'Crag' is not very commonly used of a single stone, as it is here and in the case of Carl Crag.
Borrowdale.—'Divers Springes,' says old Leland in his 'Itinerary,' 'cummeth owt of Borodale, and so make a great Lowgh that we cawle a Poole.'
The 'Lowgh' is, of course, Derwentwater, and Borrowdale is the heart of the finest scenery and the best climbing in England. It may be said to stretch from Scafell to Skiddaw, and excellent headquarters for climbers may be found in it at Lowdore, Grange, Rosthwaite, and Seatoller. With the aid of its wad mines and its Bowder Stone, it probably did more during last century than anything else to arouse public interest in the Lake country. The natives were not famed for their intelligence, and many stories are told in support of their nickname of 'Borrowdale gowks.'
There is another Borrowdale in Westmorland, and Boredale is perhaps the same name.
Bowder Stone in Borrowdale was already a curiosity about a century and a half ago, when it was visited by Mr. George Smith, the correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine. Clarke, writing some years later, says it bore the alternative names of Powderstone and Bounderstone; and being 'thirty-one yards long by eight yards high, must therefore weigh over 600 tons, and is said to be the largest self-stone in England.' It is not really a 'boulder' at all, but the word is rather loosely used in Cumberland.
Bow Fell (2,960 ft.).—The name is probably the same as that of Baugh Fell, also called Bow Fell, in Yorkshire. This graceful peak, standing as it does at the head of several important valleys—Eskdale, Langdale, Dunnerdale, and Borrowdale—is a great feature in Lake scenery. There is not much rock-work on it, but a good deal of rough walking and scrambling. From Borrowdale or Wastdale it is approached by way of Esk Hause. On this side there is no climbing, except that Hanging Knot, as the N. end of Bow Fell is called, descends to Angle Tarn in a long, steep, rocky slope which offers a pleasant scramble.
On the Eskdale side there is a gully or two which might be worth exploring.
By inclining to the right hand on emerging at the top of Hell Gill, or to the left hand from the pony-track at the foot of Rossett Gill we reach Flat Crags, huge glacier-planed slopes of rock, overlooked by what in winter is a fine couloir of most alpine appearance. When Messrs. J. & A.R. Stogdon ascended it (Alpine Journal, v. p. 35) the inclination of the snow increased from 30° at the foot to 63° after 350 ft. or more, and there was a large cornice at the top. In the account which the same party inserted at the time in the Wastdale Head Book steeper angles are given.
In summer it is merely an open scree-gully; but the insignificant-looking chimney just N. of it, and only separated from it by a narrow ridge, is quite worthy of attention, though it has but one pitch in it after the one at the foot. The descent is harder than the ascent, and takes about twenty minutes.