England's deepest lake, hemmed in by the Wasdale Screes and the country's highest ground, and once voted the nation's favourite view
Wast Water sits at the head of Wasdale, one of the remotest valleys in the Lake District, and it feels it. This is England’s deepest lake, and along its whole south-eastern side the Wasdale Screes fall straight into the water in a huge grey slope of shattered rock, plunging on well below the surface. Behind the head of the lake stands England’s highest ground, including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in the country. Put all that together and you get the view that was voted Britain’s favourite in a television poll.
There is not much here in the way of villages, and that is the point. The single road runs along the north shore to Wasdale Head at the far end, a scatter of farms and one famous old inn that is often called the birthplace of British rock climbing, since the early climbers used it as their base for the crags above. The fells all around, Yewbarrow and Great Gable among them, make this serious walking country rather than a gentle lakeside stroll.
Most people come simply to look, and the layby views along the road are hard to beat. If you do walk here, treat it as proper mountain territory: the weather turns fast and the ground is rough. The lake itself is bitterly cold and very deep close to shore, so it is not a place for a casual swim.
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