The most remote of the western lakes, with no road along its shores and the Pillar fells and Ennerdale forest rising beyond
Ennerdale Water is the western Lake District’s quiet corner — the only major lake with no road running along its shores, so to see it properly you walk. A track circles the whole lake, around seven miles, rough underfoot in places and squeezing below the crag called Anglers’ Crag on the southern side. Beyond the head of the water the valley runs deep into the hills under Pillar and the Ennerdale forests.
That upper valley is the heart of Wild Ennerdale, a long-running project by the landowners to let the place turn a little wilder — fewer fences, native trees spreading back, cattle allowed to roam. The Coast to Coast walk comes through here on its way east. The lake itself is a working reservoir supplying west Cumbria, part of why its shores have stayed undeveloped.
The village of Ennerdale Bridge at the western end has the nearest pub, and the main car park sits just past it at Bowness Knott. It’s a there-and-back sort of valley, with no through road, so it stays quiet even in summer. Bring what you need, because there’s little out here once you leave the village.
