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Ullswater
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the Lake District National Park. It is approximately 9 miles (14.5 kilometres) long and 0.75 miles (1,200 metres) wide, with a maximum depth of just over 60 metres (197 ft). It is about 45 minutes from Sedbergh, in Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales. Map of journey.
It is a typical Lake District narrow "ribbon lake" formed after the last ice age when a glacier scooped out the valley floor. The deepened section filled with meltwater when the glacier retreated, and it became a lake.
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The village of Glenridding which is at the southern end of the lake, is popular with tourists of all kinds but especially mountain walkers who can scale England's third highest mountain, Helvellyn, and many other towering peaks from there. The village of Pooley Bridge is at the northern end of the lake. Its narrow 16th-century bridge crosses the River Eamont as it flows out of Ullswater.
Ullswater 'Steamers' offer trips around the lake calling at Pooley Bridge, Glenridding, and Howtown. The 'Steamers' operate all year round and were originally working boats.
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Ullswater is a very popular location for sailing with marinas dotted around the lake. There are also facilities for diving, rowing and motorboats. Another of Ullswater's attractions is the spectacular waterfall of Aira Force, midway along the lake on the western side. (Ullswater lies partly within the National Trust's Ullswater and Aira Force property.)
William Wordsworth walked along the shoreline of Ullswater in 1802. It is said he was inspired to write the poem "Daffodils" after seeing daffodils growing on the shores of Ullswater on his journey back to Grasmere. Wordsworth once wrote of Ullswater: "it is the happiest combination of beauty and grandeur, which any of the lakes affords".
Wordsworth was right. And so it is no wonder that Ullswater is considered by many, as the most beautiful of the English lakes.
