Column by historian Roger Bingham of Ackenthwaite:

UNTIL, in the late 18th century, ‘Romantic poets' led by Wordsworth extolled their beauty, the mountains of Lakeland were regarded as terrifying excrescences.

Although William himself ascended Skiddaw when he was 70, few others wanted to climb them.

Even so, George Tattersall, in 1839, provided advice for would-be mountaineers.

Firstly, they should start with the lesser hills, like the Langdales, to prepare for arduous ascents like Helvellyn.

Secondly, he advised on clothing.

While refraining from suggesting that ladies might abandon their crinolines and corsets, he argued: "Shoes and gaiters will be more serviceable than boots; a staff with at one end an iron spike will be of great assistance; and a flask of weak brandy and water will not be deemed ungrateful by the thirsty aspirant; a linen jacket and a small cap or straw hat completes his equipment so that in the patois of the country he’d be in good fettle to climb t’fells.

"If a guide is not procured, keep to the route by which peat is brought down from Stickle Tarn, a lonely, desolate pool, then, keeping a streamlet to the right, half an hour’s clambering will place you on top of Harrison’s Stickle."