Northern lights Lake District tonight

Ennerdale is the westernmost and least visited of the Lake District lakes. No road runs along the north shore, and the hamlet of Ennerdale Bridge at the west end has minimal lighting. The lake surface reflects aurora directly and gives a clear north-facing view up the valley with the High Stile ridge as a backdrop. Bortle 2 conditions are consistent from the lake shore at night. This is arguably the finest aurora reflection foreground in England - a large, still lake in a dark valley with no nearby light sources. Access from the Bleach Green car park gives a walkable route to the lakeshore.

England's deepest lake in one of the remotest valleys in the Lake District. The Wasdale Head inn and the National Trust car park at the western end give access to the lake shore at night. The Great Gable, Yewbarrow, and Scafell Pike form a dramatic skyline above the south and east shore. The north-facing view up the lake toward Wasdale Head is exceptionally dark - the nearest town with significant lighting is Whitehaven, 15 km to the west and screened by the high fells. One of England's few genuinely Bortle 2 lake shore positions.

The elevated moorland of Skiddaw Forest north of Keswick sits above the valley light domes and gives a north-facing view across Bassenthwaite Lake toward the Scottish border. The lake below provides a reflection foreground. On nights when valley cloud fills the Keswick basin, Skiddaw Forest above 400 m is often clear. Bortle 3 conditions across the fell with the glow of Carlisle visible as a low dome to the north-north-east but not obstructive. The most practically accessible elevated north-facing position in the northern Lake District.