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Lake District passes

Wrynose and Hardknott, Birker Fell, Coniston, Kirkstone, Honister and Newlands in one loop from Ambleside.

Distance
109 miles (175 km)
Type
Loop
Where
Cumbria

Plotted by us, not yet ridden

Click a dot for details. White dots are the stops, each with a bed search. Yellow dots are places to see.

Main roads

A591A593A595B5285B5286A592A5091A66A5271B5289B5292B5287

From the map

Longest gap between fuel
33 miles
Fuel stations near the line
5
Curvature
193 ° a mile
Campsites within 2 km
73
  • The longest stretch with no fuel station within 1 km of the line runs from mile 36 to mile 69. Check it against your range with the fuel range calculator.
  • The twistiest 20 miles run from mile 0 to mile 20, at 245 degrees of turning a mile.
  • Passes: Hardknott Pass (393 m, mile 11), Kirkstone Pass (454 m, mile 48), Honister Pass (356 m, mile 79), Newlands Pass (333 m, mile 84).

Measured on the route line from OpenStreetMap data, which can be missing or out of date. Curvature is degrees of turning a mile, measured every 100 metres. On our routes they run from 6 on the E19 to 701 on the SP638.

Before you go

  • Hardknott has gradients up to 1 in 3 with hairpins. Not for a fully loaded tourer or a nervous pillion. Avoid it in the wet.
  • Narrow, busy and slow in summer. Early mornings are far quieter.
  • Honister and Newlands are also very steep with single-track sections.

On the way

  1. Ambleside
  2. Skelwith Bridge
  3. Wrynose Pass
  4. Cockley Beck
  5. Hardknott Pass
  6. Boot
  7. Ulpha
  8. Broughton-in-Furness
  9. Coniston
  10. Ambleside
  11. Kirkstone Pass
  12. Patterdale
  13. Keswick
  14. Rosthwaite
  15. Honister Pass
  16. Buttermere
  17. Newlands Hause
  18. Keswick
  19. Grasmere
  20. Ambleside
Ready to ride it?

Book this trip

Plan it with dates in the tour planner

1Places to stay

Search beds in Ambleside

2Cover

Check your breakdown cover recovers a motorcycle, and from where. Some policies only cover you from home, or not at all on single track roads.

What to check before you buy cover

Places to see on the way

Castles, passes, viewpoints and more within easy reach of the line, in the order you reach them. Yellow dots on the map.

Castle · 0.6 km off the route

Old Castle

Earthwork in Patterdale, Cumbria, England, UK.

Place details from Wikidata. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each card.