Strange direction leading to the lake (5)
I believe the answer is:
eerie
'strange' is the definition.
(eerie means odd or strange)
'direction leading to the lake' is the wordplay.
'direction' becomes 'e' (E is an example).
'leading to' says to put letters next to each other (some letters go before or lead others).
'the lake' becomes 'erie' (Lake Erie is one of the Canadian/US 'Great Lakes').
'e'+'erie'='EERIE'
(Other definitions for eerie that I've seen before include "Frighteningly odd" , "Spooky, macabre" , "Spooky, weird" , "Ghostly" , "Spooky, supernatural" .)