Jane Barnard to Rachel Barnard   28 July 1861

Mrs Halliwells¹ | Main Street | Keswick

Sunday Morning | July 28. / 61

My dear Rachel

My first letter this morning must be to you, for yours was the first I received. We have felt for you & thought of you very much & now this mornings letters tell us you are not improving as we had hoped, poor girl. I hope we shall find you better. This is a very curious place, it looks to me like a foreign town; we are in very comfortable lodgings, Charlotte’s & my bedroom looks on to Skiddaw & other mountains & James on to Derwentwater & we are told we can see 25 mountain tops from the same window. He has gone to chapel, the riflemen have just passed on their way to church we saw 26 of them besides the band of 4 men. Since we wrote last we have had lovely weather the sun shining & yet the sky full of most beautiful clouds. We have had more adventures but we will tell of them when we get home. Yesterday we went up Skiddaw, we started about 10 oclock & reached the top about ¼ to 2 when we had a grand view taking in the Solway Firth & the mountains of Scotland & many other points of interest. As we descended the mountain we turned off from the beaten track & clambered down a precipitous place to a lovely a mountain stream or torrent. It was very steep & one time I was only held up by a root I got hold of, I could get no footing or place for my knee & I called to James that I could not hold much longer & he came below me & helped me on to a safe place again. This torrent was most lovely, so wild & swift & foaming, steep mountainous heights on each side & no mark of human presence; the sheep had made little paths along which we scrambled.

The ferns grew in wonderful luxuriance. We feel it such delightful liberty to have no selected time of going to our meals & no one expecting us. James is most attentive & one to feel full confidence in, he is always ready & full of kindness. Tomorrow we expect to have another day on horseback a long ride of 23 miles or more.

On Wednesday morning² early we expect to leave here & to get home the same evening this is the arrangement at present but it may be changed.

We get home so tired of an evening that we are not inclined to do much, but we are obliged to set to, to mend & renovate our clothes. The two days rain at the beginning dashed us very much. Today we have on our clean cotton dresses. I think there will be no more time to write to us after you get this. We meet with most pleasant people wherever we go, all seem so liberal & so ready to assist us in every way. We are living on meat, honey, brandy, tea & milk, so we are doing well; we have two meals a day, breakfast & tea both with meat. Perhaps you will let Uncle have this on Wednesday evening in case I do not write so much to him & my Aunt, I must write a few lines to Margaret so say good bye from your | very affectionate sister | Jane

Charlotte with her spiked stick which helped her so much made James think of the young lady (Lydia Warner³) who carried her umbrella the same way.