304 Excur3i0n, 



Buttermere soon thinks of visiting Wastwater, which is a 

 short day's work, with homely and clean entertainment at 

 the half-way house ; it is, indeed, the most popular walk from 

 here, and those who can scale the two passes will certainly 

 take it. The more hardy walker will most likely (and we 

 strongly advise it) incorporate with it the ascent of Scafell ; 

 others will extend it to the grand excursion round by Strands, 

 Calder Abbey, and Ennerdale, which can be * done ' in two 

 days by some, while others may accomplish it in that time 

 with the assistance of a carriage from Wastdale Head to the 

 inn at Ennerdale. It is this last tour which we now propose 

 to describe. Those who take the shorter will have no diffi- 

 culty in finding their way home by a reference to preceding 

 pages. 



As nearly as we can make out, the walk from Buttermere 

 to Wastdale Head is nine miles ; most of it must be traversed 

 on foot, though a pony may be led and occasionally moun- 

 ted. The first piece of work is to ascend ^cattf) ©ap, as 

 at page 297, and then there is a descent of half a mile, 

 to where the path joins that coming up from Ennerdale. 

 From this junction our direction is on the slope of the 

 hill, almost parallel with and towards the source of the 

 infant (sometimes brawling) Liza, which falls from here into 

 the lake. A sheep-fold marks the spot where the stream is 

 to be crossed. Here •the pillar is the monarch of the 

 scene — 2,893 feet high, and nearly inaccessible from its 

 craggy and precipitous character. 



* It wears the shape 

 Of a vast building made of many crags ; 

 And in the midst is one particular rock 

 That rises like a column from the vale, — 

 Whence by our shepherds it is called the Pillar.' 



It is not, however, the mountain itself which is difficult of 



