Lake District Landscapes

Jonathen Orley's appreciation of the different landscapes associated with the Skiddaw Slates and Borrowdale Volcanic rocks has been a recurring theme in all subse¬quent writings on the scenery of the hotels in the lake district. It figured prominently in the first official Geological Memoir covering the northern part of the area prepared by Clifton Ward after he had spent more than a decade in the field. The same aspect is dealt with at length in Marr's classic Geology of the Lake District which, although now over fifty years old, is still the only all embracing account covering the entire area.

Even to the unpracticed eye, the contrasting landscapes associated with the two rock types can be clearly seen, especially when in close juxtaposi¬tion.

In the lower part of Borrowdale, for example, where the boundary runs diagonally from below Walla Crag  to Grange (and then up on to the slopes of Narrow Moor , the relatively smooth outlines associated with weathered Skiddaw Slates on the Cat Bells ridge  stand out in marked con¬trast to the precipitous slopes of Walla Crag and Falcon Crag  on the opposite side of the valley.

This is simply a reflection of the difference in charac¬ter between the basic rock types, for whereas the Skiddaw Slates have a fairly uniform composition, mainly shales with occasional grit bands, the Borrowdale Volcanics comprise a succession of toughened lava beds interspersed with softer tuffs. In places however, these tuffs have been altered by igneous activity and then they, too, stand out as sheer rock walls. Where there is a succession of hard and soft beds, the whole hillside takes on the appearance of a gigantic stair¬case where the treads coincide with the more resistant beds. The Skiddaw Slates, in contrast, are much more uniform and tend to weather evenly to give uniform slopes with shaly debris completely masking the underlying solid rock. On these more gentle slopes there is often a complete grassy sward. Seen from afar, like the famous view of Skiddaw looking northwards from Ashes Bridge, the landscape takes on a subdued appearance even though the actual height of Skiddaw itself  approaches that of the highest peaks within the whole Lake District.

Broad generalizations can be misleading, however, for there are areas within the Skiddaw Slates outcrop where rugged scenery is characteristic. In the west¬ern fells, bordering on Crum mock Water  and Buttermere , the presence of hard grit bands and massive flags gives rise to craggy upper slopes with sweeping screes' fanning out below. A walk up Gasgale Gill from a point near the lower end of Crum mock Water enters an area where rock type, valley side weathering and stream erosion have combined to produce a landscape as forbidding in its grandeur as any associated with the Borrowdale Volcanic Series. The valley itself is V shaped in cross profile with the present relatively small stream threading its way round any rocky buttresses in its path or cascading down over the harder beds in its upper section . Bare crags on the north side of the valley grade almost imperceptibly into a scree of angular rock frag¬ments often considerably dissected by stream courses which cover the hillside after heavy rain. On reaching the col of Coledale House the landscape changes completely.

We are now in the midst of a broad open valley with a small stream passing through a succession of boggy hollows. Above lie the smooth grassy slopes leading on to the flat top of Grasmoor . After the toil up the narrow defile of the Gasgale Beck, the open scenery of the plateau all around is one of commanding views in every direction. From the cairn at the western end of Grasmoor the view to the east takes in the unfrequented country running across towards Newlands Valley and Keswick with isolated knolls like Grisedale Pike  rising above the general level.

To the south White less Pike  in the foreground is similar, but beyond the land falls away rapidly to the over deepened trough which contains Buttermere and Crummock Water. Beyond, Skiddaw Slates give way to other rocks and the majestic ridge running from High Crag  to Starling Dodd, with its great armchair shaped hollows, betrays a change of rock type. On a fine day the view southwards is completed by the fragmented country which ultimately rises to Great Gable  and Scafell Pike.

Ice Age landscapes in the Lake District

Perhaps the most typical of landforms which can claim to have been largely fashioned by ice is the Unshaped valley or glacial trough.Things to do in the lake district With its straight sides and iceshorn crags dropping steeply to the valley bottom, the form is familiar enough not to require much elaboration. Favourite valleys like Great Langdale, Borrowdale and Troutbeck all possess these basic features and have a common enclosed appearance, especially towards their heads where the fell slopes crowd in on every side. Each valley, however, has its own distinctive feature imparting a variety which is part of the charm of the Lake District landscape. Few greater contrasts exist than, say, between the rich greenery of Long Sleddale and the gaunt grey and often screecovered slopes which surround Wastwater.

Again, the twisting form of Great Langdale is very different from Borrowdale, where straight contours are broken by the great rock constriction known as the Jaws.

Variety within a single valley is also a feature of the area, as is apparent in traversing the upper section of the River Cocker. Starting as Gatesgarthdale Beck at the head of Hollister Pass, the youthful stream winds its way over boulder beds and around great rocky buttresses within a short distance of its source. The valley here has a typical V shaped cross profile, for extensive scree clothing the lower slopes has modified the original U section of the glaciated valley. At Gatesgarth the valley opens out and the beck now flows with greater serenity across flats which were once covered by the waters of an extended Lake Buttermere. At the present lake edge the river is gradually building out a promontory with debris brought down when it is in spate.

From the head of Buttermere downstream for about five miles, the valley is more open although much of its flow is taken up with the lakes of Buttermere and Crummock Water. At Hause Point the rocky buttress comes right down to the edge of the lake and the valley is more constricted. Lower down it opens out again although the rocky end of Grasmoor and the crags of Mellbreak must have resisted any glacier as it moved down the valley, and were partly shorn away in the process. At the lower end of Crummock Water the valley bifurcates and the River Cocker chooses the eastern branch as it pursues its relentless course to join the Derwent at Cockermouth.

The valley now is wide and open, forming the pleasant Vale of Lorton so loved by Wordsworth for its unspoilt beauty. In this lower section the former valley glacier'began to dump some of the debris it had gathered by its erosion farther upstream. Near Armaside there is a small moraine, now capped with trees, marking a point where the glacier tem¬porarily halted and began to melt. Although a mere ten miles from the head of the Homster Pass, the rich green acres of the Vale of Lorton represent the very antithesis to the bare boulder slopes of the source region.