Kirkstone Pass Cycling Guide

Kirkstone Pass cycling takes you up the highest tarmac road pass in the Lake District.

Direction: South to North: Windermere (A591 Roundabout) to Kirkstone Pass Inn​

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Overview

There are three ways up to Kirkstone Pass. While its direct competitor, The Struggle, hits you with an immediate fistfight of a launch straight out of Ambleside, the southern approach via the main A592 is a completely different experience. Stretching over several miles from the Windermere valley, this side delivers an epic, sweeping, alpine-style drag. It tests a cyclist's pure lung capacity, pacing, and endurance against a beautifully vast, high-mountain valley landscape.

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The Details

• Distance: 10km

• Elevation gain: 399m

• Average gradient: 3.6%

• Maximum gradient: 13.6% 

• At the top: Kirkstone Pass Inn (dating from 1496).

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History & Character

Long before cyclists took an interest in the climb, this pass was an ancient, working lifeline carved through the fells. The pass takes its name from the Kirkstone, a massive, distinctive boulder sitting a few hundred yards from the summit on the northern Patterdale side. Arriving Viking settlers thought the silhouette of the stone resembled a church steeple and named it so, with “Kirk” being the Old Norse word for church, and the name has defined the ridge ever since. Historically, the steep lane winding out of Ambleside served as a rugged drovers' road. For centuries, Cumbrian farming families would endure the grueling climb to herd vast numbers of cattle and sheep over the high pass to reach the valley markets below, braving the elements without any modern shelter.

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The high fells surrounding the pass were also defined by a gritty industrial trade. Just below the summit on the Ambleside side sits Pets Quarry, an ancient workings where generations of miners blasted the mountain to extract premium green and blue-black Kirkstone slate. Further down the northern slopes, quarrymen at Caudale Moor manually hauled split slate down the mountainside on dangerous "trail barrows" (two-handled wooden sledges) that required immense skill to prevent the heavy stone from running away with the worker down the 1-in-4 slopes.

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At the very peak of the pass stands the iconic Kirkstone Pass Inn. Having stood since 1496, it is officially the highest inhabited building in the Lake District and the third highest pub in England. Parts of its ancient foundations are thought to have deep monastic links, serving as an absolute sanctuary for medieval travellers, drovers, and 19th-century coaching inn networks braving the brutal mountain winter elements. Given its isolated, windswept nature, the inn is steeped in local folklore and is widely reputed to be one of the most haunted buildings in England. Local legend tells of Ruth Bayley, a young mother who tragically perished in a ferocious mountain snowstorm while traversing the pass; her benevolent spirit is said to still linger near the comforting, white-washed stone walls she was desperately trying to reach.

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Unlike The Struggle, which earned its modern fame via aggressive bicycle races and professional cycling history, this main highway has always been the definitive, classic touring route over the pass. It remains a grand, traditional passage that trades short, explosive athletic theatrics for a deep sense of scale and a historical connection to the original travellers who crossed the high fells centuries before.

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What to Expect

Starting right from the mini-roundabout off the busy A591, the climb opens with a long, undulating approach that winds its way up past Troutbeck. This entire opening segment acts as your false-flat introduction. It is a scenic drag, but it is deceptively long, giving you ample opportunity to find your rhythm before the high fells truly start.

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The moment you clear the village boundary and hit the open slopes of the main A592, the true identity of the climb reveals itself. The trees disappear, replaced by an entirely exposed, high-walled glacial valley structure. The peaks of Caudale Moor tower to your right, and Red Screes sits to your left. There is absolutely nowhere to hide from the wind here. If there is a headwind roaring down from the summit, this long, open drag transforms into an energy-sapping treadmill where you are forced to fight for every single pedal stroke.

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The real sting on this ascent arrives over the final few hundred meters. Just when your legs are saturated with lactic acid from the miles of heavy rolling terrain, the road snaps violently upward into its final pitch. The last stretch kicks up heavily, forcing a tough last effort before the white-washed walls of the Kirkstone Pass Inn finally appear at the summit crest.

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Guide's Experience

This is a long old drag of a climb, especially when you factor in the approach from the roundabout off the A591 pre-Troutbeck, but it is a brilliantly accessible mountain pass. Unlike the savage walls found elsewhere in the Lake District, Kirkstone from this side features no excessively steep, bike-stopping gradients. Combined with the recently laid tarmac following major council upgrades, the smooth surface makes it an absolute joy to ride - even with the busier nature of this road.

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The defining factor out here is always the weather. If you get caught in a Cumbrian headwind, it morphs into a really tough, energy-sapping climb where you are constantly fighting the air. But because the gradient remains so consistent and manageable, you can always afford to ride defensively. You don't have to panic: you can simply take your own pace, find a comfortable rhythm, and spin a low gear all the way to the top.

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What I love most about this specific route is how it acts as a gateway for riders. Many cyclists who are completely new to the Lake District, or new to mountain climbs altogether, can roll straight out of the popular tourist hubs of Windermere and Ambleside and immediately experience a true, 'alpine-style' mountain pass. It gives them the grand scale and dramatic views of a major European climb without the terrifying, double-digit gradients that might otherwise turn them off the fells for good.

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This climb features in our Fred Whitton Epic & Classic tours.