Hardknott Pass
Could this be the best drive in Britain? Neil Coates follows in the footsteps of Wordsworth and the Romans along a glorious road that winds through the Cumbrian mountains all the way to the sea
Edale, Derbyshire
As man-made marvels go, a sliver of tarmac hardly cuts the mustard. But navigate England’s steepest road, following the route of a 1,900-year-old Roman course, and the moniker seems rather justified.
Add to this the road’s situation, over a high, rocky col on the southern fringe of England’s highest mountain massif, Scafell, and the superlative fits more easily. Completing the jigsaw are some of the most impressive views from any highway.
This route over Hardknott Pass into the wild and delightful West Cumbrian countryside is every inch a wonder of engineering.
1 WHERE WORDSWORTH WOULD WANDER
This glorious drive is one for confident drivers prepared for precipitous, single-track lanes. Broughton-in-Furness is its starting point, and the main A595 road to Whitehaven is left behind at Duddon Bridge lights (turn right, marked Ulpha and Seathwaite), the start of a beautiful journey up the valley of Dunnerdale, Wordsworth’s personal paradise. Crimped between crinkly hills and the wooded depths of the Duddon Valley, the thin road reaches tiny Ulpha where signs for Seathwaite confirm the way. Stop in the hamlet to visit the diminutive church, one of Wordsworth’s favourites.
Heading north the valley closes in, hemmed in below stately Harter Fell. It’s a challenging landscape of stark crags, oakwoods and fir plantation, dotted with a few sturdy farmsteads huddled against the brooding heights. A worthwhile stop is Birk’s Bridge car park, where a short stroll leads to the eponymous bridge, leaping over falls and cataracts created by the vigorous Duddon river. Advance to reach a lonely
THE ROAD IS CRIMPED BETWEEN CRINKLY HILLS AND WOODED DEPTHS”
cottage at Cockley Beck and a junction beyond a cattle-grid.
2 THE GLACIAL VALE
This magical landscape, ringed by lofty hills, is just a little way from the Three Shire Stone, where the borders of the historic counties of Lancashire, Cumberland and Westmorland met. The road to the right slides along Wrynose Bottom’s stunning glaciated vale to the pass to Ambleside.
Our way heads sharp-left over the sturdy pack-horse bridge towards Eskdale. Commence the ascent of Hardknott Pass, joining the route forged by the Roman builders.
It is worth pausing to look back along Wrynose Bottom, one of the wildest views on any English road. A series of steep switchback bends take the lane heaven-wards at a startling 1-in-3 gradient, criss-crossing lively becks to summit at a cairn.
3 OFF THE RAILS
Coast towards the descent into glorious Eskdale. After the sharp hairpins is a gravelly parking area on the right, above which is the astonishing site of Hardknott Roman Fort. Reaching the foot of the pass, the road advances past a couple of welcoming inns to reach Dalegarth Station on the wonderful La’al Ratty narrow gauge railway. Turn off left to woodland parking and adventurous paths to the spectacular Stanley Ghyll Falls.
4 TO INFINITY
A further mile and a half west, at the King George IV inn, turn left for Ulpha. This lane presently climbs energetically across Birker Fell.
For the final stop, park at a lonely junction signed left for Stanley Ghyll at a magnificent mountain panorama. Walk right for three quarters of a mile to gaze into Devoke Water, a haunting tarn of seemingly infinite depths. Then continue south along the superb moorland road to Ulpha and onwards to Broughton’s homely pubs by the sea.