Kirkstone Pass: Over the Roof of the Lake District's Roads

Every proper mountain country has its great road pass, and the Lake District's is Kirkstone: 1,489 feet above sea level, the highest pass in the district open to motor traffic, climbing out of the soft Windermere country and pitching travellers down between crag walls into the wild Ullswater valley. It has carried packhorses, coaches, poets and now our minibuses for centuries; it hosts one of England's highest inns near its summit; and as the dramatic opening act of our scenic touring days it has probably drawn more spontaneous gasps from our guests than any other single mile we drive. Here is the story of the great pass – the stone that named it, the inn that warms it, and the views that justify every foot of the climb.

What and where it is

Kirkstone Pass links Ambleside, in the Rothay valley at the head of Windermere, with Patterdale and Ullswater to the north-east – the only direct road between the district's most popular base and its most beautiful lake, which is precisely why the route has mattered for so long. The main road climbs steadily from the Windermere side in grand sweeping curves; a second, infamous branch claws straight up from Ambleside itself on gradients that earned it the eloquent traditional name of "The Struggle", up which coach passengers were once obliged to walk while the horses heaved the empty vehicle behind them. The two roads meet near the summit, where the Kirkstone Pass Inn stands against the weather – and then the northern descent begins: a genuinely thrilling plunge, valley walls closing in, the road unreeling below in a ribbon toward the glinting water of Brothers Water, with the Ullswater fells filling the sky beyond. It is, we can report from long observation, the moment on tour when cameras universally come out and itineraries are silently upgraded from "pleasant" to "memorable".

The church that is a stone

The pass takes its name from a single rock: near the summit on the northern side stands a large boulder whose silhouette, viewed from the road, resembles a small church – kirk being the old northern word – and travellers have used the "kirk stone" as their landmark for as long as records run. Your guide will point it out as we pass, along with the answer to the obvious question (yes, everyone sees the church shape once it is shown; no, nobody spots it unprompted). The naming habit is characteristic of these fells, where shepherds and packmen furnished every crag and boulder with identity centuries before tourists arrived – a human map laid over the geology, which is very much the Lake District way.

The inn at the top of the weather

Close to the summit stands the Kirkstone Pass Inn – by tradition a fifteenth-century foundation, for centuries a vital coaching halt where travellers and horses recovered from the climb, and today one of the highest pubs in England, catering to walkers, cyclists and tour guests where it once catered to carriers and coachmen. Its guestbook of centuries includes the inevitable Wordsworth (who wrote a poem to the pass itself, saluting the wild spot where the old inn keeps its watch); its weather is famously operatic – the inn can sit above the clouds, inside them, or under snow while Windermere below basks – and its position makes it the natural pause on the climb: the view back south from here runs all the way down the valley to Windermere, a first-hour panorama that sets the tone for a scenic day. Nearby, high workings recall the Kirkstone quarries, which for generations cut the handsome green slate that faces buildings across Lakeland and far beyond – the pass has always earned its living as well as its admiration.

Driving it: the honest advice

Kirkstone is a proper mountain road – well surfaced and maintained, but steep, narrow in its upper reaches, bounded by stone walls and drops, and subject to sudden weather; in winter it is among the first roads in the district to close under snow and ice, with the Struggle branch demanding respect (or avoidance) in any season. Visiting drivers manage it daily, but many tell us afterwards that the driver saw none of the views – the pass punishes divided attention – which is, candidly, one of the best arguments for touring these roads with a professional at the wheel: our guests get the plunging descent, the kirk stone, the panoramas and the commentary while someone whose daily workplace this is handles the gradients. Current road conditions are published by the National Park at lakedistrict.gov.uk, and the surrounding high country – Red Screes rises directly from the summit for strong walkers – is classic access land within the UNESCO World Heritage landscape.

Brothers Water: the reward at the bottom

The northern descent ends at one of the district's loveliest small lakes: Brothers Water, a quiet oval among meadows and ancient oaks at the foot of the pass – by some reckonings the district's smallest "lake" proper, by others its largest tarn, a border dispute the water itself serenely ignores. Dorothy Wordsworth sat by its shore on the very 1802 walk that produced the daffodils entry in her journal, while William composed nearby; the glittering water, the lambs and the budding trees she recorded are all reliably still on duty each spring. It makes the perfect first "new" lake of a touring day – proof, minutes after the wild summit, of how fast this landscape changes key.

The gateway moment

What makes Kirkstone special in a day's touring is not merely its statistics but its function: it is the threshold where the gentle Lakeland of lawns and lake steamers gives way, in fifteen minutes, to the wild Lakeland of crag, scree and sky – the district changing costume before your eyes. That is why our flagship routes open with it. Our small-group scenic tours from Windermere and Ambleside – maximum seven guests – climb Kirkstone in the fresh morning, pause at the inn's viewpoint, find the church in the stone, and then make that glorious descent toward Brothers Water and Ullswater with the whole ten-lake day unrolling ahead. Two minutes over the summit, cresting into the mountain world, guests reliably ask the same delighted question: "Is it all like this?" Better, we tell them truthfully. It gets better.

This article is part of our scenic Lake District guides collection – twenty in-depth guides researched and written by our local team. Browse the full library on our Travel Guide Library.