World famous for its beautiful lakes and mountainous fells, carved out long ago by glaciers, the Lake District today is a playground for walkers and outdoor enthusiasts. As well as the whole of the Lake District, also known as The Lakes or Lakeland and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Geological history:

Concentrated in just 231 sq km ( 900 sq miles) are the highest peaks, deepest valleys  and longest lakes in England. Today’s landscape has changed little since the end of the Ice Age 10,000 years ago. But the glaciated hills that were revealed by the retreating ice were once a part of a vast mountain chain whose remains can also be found in North America. The mountains were first raised by the gradual fusion of two ancient landmasses which, for millions of years, formed a single continent. Eventually the continent broke into two, forming Europe and America, separated by the widening Atlantic Ocean.

The diversity of the Lake District’s scenery owes much to its geology. Some 450 million years ago, Earth’s internal movements made two continents collide, and the ocean disappear, forming mountain range. Magma altered the sediments and cooled into volcanic rock basins in the mountainsides. The glacier retreated 10,000 years ago, their meltwaters forming lakes in valleys dammed by debris. There are 16 different bodies of water that represent the Lake District.

• Wastwater is the deepest of the lakes, its southeastern cliffs are streaked with granite scree-the debris forms each year as a rock shattered  by the winter frost tumbles down during the spring thaw.
• The Langdale Pikes are remnants of the volcanic activity which once erupted in the area. There are made of hard igneous rocks, known as Borrowdale Volcanics. Unlike the Skiddaw Slates, they have not eroded smoothly, so they leave a craggy skyline.
• Striding Edge is a long, twisting ridge which leads to the summit of Helvellyn. Its was sharpened by the widening of the valleys on either side caused by the build-up of glaciers.