A serene day, with gleams of sunshine, gave magical effect to the
scenery of Derwentwater, as we wound along its eastern shore to
Borrowdale, under cliffs, parts of which, already fallen near the
road, increased the opinion of danger from the rest; sometimes near
the edge of precipices, that bend over the water, and, at others,
among pleasure-grounds and copses, which admit partial views over the
lake. These, with every woody promontory and mountain, were perfectly
reflected on its surface. Not a path-way, not a crag, or scar, that
sculptured their bold fronts, but was copied and distinctly seen even
from the opposite shore in the dark purple mirror below. Now and
then, a pleasure-boat glided by, leaving long silver lines, drawn to a
point on the smooth water which, as it gave back the painted sides and
gleaming sail, displayed a moving picture.
The colouring of the mountains was, this day, surprisingly various
and changeful, surpassing every thing of the same nature, that we had
seen. The effect of the atmosphere on mountainous regions is sometimes
so sublime, at others so enchantingly beautiful, that the mention
of it ought not to be considered as trivial, when their aspect is
to be described. As the sun-beams fell on different kinds of rock,
and distance coloured the air, some parts were touched with lilac,
others with light blue, dark purple, or reddish brown, which were
often seen, at the same moment, contrasting with the mellow green of
the woods and the brightness of sunshine; then slowly and almost
imperceptibly changing into other tints. Skiddaw itself exhibited much
of this variety, during our ride. As we left Keswick, its points were
overspread with pale azure; on our return, a tint of dark blue softened
its features, which were, however, soon after involved in deepest
purple.
Winding under the woods of Barrowside, we approached Lowdore, and heard
the thunder of his cataract, joined by the sounds of others, descending
within the gloom of the nearer rocks and thickets. The retrospective
views over the lake from Barrowside are the finest in the ride; and,
when the road emerges from the woods, a range of rocks rises over
it, where many shrubs, and even oaks, ash, yew, grow in a surprising
manner among the broken slates, that cover their sides. Beyond, at
some distance from the shore, appear the awful rocks, that rise over
the fall of Lowdore; that on the right shooting up, a vast pyramid of
naked cliff, above finely wooded steeps; while, on the opposite side
of the chasm, that receives the waters, impends Gowdar-crag, whose
trees and shrubs give only shagginess to its terrible masses, with
fragments of which the meadows below are strewn. There was now little
water at Lowdore; but the breadth of its channel and the height of the
perpendicular rock, from which it leaps, told how tremendous it could
be; yet even then its sublimity is probably derived chiefly from the
cliff and mountain, that tower closely over it.
Here Borrowdale begins, its rocks spreading in a vast sweep round
the head of the lake, at the distance, perhaps, of half a mile from
the shore, which bears meadow land to the water's brink. The aspect
of these rocks, with the fragments, that have rolled from their
summits, and lie on each side of the road, prepared us for the scene
of tremendous ruin we were approaching in the gorge, or pass of
Borrowdale, which opens from the centre of the amphitheatre, that binds
the head of Derwentwater. Dark rocks yawn at its entrance, terrific
as the wildness of a maniac; and disclose a narrow pass, running up
between mountains of granite, that are shook into almost every possible
form of horror. All above resembles the accumulations of an earthquake;
splintered, shivered, piled, amassed. Huge cliffs have rolled down into
the glen below, where, however, is still a miniature of the sweetest
pastoral beauty, on the banks of the river Derwent; but description
cannot paint either the wildness of the mountains or the pastoral and
sylvan peace and softness, that wind at their base.
Among the most striking of the fells are Glaramara, shewing rock on
rock; and Eagle-crag, where, till lately, that bird built its nest;
but the depredations, annually committed on its young, have driven it
from the place. Hence we pursued the pass for a mile, over a frightful
road, that climbs among the crags of a precipice above the river,
having frequently glimpses into glens and chasms, where all passage
seemed to be obstructed by the fallen shivers of rock, and at length
reached the gigantic stone of Bowther, that appears to have been
pitched into the ground from the summit of a neighbouring fell, and is
shaped, like the roof of a house reversed.
This is one of the spectacles of the country. Its size makes it
impossible to have been ever moved by human means; and, if it fell from
the nearest of the rocks, it must have rolled upon the ground much
further than can be readily conceived of the motion of such a mass.
The side towards the road projects about twelve feet over the base,
and serves to shelter cattle in a penn, of which it is made to form
one boundary. A small oak plant and a sloe have found soil enough to
flourish in at the top; and the base is pitched on a cliff over the
river, whence a long perspective of the gorge is seen, with a little
level of bright verdure, spreading among more distant fells and winding
away into trackless regions, where the mountains lift their ruffian
heads in undisputed authority. Below, the shrunk Derwent serpentized
along a wide bed of pebbles, that marked its wintry course, and left a
wooded island, flourishing amidst the waste. The stillness around us
was only feebly broken by the remote sounds of many unseen cataracts,
and sometimes by the voices of mountaineer children, shouting afar off,
and pleasing themselves with rousing the echoes of the rocks.
In returning, the view opened, with great magnificence, from the jaws
of this pass over the lake to Skiddaw, then seen from its base, with
the upper steeps of Saddleback obliquely beyond, and rearing itself
far above all the heights of the eastern shore. At the entrance of the
gorge, the village or hamlet of Grange lies picturesquely on the bank
of the Derwent among wood and meadows, and sheltered under the ruinous
fell, called Castle-crag, that takes its name from the castle, or
fortress, which from its crown once guarded this important pass.
Borrowdale abounds in valuable mines, among which some are known to
supply the finest wadd, or black lead, to be found in England. Iron,
slate, and free stone of various kinds, are also the treasures of these
mountains.