By rights, I suppose the valley which starts on the slopes of Scafell and Great Gable, running the short distance to join the Mite and Esk in Ravenglass Harbour should be named Irtdale. Instead, it retains the Old Germanic name for water. Hence Wasdale is "the valley full of water."
The silly part came later when someone who was obviously completely ignorant as to the meaning decided to call the lake Wast Water–literally "water water". Another etymological anomaly is the Copeland Forest (which gives its name to the local authority). Copeland means "the land of forests." Hence "forest forest".
Instantly recognisable by the unique screes on the southern bank, the lake fills most of the upper valley.
Above the lake, close to Wasdale Head, Mosedale Beck, Lingmell Beck and Lingmell Gill join together to keep the lake at a constant depth far in excess of any other Cumbrian lake.
Wasdale Head has that "hemmed in" feeling with the twin peaks of Scafell towering to the east, almost a thousand metres high. There are many theories concerning the name but the most plausible is the simplest–it is the fell (Norse fjall–open land) of the Esk (Gaelic Aesc–powerful) - hence Aescfjall, Scafell. On the opposite side of Lingmell Beck is Great Gable, resembling the end gable of a house, and Kirk Fell. To the west is Yewbarrow, the hill of Yew Trees.
The Becks (Norse Bekkr) rise and fall rapidly due to the sudden precipitation which can result from being high in the Lake District. Just over Sty Head Pass at the top of the valley are Langdale and Borrowdale. This region is by far the wettest in England.
At Wasdale Head, there is a Hotel, mountaineering shop (with mountain rescue post), a couple of farms, a campsite for none but the extremely hardy (and waterproof), and a famous church. It is a dead-end valley with a reasonable road along one side of the lake and a precarious footpath along the other, traversing the entire length of the screes.
The Lake itself is administered by the National Trust as is much of the land in the Lake District. At the foot of the lake is a youth hostel beside which the Irt begins its short tumble down to the sea. Below the lake is Nether Wasdale with two Hotels, and an Inn. There is also a campsite run by the farmer's wife, Mrs Knight.
Below the village, the Irt meets the Bleng which has just left Gosforth, a village full of craft shops and pubs. At Hollins Bridge, there is the remnant of an ox-bow and, shortly after this, the river passes under Santon Bridge with its popular Bridge Inn. There is also a campsite here run by the Thwaite family who, for years, kept the village post office in their house.
Close by is a craft shop (on the road to Holmrook) and Irton Hall which now has self-catering accommodation for families.
The Irt then meanders across the flat valley bottom and over two weirs before passing behind Irton with its ancient cross.
After Holmrook, it is but a short run to the sea, passing Drigg where great controversy has arisen lately over the proposal to bury nuclear waste on the land between the village and the sea.
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