Half day road trip to Wast Water from Ambleside, Lake District

26 December 2012

Wast Water (sometimes spelled Wastwater) is the deepest lake in the Lake District. In an ITV television program in 2007, Wastwater in the Lake District has been named as Britain’s favourite view after the public chose from four landscapes.

In order to get to the Lake from the east,  we need to drive over the two passes of Wrynose and Hardknott.  Driving to Wast Water by car was part of the fun. Besides going over the challenging mountain passes, there were some narrow single track roads to negotiate.

We left our hotel in the Lake District (Waterhead Hotel) on A591 and then take the A593 at Ambleside. From the A593 we took a right turn into a narrow single track road leading to the Langdale and the Hardknott Pass route to Wast Water.

Single track road just off the A593.

It was quite nervy driving on the single track road as it would be a real pain if we encountered another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.The single track road passed back close to homesteads and farmhouses. We were so close to the farmhouses that we were literally in a farmer’s backyard.

One of the local sheep peering at us.

We soon saw a sign with the following warning before we went to the Hardknott Pass.

“30 degree gradient, narrow roads, severe bends, winter conditions can be dangerous, not suitable for caravans”.

 Cloudy sky but no heavy rain. So negotiating the Hardknott Pass should not be a problem today.

On way to Hardknott Pass.

We came to stone bridge marking the start of the HardKnott Pass with 30 degree gradient, sharp bends, narrow roads. The drive up was thrilling for the non-drivers in the family.

 Stone Bridge before the ascent. No turning back once past the bridge.

Someone in the car was commenting that it was like going up the Applecross Pass in Scotland, but it was really a much easier drive than Applecross. Fortunately the Audi A4 is a powerful car and very capable of pulling up the steep slope. The views were gorgeous despite the cloudy sky.

(See my previous drive up Applecross Pass here)

The long and winding road up – Hardknott Pass.

Over the top and the view of the way down.

Once we came down from the Hardknott Pass, it was more single track roads to Wast Water.

First panoramic view of Wast Water.

Wast Water is a lake formed by glacier action and is long, narrow and deep, like those loch in Scotland. It is the deepest lake in England at 258 feet.

One of the stops we made along the shore. Flat shores with an access road on one side and steep slopes on the opposite side.

Awesome view of Wast Water in the Lake District.

Some earlier visitors left these toy soldiers behind.

Steep slopes on the south eastern side of the lake. Can see some erosion taking place on those cliffs.

At the last stop, the boys were again challenging each other with dipping their feet in cold water. Who could last the longest?

Icy feet challenge. Dipping feet into the cold water.

Fun having cold feet. The winner.

There was a guy in wet suit actually swimming laps in the icy cold water. Amazing.

We were quite surprised by a flock of sheep that came round a bend in the road. No shepherd in sight. The sheep just came round on their own and started to graze on the grass by our car.

 Sheep coming down the road.

Sheep grazing around our car

The sheep then continue down the narrow road.

Kings of the road. The cars stopping for the flock of sheep.

To really appreciate the scale and awesomeness of the mountains and lake, I took a series of photos to create the following panoramic photos.

Single track road could be seen running by the shore of Wast Water. We made a couple of stops along the way to take in different viewpoints.

One of the exploratory walks along the shore.

The sky turns dark by about 4 PM, so we started to leave Wast Water before that. We took the longer but safer way back from Wast Water using the highways via Gosforth. then heading northwards on the A595, A66 and then A591 back to Ambleside. Definitely no going through the Hardknott Pass and single track road after dark.

Going back via the A roads in the evening.

Wet and dark road by 4 PM in December.

The final evening’s three course dinner at our hotel in Ambleside (Waterhead Hotel) featured the hotel chef’s twist on some traditional British Pub favourites served in the Bar & Grill.

Following this, we took part in the Festive Pub Quiz event in the Bar and Lounge.  We did pretty well in some rounds like movies and pictures, but not in others where the questions were more bias towards knowledge of the UK and local knowledge. Quite fun and relaxing after a long day out in Wast Water.

Festive Pub Quiz event at Waterhead Hotel - Guessing the names of the celebrities.

Following the quiz, we round off a memorable and relaxing Christmas at The Waterhead with a few drinks in the bar.