The lakes get the postcards, but the passes are where the Lake District shows you how it was made. These high, narrow crossings between valleys are glacial geology you can drive through — and each of the four great passes on our scenic tour routes has its own character, its own story, and its own moment where the whole vehicle goes quiet.
At 1,489 feet, Kirkstone is the highest pass in the Lake District open to traffic, linking the Windermere side of the district with the Ullswater valley. The climb from Ambleside up the aptly-named Struggle is one of the steepest stretches of public road in England; the reward at the top is the long, glorious descent past Brothers Water, the small lake that appears far below like something placed there for the view. The pass takes its name from a roadside boulder shaped like a church steeple — the kirk stone — which your guide will point out as you crest the summit. Every one of our scenic tours crosses Kirkstone; on the 8 Lakes route it is the homeward leg, and it never feels like an anticlimax.
Honister, on the The 10 Lakes Full-day Tour route, is the steepest of the great passes and the only one with an industry at the top: England's last working slate mine, cutting green slate at 1,167 feet as it has for centuries. The descent on the far side, down into the Buttermere valley with Fleetwith Pike towering overhead, is for many guests the single most dramatic ten minutes of the whole day. It is also exactly the sort of road — steep, narrow, walled — that makes people very glad someone local is driving.
Newlands is the pass most visitors have never heard of, which is part of its magic. It climbs out of the gentle, hidden Newlands Valley — a place so pastoral it feels borrowed from another county — and drops towards Buttermere past Moss Force, a waterfall falling a hundred metres from the open fell just beside the road. After rain it is astonishing. There are no facilities, no crowds and no fuss up there; just the long view over Crummock Water and the sound of water on rock.
Dunmail Raise is the low, broad crossing between Grasmere and Thirlmere, and its drama is in the story rather than the gradient: the great cairn on the summit is said to mark the burial place of Dunmail, last king of Cumbria, defeated in battle in the tenth century — his crown, the legend insists, thrown into a tarn on the fells above, to be recovered when he wakes. It is the gateway between the northern and southern Lakes, and by the time you cross it on tour you will understand why the two halves of the district feel like different countries.
Here is the honest truth about driving these passes yourself: the driver misses them. The roads are narrow, the gradients demand attention, oncoming traffic appears at the least convenient moments, and the famous views happen precisely when your eyes need to be somewhere else. From the passenger seats of a seven-seat minibus, with a driver who crosses these passes week in and week out, the passes become what they should be — theatre. And because our vehicles are small, we can use crossings like Newlands Hause that full-size coaches physically cannot attempt.
Kirkstone Pass, at 1,489 feet, is the highest pass in the Lake District open to traffic. It links Ambleside and the Windermere area with Brothers Water and the Ullswater valley, and features on all of our scenic tours.
Four: Kirkstone Pass, Honister Pass, Newlands Hause and Dunmail Raise — each with a different character, from the highest driveable road in the Lakes to the steep slate-mining crossing above Buttermere.
Honister Slate Mine — England's last working slate mine, at 1,167 feet above sea level, which has been cutting green slate from the mountain for centuries.
The roads are steep, narrow and frequently walled on both sides, with passing places rather than two clear lanes in stretches. Thousands of visitors drive them every year, but the driver inevitably misses most of the scenery. On a guided tour a local driver handles the road while every guest watches the landscape.
The broad pass between Grasmere and Thirlmere. The large cairn at its summit is traditionally said to mark the burial of Dunmail, the last king of Cumbria, defeated in the tenth century — one of the Lake District's oldest legends.
Not on scheduled tours — our scenic routes are built around the central and northern lakes. Hardknott and Wrynose in the western Lakes can be discussed as part of a bespoke private day.
Keep the scenery coming: