are about _Bleawater_ and _Riggindale_.

=Mellbreak.=--One of the few c.u.mberland fells which the indefatigable Colonel Barrow seems to have left unvisited; yet no one who stops at Scale Hill or b.u.t.termere will consider wasted a day spent upon it. The proper course is to begin at the end which faces Loweswater village and ascend by _Frier's Gill_, a nice little climb. Having reached the top of the gill and then the summit plateau, proceed to the hollow about the middle of the mountain, and from there descend the highly curious _Pillar Rake_, which gradually slopes down towards the foot of Crummock Water. It is not a climb, but any one who is not content with the study of mountain form can find climbing in the little gullies which ascend the rocks above the rake. Sheet 63 of the Ordnance map of c.u.mberland contains it.

=Mickledoor Chimney=, in the cliffs of Scafell, is not the easiest, but the most obvious point at which to attack them. It is conspicuous from the _Pikes_, and would probably be selected by any experienced stranger as the most vulnerable point. It was visited about the year 1869 by Mr.

C.W. Dymond, who contributed to 'Prior's Guide' the earliest and best description of it. He says that, 'leaving _Mickledoor_ Ridge, you pa.s.s the fissure leading to _Broad Stand_, and continue descending steeply for two minutes, which brings you to a narrow gully in the rock, with a thread of water trickling down it over moss. This is the _cheminee_ to be ascended, and there is no special difficulty in it until you are near the top. Here the gully, of which the 'chimney' forms the lower section, is effectually blocked for some distance, and the only alternative is to climb out of it by the rock which forms the right wall, and which is about 12 ft. high, the lower six vertical and the upper a steep slant.