Wasdale (a remote valley in the western Lake District)
Wasdale is a remote valley of the western Lake District (England’s largest National Park). This is home to Scafell Pike (England’s highest mountain, deepest lake (Wastwater at 243ft) and smallest church (St Olaf’s). It’s also the birthplace of rock climbing, likely due to the high mountains!
Out walking? Follow the Countryside Code to keep all creatures safe. Keep dogs away from steep banks, mushrooms (and other toxic plants/trees) and on leads during nesting season (and near barnyard friends and wild ponies).
The view surrounding Wastwater is so lovely, it was even once voted ‘Britain’s favourite view’. After admiring the view, you can pop into the tiny church (named after a Norwegian king) to learn about Norse settlers (the roof beams are believed to have been salvaged from a Viking longboat).
The quite unsettling thing here you may hear on stormy nights if ‘the screaming on Scafell’. Some say it’s due to lost spirits, while most say it’s simply the sound of the wind funnelling between Scafell (a smaller mountain) and Scafell Pike.
What you will also see a lot of here are hardy Herdwick sheep, the ‘native Cumbrian breed’, saved from extinction thanks to Beatrix Potter leaving most of her land to the National Trust, for them to grave.
How to upright an overturned sheep
If when out walking you see a sheep on its back (due to pregnancy or rain-soaked wool), just firmly right it back (or it will die) then stay with it, until the rain has drained off.
Haweswater (a sunken underwater village)
In nearby Haweswater, there is even a sunken ‘underwater village. Mardale Green was submerged in the 1930s to create the local reservoir, a water source for nearby Manchester. All the residents were evacuated and the buildings demolished, by engineers, before the area was flooded.
Today during droughts, the ruins often resurface. Including several farms, a church and an old inn. Even graves from the church were relocated.
