Hardknott & Wrynose Passes
Drive · 29 miles · 1h 58m · 9 stops
England's wildest road: Wrynose then Hardknott, 1-in-3 hairpins between Roman forts, dropping into Eskdale and ending at the coast at Ravenglass. Check your brakes first.
Hardknott is officially England's steepest road, hitting 1 in 3 on hairpins with nothing but sheep for guardrails. Go west to east and you climb the hard way; our route runs Ambleside to the coast, past the Roman fort the legions somehow built up here. Not one for a nervous passenger, and best avoided in ice.
The route, stop by stop
- Ambleside
- Skelwith Bridge
- Little Langdale
- Wrynose Pass
- Cockley Beck
- Hardknott Pass
- Boot (Eskdale)
- Eskdale Green
- Ravenglass
Drive it with turn-by-turn
This route is built into Scenic Way. Open it, tap Drive, and get full sat-nav with live traffic on iPhone and CarPlay. Your first 2 journeys are free.
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