1936 On the Continent

for it!)
    Stay as long as you can in this heart of the Dales, and then sweep on to P ENRITH , that dour steep town of Cumberland. There is a Giant’s grave in the churchyard atPenrith to awe you. And from Penrith you go to the Lakes, and climb mountains.
    If you have driven over Shap, then you have seen the high grey fells, and may turn inland to Keswick. Another route could go around Windermere, Ambleside, Wast-water, Derwentwater, and so lose yourselves completely in the beauty of the Lake District.
A Drowned Village
    Mardale, my own special small and lovely centre, is no more. They are drowning it. Last time I was there, I clambered to the top of High Street and looked down: and there was the tiny church and the old inn, and the few stone farmhouses and the quiet lake, and the little road that ended in a mountain track. And on the hillside opposite was a white mark; and to-day the church has gone, the farms are deserted, and towards that white mark on the hillside the waters are creeping up and up. It’s going to be a reservoir.
Kendal is Famous for Snuff
    The Lakes are the playground of the north, and some of the small popular towns cater only for the tourist. But the old stone market towns, such as K ENDAL , are sturdily unchanged, and the sports of the Lakes are unchanged. There you will see wrestling at its very finest; such wrestling partners might Shakespeare have dreamed of for Orlando.
    There are Fell races, where the shepherds run straight up the steep hillsides, along over the rocks, leaping for miles against the sky line; and back, crossing rivers, to finish swiftly across the green grass turf. There are sheep dog trials—and there are the mountains.
Read Froissart’s Chronicles
    Choose the mountain over which the Roman roads sweep to Carlisle when you leave the Lakes. C ARLISLE is an historic border town and has a very fine castle; and you must have Froissart with you, to read of the ruse when they drove the donkeys carrying coal into the gateway, broke the panniers, and spilt the coal so that it blocked up the portcullis, and then they took the town; and many more stories of interesting Carlisle.
    Are you going on to Scotland? You may as well. You’re so close to the border. (You can detour to Gretna Green, if you like, but don’t advise it unless you’ve business there, for it’s deteriorated terribly!)
And the Border Ballads
    If you really can’t go to Scotland, pack the Border Ballads in your pocket and ride east along the Cheviot Hills and see the Roman Wall, and any of the wild moorland roads inland to Jedburgh or Hawick will give you the feel of the Border.
    But if you can, go into Scotland; then you’ll have a lovely run either through Moffat, where the road runs above a huge ravine known as “The Devil’s Beef Tub” and Peebles, or through Eskdale and Teviotdale. Whichever way you go return the other road, for I cannot choose for you. I have travelled both, and most of the small side roads in either direction, through sheer inability to make up my mind.
    If you have time, turn off at Bowland to the east—there are half a dozen little roads that lead up into the hills.
The Covenanter’s Memorial
    Ask for the Covenanter’s Memorial. It is a small stone, in a quiet hidden glen, far from a little country road: down the glen runs a burn, and, overhead, wind and bird cries; and I’m not saying how you get there because I’ve never managed to get there twice the same way myself, and the roads are wild and winding. But you will have seen the Border Country when you find it—the Border Country of the North—Heart-land of the Northerners, for
    “The oak and the ash, and the bonny ivy tree,
    They flourish best at home, in the north countree.”
    Hotels and Road Houses in towns, or near the routes, mentioned.
    N ORTHAMPTON
    The Grand
    The Angel
    The Plough
    The Ram
    M ELTON M OWBRAY
    The Bell
    The Harborough
    The King’s Head
    B UXTON
    Spa Hotel.
    M ATLOCK B ATH
    New Bath Hotel
    L EEK
    Red Lion
    B AKEWELL
    Rutland Arms
    B AMFORD
    Rising Sun Hotel, Bamford Road
    I LKLEY
    Wells House
    Craigland’s Hydro
    Troutbeck, on Cross Beck Road
    S KIPTON-IN -C RAVEN
    The Black Horse
    The Devonshire
    G RASSINGTON
    Wilson Arms
    K ILSEY
    There is a good hotel under the crag.
    M ALHAM
    Two or three good hotels here.
    M ALDALE
    The old or new Dun Bull (the first is being drowned)
    P ENRITH
    Armstrong’s “George”
    The Crown
    K ENDAL
    Levens
    County
    Kendal
    K ESWICK
    Keswick Hotel
    The