Lake District Passes
Discussion
Hi
Apologies if this has been asked before, I had a scroll through and couldn't see it.
Are the passes in the lake district worth driving or are they more for cycling and motorbikes?
I've seen this route on my route app and am tempted to give it a go when I get a day free.
https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/motor-and-car-routes...
Thanks
Apologies if this has been asked before, I had a scroll through and couldn't see it.
Are the passes in the lake district worth driving or are they more for cycling and motorbikes?
I've seen this route on my route app and am tempted to give it a go when I get a day free.
https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/motor-and-car-routes...
Thanks
Absolutely.
But what are you expecting? They ain't like the Furka or Susten Alpine passes that's for sure, mostly narrow, poorly surfaced and plagued by oncoming traffic or suicidal wildlife.
Harry Metcalf has done a few videos recently but if you get things aligned they can be wonderful-you want the weather right, a car small enough and well damped enough to make the most of them and at a time when you're not in a line of tourist traffic.
I'm semi local and love doing at least one once a year but it can be more about enjoying the views and the area than balls out driving enjoyment.
But what are you expecting? They ain't like the Furka or Susten Alpine passes that's for sure, mostly narrow, poorly surfaced and plagued by oncoming traffic or suicidal wildlife.
Harry Metcalf has done a few videos recently but if you get things aligned they can be wonderful-you want the weather right, a car small enough and well damped enough to make the most of them and at a time when you're not in a line of tourist traffic.
I'm semi local and love doing at least one once a year but it can be more about enjoying the views and the area than balls out driving enjoyment.
These are all sedentary drives in the Lakes proper really. Only time it was fun here was in Covid when we lost the 15million annual visitors and roads were empty.
As mentioned the most well known passes are steep at ends and very narrow with plenty of users, not all of which know how to drive up and down stuff. Come for the lovely scenery and treat it as a leisurely drive and you won’t be disappointed.. .. but for anything else it’s really too busy and not the best roads for ‘driving’. Even our local yoof go elsewhere to rag their leases (up Wigton way at 3am back from the clubs in Carlisle is allegedly popular judging by the occasional sad headlines).
Winter sees less folk but it’s still quite busy in most known spots these days. It’s obviously less popular for a reason unless it’s a weekend or there is snow to play in but the saga crew love to come to the lakes to pootle around.
Some passes with snow/ice can stop play occasionally in Jan/Feb. Every year the local paper (and insta etc.) enjoys sharing photographs of some poor person in a beautiful new £100k 4x4 being helped back on to road on Wynose pass etc.
Newlands is/was quieter but it’s still no drivers route. Defo ripe for nasty collisions at the bottom end not far out of the village (blind hedges and up/down coming traffic and plenty of bikes unless mid winter). Top end (last 200m) in mid winter (with ice and snow) is more comedy as it’s smooth and slippery and one pass most cars can fail to get up for a few days a year…I’ve a proper 4wd on winters and wouldn’t go up on such days) ..oh and down to Buttermere is painful if meeting folks on their way up etc as very narrow and there’s always about a million folk looking for parking outside the village as Buttermere is a honey pot.
Don’t be put off though…a tour of lakes for the scenery is lovely if you’ve not been up here,.. especially if you can do nightly stop overs in a couple of villages/towns places so you can also enjoy a walk, pint, swim whatever. It’s a small place the lakes really, but long days doing all the passes gets tiring with a load of other people clogging the road as it can be all stop start and then not long before you wish you could park up.
Note Nov flooding broke the road past Troutbeck up to Kirkstile Inn so it’s closed. It ain’t Japan - so no doubt it’ll be closed for a good while yet whilst there is much head scratching and staring at an empty purse.
Yeah.. I’m local. Like my driving on occasion. I always go elsewhere …
As mentioned the most well known passes are steep at ends and very narrow with plenty of users, not all of which know how to drive up and down stuff. Come for the lovely scenery and treat it as a leisurely drive and you won’t be disappointed.. .. but for anything else it’s really too busy and not the best roads for ‘driving’. Even our local yoof go elsewhere to rag their leases (up Wigton way at 3am back from the clubs in Carlisle is allegedly popular judging by the occasional sad headlines).
Winter sees less folk but it’s still quite busy in most known spots these days. It’s obviously less popular for a reason unless it’s a weekend or there is snow to play in but the saga crew love to come to the lakes to pootle around.
Some passes with snow/ice can stop play occasionally in Jan/Feb. Every year the local paper (and insta etc.) enjoys sharing photographs of some poor person in a beautiful new £100k 4x4 being helped back on to road on Wynose pass etc.
Newlands is/was quieter but it’s still no drivers route. Defo ripe for nasty collisions at the bottom end not far out of the village (blind hedges and up/down coming traffic and plenty of bikes unless mid winter). Top end (last 200m) in mid winter (with ice and snow) is more comedy as it’s smooth and slippery and one pass most cars can fail to get up for a few days a year…I’ve a proper 4wd on winters and wouldn’t go up on such days) ..oh and down to Buttermere is painful if meeting folks on their way up etc as very narrow and there’s always about a million folk looking for parking outside the village as Buttermere is a honey pot.
Don’t be put off though…a tour of lakes for the scenery is lovely if you’ve not been up here,.. especially if you can do nightly stop overs in a couple of villages/towns places so you can also enjoy a walk, pint, swim whatever. It’s a small place the lakes really, but long days doing all the passes gets tiring with a load of other people clogging the road as it can be all stop start and then not long before you wish you could park up.
Note Nov flooding broke the road past Troutbeck up to Kirkstile Inn so it’s closed. It ain’t Japan - so no doubt it’ll be closed for a good while yet whilst there is much head scratching and staring at an empty purse.
Yeah.. I’m local. Like my driving on occasion. I always go elsewhere …
Thanks all for the replies. I think my next free weekend is in February so I'll give it a go. Hopefully be a bit quieter.
I did expect narrow roads from the couple of times I've been to the lakes, and as has been said on many threads on here the general condition of roads in the UK is poor anyway. I don't have a low, stiff trackday car so should be fine in my Seat Leon.
I did expect narrow roads from the couple of times I've been to the lakes, and as has been said on many threads on here the general condition of roads in the UK is poor anyway. I don't have a low, stiff trackday car so should be fine in my Seat Leon.
And this is the correct answer.
I love the lakes for hiking and running, but it's pretty much the last place I'd go for a fun drive.
Wensleydale and Swaledale are stunning but tight and twisty - my favourite roads in England for a Caterham/Mx5 etc.
Cross the border into Teesdale/Weardale and you have pretty much empty, sweeping roads surrounded by massive open spaces.
This is my local patch so happy to give recommendations
I love the lakes for hiking and running, but it's pretty much the last place I'd go for a fun drive.
Wensleydale and Swaledale are stunning but tight and twisty - my favourite roads in England for a Caterham/Mx5 etc.
Cross the border into Teesdale/Weardale and you have pretty much empty, sweeping roads surrounded by massive open spaces.
This is my local patch so happy to give recommendations
ben5575 said:
And this is the correct answer.
I love the lakes for hiking and running, but it's pretty much the last place I'd go for a fun drive.
Wensleydale and Swaledale are stunning but tight and twisty - my favourite roads in England for a Caterham/Mx5 etc.
Cross the border into Teesdale/Weardale and you have pretty much empty, sweeping roads surrounded by massive open spaces.
This is my local patch so happy to give recommendations
Ah thank you I'll have a look at the North Pennines so I've got options when I get a day out. I love the lakes for hiking and running, but it's pretty much the last place I'd go for a fun drive.
Wensleydale and Swaledale are stunning but tight and twisty - my favourite roads in England for a Caterham/Mx5 etc.
Cross the border into Teesdale/Weardale and you have pretty much empty, sweeping roads surrounded by massive open spaces.
This is my local patch so happy to give recommendations
Are there any roads you'd recommend or ones you'd recommend avoiding?
PRO5T said:
Absolutely.
But what are you expecting? They ain't like the Furka or Susten Alpine passes that's for sure, mostly narrow, poorly surfaced and plagued by oncoming traffic or suicidal wildlife.
Harry Metcalf has done a few videos recently but if you get things aligned they can be wonderful-you want the weather right, a car small enough and well damped enough to make the most of them and at a time when you're not in a line of tourist traffic.
I'm semi local and love doing at least one once a year but it can be more about enjoying the views and the area than balls out driving enjoyment.
I'd say overcast or even bad weather is the best time as you are less likely to be troubled by grockles driving at walking pace, although in winter even good weather is unlikely to draw out the mouthbreathers.But what are you expecting? They ain't like the Furka or Susten Alpine passes that's for sure, mostly narrow, poorly surfaced and plagued by oncoming traffic or suicidal wildlife.
Harry Metcalf has done a few videos recently but if you get things aligned they can be wonderful-you want the weather right, a car small enough and well damped enough to make the most of them and at a time when you're not in a line of tourist traffic.
I'm semi local and love doing at least one once a year but it can be more about enjoying the views and the area than balls out driving enjoyment.
hidetheelephants said:
I'd say overcast or even bad weather is the best time as you are less likely to be troubled by grockles driving at walking pace, although in winter even good weather is unlikely to draw out the mouthbreathers.
Advising a lake district pass in bad weather is akin to turning up to the 'ring when it's closed, just because the car park will be empty! I have to say, of all the times I've done passes in the lakes I've had more good drives than bad-in fact I can only remember one time that included an extended reversing session due to an idiotic driver.But then I can be there in 20 mins or so and if there's one thing we get up here it's changeable weather-sometimes you simply get lucky.
Having said that, in my current and previous GT3s I haven't bothered-there are much better suited roads nearby.
hidetheelephants said:
Bad weather as in drizzly or rainy english summer, not horizontal sleet in december, for clarity. 
Have you visited Cumbria in an English summer? 
We take the kids to see Santa in the Honister Slate mine so we at least do the Honister Pass in December-I think it was two or three years gone past the rain was coming UP the hillside-quite the experience getting soaked from your feet upwards.
Josemartinez said:
Hi
Apologies if this has been asked before, I had a scroll through and couldn't see it.
Are the passes in the lake district worth driving or are they more for cycling and motorbikes?
I've seen this route on my route app and am tempted to give it a go when I get a day free.
https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/motor-and-car-routes...
Thanks
You can but they're not fun drives. Hardknott is first or second gear while trying to be as sympathetic to your clutch as possible. Apologies if this has been asked before, I had a scroll through and couldn't see it.
Are the passes in the lake district worth driving or are they more for cycling and motorbikes?
I've seen this route on my route app and am tempted to give it a go when I get a day free.
https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/motor-and-car-routes...
Thanks
That is a nice scenic bimble, but as everyone is saying you'll find your car too wide for half the roads to be enjoyable.
If you're in the area I recommend the Broughton in Furness to Cockermouth Road, it's usually much quieter and much more a drivers road. From Penrith Hartside pass is worth a look to, but don't get too giddy because it bites...
If you're in the area I recommend the Broughton in Furness to Cockermouth Road, it's usually much quieter and much more a drivers road. From Penrith Hartside pass is worth a look to, but don't get too giddy because it bites...
ChocolateFrog said:
You can but they're not fun drives. Hardknott is first or second gear while trying to be as sympathetic to your clutch as possible.
And not forgetting the possibility of vehicles coming the other way!Definitely not in summer - I once had to move another persons car to a place where everyone could get past since they stalled on a bend and then couldn’t get clutch control. They were from London, didn’t drive regularly and had hired a car for the Lakes.
As mentioned the passes are more challenging that fun, but I do them every time I go. I had to head out further to get faster flowing roads with good twisties.
I got some good advice here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... I do this when ever I go, it's fantastic.
When doing the Lake District passes, I head to Drigg sand dunes, not the best village, but the beech is pretty much empty and fantastic to stoll along after the drive there. If you time it right you'll get sunset. You go along Hardknott Pass to get there, then it opens up a bit.
I got some good advice here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... I do this when ever I go, it's fantastic.
When doing the Lake District passes, I head to Drigg sand dunes, not the best village, but the beech is pretty much empty and fantastic to stoll along after the drive there. If you time it right you'll get sunset. You go along Hardknott Pass to get there, then it opens up a bit.
Josemartinez said:
ben5575 said:
And this is the correct answer.
I love the lakes for hiking and running, but it's pretty much the last place I'd go for a fun drive.
Wensleydale and Swaledale are stunning but tight and twisty - my favourite roads in England for a Caterham/Mx5 etc.
Cross the border into Teesdale/Weardale and you have pretty much empty, sweeping roads surrounded by massive open spaces.
This is my local patch so happy to give recommendations
Ah thank you I'll have a look at the North Pennines so I've got options when I get a day out. I love the lakes for hiking and running, but it's pretty much the last place I'd go for a fun drive.
Wensleydale and Swaledale are stunning but tight and twisty - my favourite roads in England for a Caterham/Mx5 etc.
Cross the border into Teesdale/Weardale and you have pretty much empty, sweeping roads surrounded by massive open spaces.
This is my local patch so happy to give recommendations
Are there any roads you'd recommend or ones you'd recommend avoiding?
Penrith to Alston via Hartside (but do it at a low traffic time for the best experience)
Alston to Brampton A689
Alston to Haydon Bridge A686
Middleton in Teesdale to Alston B6277
Middleton to Stanhope via Eggleston B6277/B6278.
Middleton to Brough B6276
Weardale itself has had a recent and ongoing outbreak of roadside scaffolding and road repairs leading to lots of Temp Traffic Lights.
Enjoy, but please slow down in the villages and remember that North Pennines Sheep are past masters at going over walls just for the fun of it
Gassing Station | Roads | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff