176 ADVENTURE ON BLAKE FELL. 



immediately going up, these incidents were verified : 

 and the adventure of the Kendal ladies remains one 

 of the wonders of the dales. 



We once had an adventure in this neighbour- 

 hood, the moral of which is, the comfort of having 

 a guide. We wanted to cross Blake 

 Fell to Lowes Water. The distance 

 to Scale Hill Inn 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 slowly ; 

 but his progress was great compared with ours, 

 from the uniformity and continuity of his pace. 

 In the worst part of the walk, we tried the effect 

 of following close behind him, and putting our feet 

 in his tracks ; and we were surprised to • find with 

 what ease we got on. At first we stopped re- 

 peatedly, to sit down and drink from the streams 

 that crossed the track or flowed beside it ; and 

 during those halts we observed that the blackness 

 which had for some time been appearing in the 

 west, now completely shrouded the sea. Next, we 

 remarked that while the wind still blew in our 

 faces, — that is from the north-east, — the mass of 

 western clouds was evidently climbing the sky. 

 The guide cpiietly observed that there would be rain 

 bv and bv. Next, when we were in the middle of 

 the wide fell, and we saw how puzzling the network 



