5 JULY 1945, Page 24

Shorter Notices

Cycling in the Lake District. By John Crowe. (Skeffington. 7s. 6d.)

THE highlands of Cumberland and Westmoreland mount up to sudden heights and rush down to sudden ciepths—which means that there can be good roads in its many valleys and moderately good passes in the hills. But the Lake District is a big area. A man may climb and walk there to his heart's content, but if he wants to get about in it he needs something quicker and stronger than his legs. Cars go too fast ; buses are crowded and independable ; neither can reach the remote and narrow ways which lead to the best places. The only possible supplemen:s to a man's legs in this country are the horse and the bicycle: and the bicycle goes furthest and gives least trouble at the journey's end. Cycling in the Lake District is John Crowe's record of twelve excursions. It is not a guide book. It does not tell the best way to climb Helvellyn or Langdale Pikes, but it does describe, wilt the aid of a map, certain particular adven- tures undertaken on a bicycle in burning sunshine and on ice-bound roads. This is not a book to read for its style, but anyone planning a similar holiday will find it extremely useful. The routes are described and their difficulties noted, and the book ends with a list of camping sites, with addresses, and a short chapter or the art of cycling in high places. The photographs are a disappointment. They give small idea of the beauties of the English Lakes.