Blea Tarn (Watendlath): Difference between revisions

|historic name = ''[[wiktionary:blár#Old Norse|blár]]'' + ''[[wiktionary:tjǫrn|tjǫrn]]''

|name meaning = The dark mountain pool

|name-origin = Old Norse

|max length = 518 metres (1,700ft)

|max width = 244 metres (880ft)

|surface area = 8.56 hectares (21.16 ac)

'''Blea Tarn''' is a small valley lake, along with others such as [[Little Langdale Tarn]], [[Loughrigg Tarn]], and one its neighbours, [[Watendalath Tarn]]. These types of tarns, eight in total, were formed similiarly to the 17 big lakes of Lakeland. They are essentially smaller piedmont lakes, also known as ribbon lakes, with the distinctive shape of long and narrow stretches of water. The tarn sits in a pleasant hollow, albeit somewhat empty-looking,. Its open setting is surrounded by gentle slopes of coarse grassland, in a higher section of the valley around 215m above that of its lower neighbour.<ref name="smith23">Smith 2012, p.23</ref> The whole area sits roughly midway across a broad ridge of a peaty moorland.,<ref name="blair148">Blair 2003, p.148</ref> and multiple minor unnamed tarns, too small to merit importance. To the south-west are the crags of [[Coldbarrow Fell]], which do not overshadow the water in the slightest, giving a sense of ana opensweeping lansdscapelandscape with surprisingly little to see, especially at water level. However, the emptynessemptiness of the landscape does not detract from its natural beauty. The summit of nearby Low Saddle offers variation in the landscape as do pockets of yellow water lilies.<ref name="blair148"/>

There are three such named tarns in Lakeland. This Blea Tarn has at an elevation of 478m (1,568ft), a depth of 13m (43ft), and is identified by its location on [[Watendlath Fell]]; others may associate with its proximity to Borrowdale. The other two are [[Blea Tarn (Langdale)]], and [[Blea Tarn (Eskdale)]]. Back at Watendlath, this tarn's source comes from the slopes of [[Ullscarf]], which rises due south to a fairly impressive 726m. The inflow feeds in from the southern end, whilst the outflow spills out from the north-west, winding and meandering its way ever downwards as the rocky Bleatarn Gill, through various terrains, gathering tributaries along the way towards the lower valley farmland and eventually, Watendlath Tarn.

Getting to Blea Tarn is fairly straight-forward. Follow the bridleway from the hamlet of Watendlath, where there is an initial steep climb. Then where the path forks, continue to follow in a south-easterly direction along a relatively gentle gradient (in some places this can be quite boggy) for around one and half miles until you arrive at the tarn. If you prefer a longer hike, you can continue along the path until you see a coniferous plantation, [[Harrop Tarn]], and [[Thirlmere]] beyond.