54 B.xcut0t0ri from "yiSirinbertnerc* 



half-a-mile of the way which does not exhibit some of the 

 charms of the region. After passing the Queen's Head Inn, 

 Troutbeck, continue straight forward : in front, protrudes 

 Troutbeck Tongue, spHtting the valley into two, and being 

 itself most lovely with its farmsteads and cropped thorns 

 and coppice and grey rocks ; while, behind and above it, 

 the vale head rises into grandeur, with its torrents leaping 

 down, and its pathway winding up, indicating the pass into 

 Mardale. As one bids farewell to the Tongue, he sees the 

 summit of Kirkstone before him. He is passing over the 

 somewhat boggy upland where the Stock takes its rise, and 

 flows down to and through Ambleside, after taking the leap 

 called Stockgill Force, (see page 32). 



The road now meets the one from Ambleside at a small 

 public-house, (The Traveller's Rest,)* which the ordnance 

 surveyors have declared the highest inhabited house in Eng- 

 land : and thus it is labelled with a board over the porch. 

 In clear weather the sea is seen hence, and the thread of 

 smoke from its steamers. The head of Winandermere lies 

 like a pond below; the little Blelham Tarn, near Wray 

 Castle, glitters behind ; and range beyond range of hills re- 

 cede to the horizon. Near at hand, all is very wild. The 

 Ambleside road winds up steeply between grey rocks and 

 moorland pasture and dashing streams ; and the Kirkstone 

 mountain has, probably, mists driving about its head. There 

 is something wilder to come, however, — the noted ^Klirfe- 

 stone '^amt — the pass of the district. The descent begins 

 about a quarter of a mile beyond the house. Down plunges 

 the road, with rock and torrent on either hand, and the bold 

 sweep of Coldfield and Scandale Screes shutting in the pass ; 

 and the little lake of ^roti^crs* "S^tf atcr lying below, afar 



* It is a very favourite Drive from Windermere to turn here towards 

 Ambleside, and thence home on the turnpike. 



