Wastwater

Wast Water

Around Wastwater are footpaths offering panoramic views of the mountains where many climbers train for assaults on the Alps and the Himalayas. Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain at 3,205 feet, is one of these. One of the great attractions of Wast Water is its remoteness. It boasts a wild beauty not found everywhere in the Lake District and is well worth seeking out. The lake is surrounded by sloping scree slopes or stretches of bracken and the area is far starker than such places of gentle beauty as Grasmere and Derwentwater.

Wast Water is also the deepest lake in England at 79 metres (258 feet). Created by the same glacial action that carved the valley and created the Wastwater Screes, the lakes surface is about 200 feet above sea level and its bottom over 50 feet below.