The Lake
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[edit] General description
The Lake runs north-south with the wind confined to run in those directions by high hills on either side. About halfway down the lake there is a cluster of islands.
[edit] Native Settlements
The main town is said to have a native name but is always referred to as Rio. There are other small villages at Head of the lake and Foot of the lake.
From the top of the Great Wall they can see the Dundale Road (PP17 and PP30) where twice careless motorists leave a fire. And the Billies have heard talk in the pub at Bigland yonder of what is in the houseboat to steal. Young Billy says that nobody in these parts would touch the houseboat (SA13). Bigland is beyond the foot of the Lake (SA26).
[edit] Farms and Houses
(Outside the villages) on the western shore, north to south:
- Mrs Lewthwaite's cottage
- Beckfoot, home of the Blackett family
- Crag Gill, home of Miss Thornton
- Swainsons Farm
On the eastern shore:
- Holly Howe, home of the Jacksons
- Dixons Farm
[edit] Western hills
Kanchenjunga dominates, with Grey Screes and Ling Scar leading off the summit. The plateau of High Topps lies between these and the Valley of the Amazon below. Between the Valley of the Amazon and the lake is High Moor with Watch Tower Rock and the Swallowdale valley at its southern end.
[edit] Eastern hills
High Greenland above Dixons and Holly Howe in the south. The Peak in Darien lies just south of Holly Howe on the shore of the lake.
[edit] Islands
- Long Island - The largest of the islands off Rio. This is clearly based on Belle Isle on Windermere
- Cache Island - The most northerly of the islands off Rio, this is a small rocky island that features in Winter Holiday. It may or may not be the same as Titty's island (from which she looked out for the Amazons while the others visited Rio), from Swallows and Amazons.
- Cormorant Island - Another small, rocky island with cormorants roosting on its one standing tree. The likely model for this island is Silver Holme on Windermere, though the Altounyans used to refer to the tiny islet just south of Belle Isle as Cormorant Island.
- One big one (island) had houses on it (SA8).
- Diring the night sailing episode they stop moored to a jetty until daylight although a notice says "Private. Landing Forbidden". As they leave Susan says We didn't exactly land. Later when John is drawing a sketch chart of the lake he wrote "Landing Island" beside the one where landing was forbidden and the "Swallow" had rested, swinging from the wooden pier in the darkness of the night (SA21,23).
- THis may be the same island, one of several that they had visited earlier, where they had an unpleasant meeting with some natives on one of them, who pointed to a notice-board and said that the island was private, and that no landing was allowed (SA19).
[edit] Native transport
Rio has the main transport link with a rail branch joining the main line to London's Euston Station at Strickland Junction. The station (uphill from the village) is linked to the steamer pier by a short bus journey. Lake Steamers cross the Lake and are timed to meet the bus and trains. Roads encircle the Lake and lead to nearby towns, such as the road to Dundale to the west via the Valley of the Amazon and the road to Bigland beyond the foot of the lake.
There is another railway station at Foot of the lake, but this has less convenient connections with all the changes. Old Carrotty the porter has been there at least for three or four years; he used to work at Beckfoot years ago (PM25).
[edit] Native prototypes
The Lake is based on both Windermere and Coniston Water which were both very familiar to Arthur Ransome. In the books, there is only a brief mention of a neighbouring lake (in Swallowdale, when John says There's another lake somewhere over there (to the west, where the swans are flying to) (SD21)) rather than it being one of many in the Lake District. The map also shows that it is not as narrow across as the actual Lake District lakes are. In general, the geography of the mountains and fells surrounding the Lake resemble the country around Coniston, while the islands and settlements on and around the Lake more closely resemble Windermere.
