Skiddaw, Cumbria - postcard by Pettitt of Keswick, UPU stamp, 1929 pmk

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Top of Skiddaw [Cumbria]
• Publisher: Pettitt's Prize Medal Series, Keswick
• Postally used: yes
• Stamp:  UPU Commemrative 1d [corner slight bend]
• Postmark(s): Keswick 1929 cds
• Sent to:  Mr Hawkes, Fire Station, Enfield, Middx
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. Its 931-metre (3,054 ft) summit is the sixth-highest in England. It lies just north of the town of Keswick, Cumbria, and dominates the skyline in this part of the northern lakes. It is the simplest of the Lake District mountains of this height to ascend (as there is a well-trodden tourist track from a car park to the north-east of Keswick, near the summit of Latrigg) and, as such, many walking guides recommend it to the occasional walker wishing to climb a mountain. This is the first summit of the fell running challenge known as the Bob Graham Round when undertaken in a clockwise direction.

The mountain lends its name to the surrounding areas of ‘Skiddaw Forest’, and ‘Back o' Skidda' ’ and to the isolated ‘Skiddaw House’, situated to the east, formerly a shooting lodge and subsequently a youth hostel. It also provides the name for the slate derived from that region: Skiddaw slate. Tuned percussion musical instruments or lithophones exist which are made from the slate, such as the Musical Stones of Skiddaw held at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery.

The Northern Fells make up a roughly circular upland area approaching 10 miles (16 km) in width. At the centre is the marshy depression of Skiddaw Forest, a treeless plateau, or valley, at an altitude of about 400 metres (1,300 ft); flowing outwards from here are the rivers that divide the area into three sectors. The south-western sector, between the Glenderaterra Beck and Dash Beck, contains Skiddaw and its satellites.^[1]

Skiddaw itself takes the form of a north–south ridge about half a mile long, with steep slopes to east and west. The ridge continues northwards over Broad End to Bakestall, a fell overlooking the Whitewater Dash waterfall. Further ridges fan out east and west from the southern end of Skiddaw. To the south-east are Skiddaw Little Man, Lonscale Fell and Latrigg, an easily accessible viewpoint for Keswick and Derwentwater. Beyond these fells are the Glenderaterra Beck and the Blencathra group. The south-western ridge curves round through 180 degrees to run north above the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake. This gives Skiddaw an 'outer wall', comprising Carl Side, Long Side and Ullock Pike, collectively referred to as Longside Edge. The final member of the Skiddaw Group is Dodd, a satellite of Carl Side.

Between Skiddaw and Longside Edge are the quiet valleys of Southerndale and Barkbethdale, separated by the spur of Buzzard Knott. These drain the western flanks of the fell to Bassenthwaite Lake. The eastern side of Skiddaw drains into Skiddaw Forest, much of the water reaching Candleseaves Bog. This marsh is the source of both the Dash Beck flowing north west to Bassenthwaite and the River Caldew, beginning its long journey north-eastward to the Solway Firth via Carlisle. Two smooth spurs on this eastern flank of Skiddaw, Sale How and Hare Crag, are listed in separate tops in some guidebooks.^[2] Sale How is also a Nuttall.

Skiddaw's slopes are generally rounded and convex, looking from a distance as though a thick velvet blanket has been draped over a supporting frame. On the ridges the general terrain is of loose stones, but elsewhere all is grass and heather. Wainwright noted that "Its lines are smooth, its curves graceful; but because the slopes are steep everywhere, the quick build-up of the “massif” from valley levels to central summit is appreciated at a glance — and it should be an appreciative glance, for such massive strength and such beauty of outline rarely go together."^[1]