Hardknott Pass
Hardknott Pass | |
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Cumbrian Mountains | |
Coordinates | 54°24′10″N 3°11′50″W / 54.40269°N 3.197118°W |
Hardknott Pass is a
The pass takes its name from the nearby Hard Knott fell, whose name is derived from the Old Norse harthr (hard) and knutr (craggy hill).[2]
Geography
A
The Hardknott Pass stands at a maximum elevation of 393 m (1,289 ft).[1] The road descends steeply at a gradient of 30% (1 in 3) into the Duddon Valley.[4] At the eastern end of the pass is Cockley Beck farm, built in the 1860s and owned by the National Trust. The route from Hardknott leads eastward towards the Wrynose Pass and Ambleside.[3][5]
The pass is described as one of the most challenging roads in Britain.
The challenging 1 in 3 gradients, steeper than the mountain stages of European bicycle races including the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia,[7] draw endurance cyclists.[11] It is part of the annual Fred Whitton Challenge, a 112-mile (180 km) ride around the Lake District.[12] An "average" cyclist who was trained over six weeks for a 2019 Eurosport documentary called England's Toughest Climb failed to complete the route.[7][13]
History
A road over the pass was built by the Romans around AD 110 to link the coastal fort and baths at Ravenglass with their garrisons at Ambleside and Kendal.[14][15] The Romans called this road the Tenth Highway.[16] The road fell into disrepair after the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century, becoming an unpaved packhorse route used to transport lead and agricultural goods.[15][16] By the early Middle Ages, it was known as the Waingate ("cart road") or Wainscarth ("cart pass"): there is an 1138 record of a party of monks traversing it in an oxcart.[17] Hardknott pass and its surrounding area fell within the domain of the Lords of
In the 1880s an association of hoteliers, the English Lake District Association, financed improvements to the road in the hope of encouraging tourist excursions by carriage; by 1891 the scheme was judged to be "not the success that was anticipated".
In 1936, the
The courses of the Roman and modern roads are not identical. The
See also
References
Citations
- ^ a b "Spot height Ordnance Survey". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
- OCLC 1154195833.
- ^ a b Corfield 2010, p. 13.
- ^ Warren, Simon (20 July 2012). "Britain's top 10 toughest cycle climbs". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ a b Robinson-Tate, Michaela (15 July 2014). "In praise of Britain's two most outrageous roads – Wrynose and Hardknott passes". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ Corfield 2010, pp. 13, 15.
- ^ a b c Heptinstall, Simon (4 January 2022). "The Hardknott Pass: Britain's wildest road". BBC Travel. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
- ^ "Police advise driving safely after cold spell". ITV News. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ "Motorists warned to drive safely as cold snap continues in Cumbria". The Westmorland Gazette. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ "Highway Code Rule 155". Crown copyright. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ Reynolds, Hannah (16 December 2015) [17 November 2014]. "How to ride faster up short, steep hills". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ Abbott, Marc (7 January 2015). "The six best cycling sportives of 2015". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ Bennett, Tom (26 December 2020). "Cycling feature: Why Hardknott Pass was the ultimate test for the Average Man" (Geographically limited availability). Eurosport.
- ^ Gower, Amanda (4 October 2006) [10 September 2004]. "Doing it the Hard(knott) way". BBC News. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
- ^ a b Brown 2010, p. 290.
- ^ a b c Kirkup 2011, p. 64.
- ^ The Countryman, v.51-52 (1950), 309
- ISBN 9780719008245.
- ^ CTC Guide, 1911, p.116.
- ^ "Over the worst hills in England", Autocar, 12 July 1913, 49-53
Sources
- Brown, Jules (2010). The Rough Guide to the Lake District. Rough Guides UK. ISBN 978-1-848-36698-5.
- Corfield, David (2010). Roads with a View: England's Greatest Views and How to Find Them by Road. Veloce Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-845-84350-2.
- Kirkup, Rob (2011). Ghostly Cumbria. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-750-95989-6.