In a beautiful English national park is one of the most dangerous roads in the country, complete with frightening bends.
Kirkstone Pass is a mountain pass in the Lake District. Located in Cumbria, it is at an altitude of 1,489 feet (454 m). It is the District’s highest pass traversed by road – the A592 road between Ambleside in Rothay Valley and Patterdale in Ullswater Valley.
It was named among the UK’s most dangerous by law firm JMW due to its sharp bends and stretching slopes. Despite the surrounding jaw-dropping scenery, drivers have been warned to maintain complete concentration when on this road.
Winter conditions can be hazardous and the road is frequently closed. It can get dangerous when covered with snow and ice. It goes up quite high, and you sometimes get mist at the top.
The picturesque view down into Patterdale has Brothers Water as its focal point. In the summer, the small lake fills with blooming water lilies giving it colour.
The Kirkstone Pass Inn stands close to the summit. Once a coaching inn, it now caters primarily for tourists. It is the third-highest public house in England.
The inn, which dates back to the 15th century and is believed to be connected to a monastery, was known locally for over four hundred years as ‘The Travellers Rest’.
Allegedly, many visitors over the years have reported ghostly experiences, It’s said to be haunted.
There are tales of a frightening grey woman and the ghost of a lost hiker who play poltergeist tricks there. Another ghost, of a woman hanged for murdering her child, haunts a nearby tree, appropriately called the Hangman’s Tree.
The name of the pass comes from a prominent stone, the Kirkstone, which stands a few yards from the A592 on the Patterdale side of the inn.
Its shadow resembles a steeple; ‘kirk’ means church in Old Norse and was a variant in related Old English. Locally, the climb from Ambleside is known as The Struggle.