Wastwater

Wastwater is seventy-nine metres deep, the deepest lake in England, and because the surface sits only about sixty metres above sea level, the bottom is well below it. The southeastern shore is the Wastwater Screes, a face of shattered rock falling six hundred metres from Illgill Head straight into the water and continuing underwater to the bed, so the slope is unbroken for well over a kilometre. The view up the valley to Great Gable between Yewbarrow and Lingmell was voted Britain's favourite and became the National Park's emblem. Wasdale Head at the top holds the Wasdale Head Inn, the birthplace of British rock climbing in the 1880s, and a churchyard with graves of climbers killed on the surrounding fells. Scafell Pike is climbed from here by the shortest route.

The landscape

• The screes - six hundred metres of shattered rock falling into and under the lake.
• The seventy-nine-metre depth - a bed lying below sea level.
• The head of the valley - the Great Gable view used as the park's emblem.
• Wasdale Head Inn - the base where British rock climbing began in the 1880s.

When to go

April to October; Wasdale is the wettest and most weather-exposed valley in the district and the road in is long. Still mornings give the reflection the valley is photographed for. Winter access is difficult and facilities close.

Things to know

Getting there takes far longer than the map suggests, with no through road and a single narrow lane along the lake. Parking is minimal and the National Trust has restricted verge parking. There is almost nothing in the valley: one inn, one campsite, no shops.

Nearby

Scafell Pike rises at the head of the valley; Eskdale lies south over the passes.

Key facts