UP THE DUDDON. ] 53 



parts; and, from its situation, the summit com- 

 mands a more extensive view than any other point 

 in Britain/^ One would think that this testimony, 

 and Col. Mudge^s information that, when residing 

 on Black Combe for surveying purposes, he more 

 than once saw Ireland before sunrise, would bring 

 strangers to try their luck in seeing Scotland, Staf- 

 fordshire, and Ireland from the same point : but 

 the mountain lies out of the ordinary track of 

 tourists, and very few visit it. 



The next point of the drive is charming ; — up 



the valley of the Duddon. The series of sonnets 



that Wordsworth has given us may 



THE DTJDDON. i 1 1 j i j j 1 



have led strangers to expect too much : 

 but to an unprepossessed eye the valley must appear 

 lovely. Leaving the Bootle road and the bridge to 

 the left, the road ascends so steeply that the tra- 

 vellers will get out and walk; and many a time 

 will they turn to the sea-view, and the wooded 

 slopes on the way to Bootle, and the rocks, dressed 

 with wild flowers, that enclose the road. Then 

 comes a common covered with fern, in which the 

 greenest of paths form a network : and far below 

 dashes the brown river between rocky banks ; and 

 Duddon Grove, with its conservatories and beautiful 

 grounds and green clearings, is seen in the hollow 

 of the vale. Four miles from Broughton, the bridge 

 at Ulpha Kirk spans the river, and discloses a beau- 

 tiful view, up and down. One thing which the 

 traveller is always expected to rem^ark is the strange 

 holes (called pots) worn by the waters in the rocks, 

 and the rounding of the edges of the 

 Tn,PHAEiEK. |jQ^j|jgj.g ^^^ shelves in the channel. 



Ulpha Kirk is a mere hamlet ; but there is a little 



