Archie, Roisin and I hiked to Eskdale from Wasdale Head. We approached the tarn over very boggy ground (the cows were hogging the path), and visited the ruin on the other side. On an ancient burial route, up in the clouds, we were the only two people (and one dog) in the world! The text below is a fragment from one of Coleridge’s letters in which he describes the same route.
Extract from Coleridge’s Letters:
Thursday Morning, Augt. 5th-went down the Vale [Wasdale] almost to the water head [Wast Water] , & ascended the low Reach between Sca’ Fell and the Screes, and soon after I had gained it’s height came in sight Burnmoor Water [now known as Burnmoor Tarn] , a large Tairn nearly of that shape, it’s Tail towards Sca’ Fell, at its head a gap forming an inverted arch with Black Coomb & a peep of the Sea [Irish Sea] seen thro’ it.–It [Burnmoor Water] lies directly at the Back of the Screes, & the stream that flows from it [Burnmoor Water>] down thro’ the gap, is called the Mite-and runs thro’ a Vale of it’s own called Miterdale, parallel with the lower part of Wastdale and divided from it by the high Ridge called Ireton Fells.