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LOWDORE CASCADE constitutes one of the most magnificent scenes of
its kind among the lakes. It is not a perpendicular fall, but a
foaming cataract; the water rushing impetuously from a height of
360 feet, and bounding over and among the large blocks of stone
with which the channel is filled; so that when the river is full,
it is a striking object at three miles distance. To the left, the
perpendicular Gowder Crag, near five hundred feet high, towers
proudly pre-eminent; while from the fissures of Shepherd's Crag
on the right, the oak, ash, birch, holly, and wild rose, hang in
wanton luxuriance. From the foot of the fall, where it is usually
seen, more than half its height lies beyond the limits of the
view, and in dry seasons there is a deficiency of water; yet its
splendid accompaniments of wood and rock render it at all times
an object deserving the notice of tourists.
Winding round Shepherd's Crag towards the top of the fall, and
looking between two finely wooded side screens, through the chasm
in which the water is precipitated, a part of Derwent lake with
its islands, beyond it the vale of Keswick, ornamented with white
buildings, and the whole surmounted by the lofty Skiddaw - forms
a picture in its kind scarcely to be equalled.
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