322 ^uttermere district 



and they have uttered their warning in corroboration of so 

 many others, against crossing mountains without a guide. 

 One of their chief difficulties, was the paths being turned 

 into water-courses, and thereby disguised. It was on the 

 same track that the three ladies mentioned by Mr. Green in 

 his ^ Guide ' lost their way, from dismissing their guide too 

 soon, and actually stayed all night on the mountain, where, 

 if it had not been fine summer weather, they would have 

 perished. They took a guide over Scarth Gap, and as far as 

 the junction of the three roads from Buttermere, Ennerdale, 

 and Wastdale. The guide left them on the right road, and 

 with full information as to the rest of the way : they took 

 the wrong side of the way, however, and so got bewildered. 

 It was only 4 p.m. when the guide left them : but darkness 

 overtook them still wandering. When they came down 

 again upon Tyson's house, early in the morning, the family 

 could not believe the story of their descent, so perilous was 

 the way they had come. One of the ladies had, however, 

 lost a pocket-book, and they had seen a dead sheep : and, 

 somebody immediately going up, these incidents were veri- 

 fied : and the adventure of the ladies remains one of the 

 wonders of the dales. 



We once had an adventure in this neighbourhood, the 

 moral of which is, the comfort of having a guide. We 

 wanted to cross Blafte JFell to Lowes Water. The distance 

 to Scale Hill was only six miles ; the time summer ; and the 

 track well-marked on map and mountain. If there ever was 

 a case in which a guide might be thought unnecessary, it was 

 this : but two of the party were young strangers, and the 

 third would not assume the charge of them. The heat was 

 excessive that day ; so we lagged behind the guide, on the 

 ascent, though he carried knapsack and baskets. He was a 

 quiet-looking elderly mountaineer, who appeared to walk 



