THE ENGLISH LAKE COUNTRY 



Lake country. What they must be in August the 

 Lord only knows ! There are undoubtedly two sides 

 to this question in ordinary districts ; but that there 

 is only one to it here seems to me the simple truth. 

 The narrow roads have lost all their old charm, and 

 even their very safety. The echoes of the valleys, till 

 lately awakened by nothing but harmonious sounds, 

 are now tortured from morning till night with hideous 

 clamours, from which there is scarcely any respite. 

 Beyond the range of these hooters the mountains are, 

 to be sure, as glorious and lovely as ever. If wander- 

 ing alone in May or June you chanced to break your 

 leg, say on the Pillar mountain over Ennerdale, or on 

 Kidsty Pike above Patterdale, or a score of other 

 places, it might possibly be better that you had 

 broken your neck, so uncertain would be the prospects 

 of mortal help. 



Almost no one goes to Lakeland to catch trout — 

 so few, indeed, amid the host of tourists as to be 

 numerically not worthy of mention. As a matter of 

 fact, however, in the best fishing months there are few 

 strangers of any kind actually staying in the country. 

 I have been here myself frequently in the last fifteen 

 years during the months of May and June, not in the 

 main for such purpose, but nevertheless a great many 

 enjoyable days, sometimes fairly profitable and some- 

 times otherwise, are among the memorabilia of these 

 always delightful sojourns. The head of Ullswater, 

 for other reasons as well as for those more to the pur- 

 pose here, I may say at once is my favourite anchor- 

 age. There is no more delectable spot in the whole 

 lake region than Patterdale, none better for mountain 



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