74 SKELWITH FOltCE. 



the lake. This churchyard has the first daffodils and 

 snowdrops on the southern side of its rock ; and, 

 in its copse, the earliest wood-anemones. Through- 

 out the valley, spring flowers, and the yellow and 

 white broom abound. 



The road ascends and descends abruptly, and 



winds towards and away from the right bank of 



the Brathay till it reaches Skelwith 



SKELWITH FOLD, t-, , , mi , 1 ; j T ^ i 



tyoid. ihere the stranger must alight 

 again, and go through a field-gate to the right, to 

 a rocky point, where he commands the finest view 

 of the valley and its environs. And again, just 

 before he comes to Skelwith Bridge, he must go 

 through the gap in the wall to the left, and follow 

 the field-track until he comes in sight of Skelwith 

 Force. He will hardly aver that he ever saw a 

 more perfect picture than this, — with the fall in 

 the centre, closed in by rock and wood on either 

 hand, and by the Langdale Pikes behind. Return- 

 ing to his car, he will next pass over the bridge, 

 and the roaring torrent beneath, and by stacks of 

 wood, — (more coppice- wood for another bobbin- 

 mill), and, turning to the right, will find that he 

 has headed the valley. As he is not going home, 

 however, but to Grasmere, he turns out of the 

 Brathay valley by a steep road on the left, which 

 ascends again and again, leading by farmsteads 

 almost as primitive as those of Troutbeck, and 

 evidently mounting the spurs of Loughrigg, — 

 which he is travelling round to-day, and which 

 must therefore be always on his right hand. After 

 a while, he comes to a sheet of water, so still, if 

 the day be calm, that he might possibly miss it, 

 unless the precision of the reflections should strike 



