City to city
The M6 is fast and dull. The Lakes and the Borders add a couple of hours and about ten years of memories.
Direct route
214.4 mi
Scenic route
354.2 mi
Days to enjoy it
2 days
Great roads on route
7
Checked by the Drivers Atlas desk
Scored and written by the Drivers Atlas editorial desk, drawing on driven routes across the UK and Europe, mapping data and member road reports. Distances are planning estimates. The road list is drawn from the scored Atlas library inside this corridor. How we score roads.
Last reviewed 29 March 2026
The detour
The fast way
Motorway and trunk road for most of it, one fuel stop, nothing you will remember. Useful when the drive is a means to an end.
The good way
About 1 hr 58 min of that is spent on the great roads themselves, which is where the whole difference lies.
On the way
01 · United Kingdom
England's steepest road gradient, a brutal one in three climb over Roman ruins.
3.1 mi · Rating 9.5 / 10
02 · United Kingdom
A steep slate quarry pass squeezed between towering fells above Buttermere.
4 mi · Rating 9.3 / 10
03 · United Kingdom
A biker's classic with wide open views across the Eden Valley to the Lakeland fells.
8.1 mi · Rating 9.1 / 10
04 · United Kingdom
Tour de France famous climb past limestone potholes between two classic dale villages.
6.8 mi · Rating 9.1 / 10
05 · United Kingdom
Narrow single track linking Langdale to Duddon Valley over the ancient Three Shire Stone.
4 mi · Rating 9.1 / 10
06 · United Kingdom
A ribbon of tarmac threading heather fells said to mark the centre of Britain.
6.2 mi · Rating 8.9 / 10
07 · United Kingdom
Sweeping moorland A road that rolls and dips across the wild Pennine spine.
9.9 mi · Rating 8.9 / 10
Either end
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