Unmapped Gems
RegionBest April – June, September – October

Lake District

Only one of its lakes is technically a lake — the rest are meres, waters and tarns, and none of them care.

Bassenthwaite is the sole body of water in the national park with "lake" in its name; the rest go by mere, water or tarn, a naming quirk that predates the Ordnance Survey by a century. The valleys are narrow enough that a hamlet like Elterwater can have the Langdale Pikes rising almost straight off its back gardens, no drive or trailhead required to get into open fell country.

Lake District, United Kingdom
Photo: User:Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons