BLEA TARN. 197 



look in, and see wliat a mighty excavation has 

 been caused by the demand for this fine slate. 

 Just beyond the chapel, the roads part, — that 

 which ascends to High Close climbing the hill to 

 the left. 



As for the second road, — the main induce- 

 ment is the valley in which Blea Tarn Hes, — 



the scene of those books of Words- 

 to^I^tLht. worth^s " Excursion " which relate to 



the Solitary. The very rough road 

 scrambles up from Langdale, by Wall End, to 

 the upland vale where the single farmhouse is, and 

 the tarn, and the stone, "like a ship, with keel 

 upturned," which is lodged in a stream near to 

 the tarn. Some people have unaccountably fixed 

 on the Bowder Stone to answer this description ; 

 but, besides that the Bowder Stone is far away, 

 it rests on its edge, instead of its ''keel" being 

 "upturned." "The two huge peaks, that from 

 some other vale peer into this," are the Langdale 

 Pikes ; and very fine is the view of them from this 

 wild and somewhat dreary hollow. Since the " Ex- 

 cursion'^ was written, large plantations of larch 

 have arisen ; but they do not much ameliorate the 

 desolation of the place. The road descends the 

 common to Little Langdale Tarn ; whence it is 

 described, in a reverse manner, in its course to 

 Colwith Force, Skelwith, and Ambleside, at p. 161. 

 In the third direction lies the way up the 

 Pikes, and over into Easedale. The guide will 



take the traveller up the peat-road to 

 ''Z^^t^Llrl''^ Stickle Tarn, — famous for its trout, 



and much beloved by anglers. Its 

 circular basin, brimming with clear water, lies 

 N 3 



