Saturday 5 November 2011

The deepest lake in the Lake District

The deepest body of water in England is in the Lake District, over 220 feet at its deepest point (thanks to @Hilary for the correction of my units)

A tranquil walk around the south west corner of this lake finds you on a difficult path along the bottom of some of the largest scree slopes in the country.  Although made up of quite large rocks, as you walk along it is not difficult to tread on something that moves.

The bigger rocks that move make a distinctive sound, which then echoes through the local scree in an eerie way.  But these slopes have been here for centuries and it is tempting to feel that the puny footsteps of people are not gong to disturb the rocks in any significant way.

But once in a while you step onto and area that moves under your feet, sliding down towards the water.  Meeting a young family who were just starting to walk along the scree in the opposite direction I stopped for a chat and took care to warn the children not to stand on the special 'key stone' - the one that will make the whole lot tumble down!  (Was that child abuse?)


From this vantage point on the screes, looking across the lake to a point 2 miles walk away, I could almost see the parked car containing two teenagers who 'bottled out' before getting to the exciting part of the walk!  They missed another of the finest landscapes in England - but to their credit, at least they did get to the top of Helvellyn earlier in the week.

As a puzzle to conclude my 'Week in the Lakes' would anyone like to hazard a guess at the name of the deepest lake in the Lake District?

I might return to a few more posts about the a week in The Lakes.  Whenever you spot one you will know that it has been a busy week!

Small note: @Derby Skeptic is banned from answering the puzzle for 3 days to give everyone else a chance to join in!

7 comments:

John Chapman said...

Easy - Wastwater. It's the one that's surface is about 200 feet above sea level but its bottom is over 50 feet below sea level.

There's a great walk from Eskdale to the northern end of the lake and back on it's southern shore but those screes are killers on the way back.

Plasma Engineer said...

A good try, and most of the facts are correct! But you have the read the question is bit more carefully to get the correct answer. Any other guesses?

Derby Sceptic said...

I respect @Plasma Engineer's request that I don't answer this, but I will say that you mustn't believe all you read on the web. There are sites out there that give an incorrect answer. Obviously I will not say which in case that gives a clue.

Hilary said...

Windermere I would imagine... brill pics btw, good advert for the Lake District...makes me want to go there now...:)

Hilary said...

...on the other hand, you refer to it as a lake which as there is only one, means Lake Bassenthwaite...hmmm but you also give your depth in meters which is rather deep...do you really mean meters? or are you taking the depth from the top of the sides of the highest side of the water/lake? :)

Hilary said...

...so the answer to your actual question is and must therefore be Lake Bassenthwaite, as it is the only lake in the Lake District, but the deepest body of water must indeed be WastWater...ah, you see the answer is always in the overlooked detail...:)

Plasma Engineer said...

Well done to @Hilary who not only spotted an error in my units (now corrected with acknowledgement) but also spotted the cunning trick question and answering the question perfectly.

Since there is only one Lake in the Lake District, namely Bassenthwaite Lake, it must be the deepest, and indeed the shallowest and prettiest. However, its depth and prettiness do not distinguish it highly.

Thanks to @DerbySkeptic for keeping mum.