BORRODALE 
43 
its shell, I put on my clothes and shaved and 
washed, and felt most gloriously comfortable. My 
note was changed at last, so I left Keswick, 
Saturday, 9th October, and proceeded on the Borro 
road.” 
The magnificent scenery of Borrodale impressed 
MacGillivray much, and he gives a very picturesque 
description of it, of his ascent of the mountains to 
the south-east, and of his descent in the dark into 
Langdale. 
“The night was very dark,” he writes, “and I 
could not even distinguish the stones on the road 
or the gates which crossed it. ... I knocked my 
shin against a gate, and soon after came to a house. 
As the night was extremely dark, I thought I could 
not do better than enter the house and petition for 
a bed in an outhouse or anywhere. When I 
entered I found a woman and a girl by the fire in a 
large and neat apartment. I told them I was a 
stranger, and had come from Keswick over the hills, 
and did not like to proceed further, as the night 
was very dark, and I would be obliged to them if 
they would allow me to sleep in an outhouse. The 
woman answered that they had a bed such as the 
family slept in, but perhaps I might not be pleased 
with it—as to sleeping in an outhouse it was out of 
the question. So I entered and seated me by the 
fire. I was asked what X would like for supper. 
Is this an inn ? asked I, somewhat surprised. 
‘No,’ I was answered.” 
Supper was at once set before him, after which 
he was shown to his room, where he found “an 
excellent bed.” It was nine o’clock when he awoke 
