The best motorcycle roads in England and Wales sit in five upland clusters: the Peak District, where the A57 Snake Pass crosses the Pennines at 510 m and Winnats Pass climbs a limestone gorge at over 28 per cent; the Yorkshire Dales, where Buttertubs Pass tops out at 526 m; the Lake District, home to Hardknott Pass and its 1 in 3 gradient; Eryri (Snowdonia) in north Wales, with the A4086 through the Llanberis Pass; and Exmoor and the south-west, where Porlock Hill is the steepest A-road in the country. None of them close for a season, all of them are narrow, and everything here is measured in miles per hour on roads where you ride on the left. This guide covers what each cluster is for, and the rules that make riding here work.
What riding in England and Wales is like
Three things shape every trip here. The good roads are short — a famous English pass is a mile or two long, not twenty, so a day is built from a chain of them with valley riding in between. Almost every one sits inside a national park within an hour or two of a large city, which means summer weekend traffic on a scale no comparable upland area in Europe deals with. And the terrain is small but the surfaces are demanding: drystone walls with no verge, hedgerow lanes with blind junctions, unfenced moorland with sheep on it, and a climate that produces damp roads and low cloud in any month.
The upside is density. In a week you can ride Pennine moorland, Lakeland hairpins, Welsh glacial valleys and an Exmoor coast road without a long transit day between any of them.
Top roads in England and Wales
| Road | Summit or figure | Character | Start and end |
|---|---|---|---|
| A57 Snake Pass, Peak District | High point 1,680 ft (510 m) | Long moorland crossing, closes often for snow and landslip works | Glossop to Ashopton at Ladybower Reservoir |
| Winnats Pass, Peak District | Maximum gradient over 28% | Narrow limestone gorge, closed to coaches and vehicles over 7.5 tonnes | Castleton up to the head of the pass |
| Buttertubs Pass, Yorkshire Dales | Summit at 526 m (1,726 ft), about 5.5 miles (9 km) | Unfenced moorland crossing, cattle grids, livestock on the road | Simonstone near Hawes to Thwaite and Muker |
| Hardknott Pass, Lake District | 393 m (1,289 ft), maximum gradient 1 in 3 (33%) | Single track with hairpins, shares the title of steepest road in England | Eskdale to Cockley Beck and the Duddon Valley |
| A4086 Llanberis Pass, Eryri | Pen-y-Pass at 359 m (1,178 ft) | Straight-sided glacial valley, crags to the roadside, heavy walker traffic | Capel Curig area to Llanberis via Nant Peris |
| Gospel Pass, Black Mountains | 549 m (1,801 ft), the highest road pass in Wales | Narrow single-track mountain road, steep climb, gates and sheep | Hay-on-Wye to Llanthony and Abergavenny |
| Porlock Hill, Exmoor | 725 ft (221 m) of climb in just under 1 mile (1.6 km) | Steepest A-road in the UK at around 1 in 4 (25%), escape lanes on the descent | Porlock west towards Lynmouth on the A39 |
| A537 Cat and Fiddle | Cat and Fiddle Inn at 1,690 ft (520 m) | Straights and blind bends, average speed cameras aimed at motorcyclists | Macclesfield to the A54 junction towards Buxton |
Open the Snake Pass crossing in Google Maps — Glossop over the summit and down to Ladybower, ready to send to your navigation. Check the road is open before you commit to it.
The Peak District and the Pennine crossings
The Peak District sits between Manchester and Sheffield and holds the roads most English riders learn on. The A57 over Snake Pass opened on 23 August 1821 as the highest turnpike road in England, designed by William Fairbank and built by John Macadam, and it climbs from Glossop to the watershed between Kinder Scout and Bleaklow before dropping to Ladybower. A 2008 Caterham Cars survey rated it the best driving road in the UK. It is also unstable: subsidence closures go back to the 1930s, three separate slumps were found within a single mile after Storm Eunice in February 2022, and Derbyshire County Council closed it to all motorised traffic between Glossop and Ladybower from 15 June to 3 July 2026 for landslip ground investigations, with further works scheduled for 14 to 25 October. As of August 2026, check the council's Snake Pass page before you plan a day around it.
Nearby, Winnats Pass above Castleton runs through a limestone cleft with a maximum gradient over 28 per cent, which is why coaches and vehicles over 7.5 tonnes are banned. It carries far more traffic than it was meant to, because the A625 through Mam Tor closed permanently in 1979 after the hillside kept moving. The A537 Cat and Fiddle is the best-laid-out road in the region and the most heavily enforced — average speed cameras were installed from 2010, explicitly aimed at motorcyclists. Our Peak District guide covers the loops in detail.
The Yorkshire Dales and the north
An hour north, the Dales trade drama for scale. Buttertubs Pass climbs to 526 m (1,726 ft) over about 5.5 miles (9 km) between Hawes and Muker, past 20 m deep limestone potholes beside the road, and it was the highest categorised climb on stage one of the 2014 Tour de France. Beyond it, the B6270 runs the length of Swaledale, and a moorland road climbs to the Tan Hill Inn at 1,732 ft (528 m), the highest inn in the British Isles. Fleet Moss, at 589 m (1,932 ft), is the highest road in the Dales and single track most of the way. Our Yorkshire Dales guide has the full picture.
The Lake District
Hardknott Pass, between Eskdale and the Duddon Valley in Cumbria, is the hardest road surface in England to ride well. It reaches 393 m (1,289 ft) with a maximum gradient of 1 in 3, about 33 per cent, sharing the title of steepest road in England with Rosedale Chimney Bank in North Yorkshire. It is single track, the hairpins block visibility, the surface is poor and slippery when wet, and it is often closed in winter by ice. The Highway Code convention here is that traffic climbing has priority, which matters because reversing down a 1 in 3 hairpin on a loaded touring bike is not something you want to attempt. A Roman road ran over this line from around AD 110, and the remains of Hardknott Roman Fort sit at 200 m on the western side. The real problem is popularity rather than difficulty: Wrynose and Hardknott together are a bucket-list run for every car and motorcycle club in the north of England, so ride them early or midweek.
Wales
Eryri, the national park still widely called Snowdonia, covers 823 square miles (2,130 km²) and contains all fifteen Welsh mountains over 3,000 feet, including Yr Wyddfa at 1,085 m (3,560 ft). Since a park authority vote in November 2022, official communication uses the Welsh names Eryri and Yr Wyddfa, so signage and maps may not match your satnav. The A4086 over Pen-y-Pass at 359 m is the famous road; the A498 down Nant Gwynant to Beddgelert is the one more riders prefer. Bwlch y Groes in the south of the park reaches 545 m (1,788 ft), the second highest public road pass in Wales.
The highest is the Gospel Pass, Bwlch yr Efengyl, in the Black Mountains of the south-east: a narrow road from Hay-on-Wye climbing to 549 m (1,801 ft) between Twmpa and Hay Bluff, then dropping through the Vale of Ewyas past Llanthony Priory towards Abergavenny. It is single track, gated and unfenced, and on a clear day it is the best hour of riding in southern Wales. Our Eryri guide covers the north in detail.
The south-west
Porlock Hill on Exmoor is the steepest A-road in the United Kingdom, climbing 725 ft (221 m) in just under a mile on the A39 west of Porlock, with a warning sign for a 1 in 4 gradient and two escape lanes for runaway vehicles on the descent. A private toll road built by a local landowner shortly after the main road opened in 1843 covers the same climb at a much gentler 1 in 14, and it is the more pleasant ride of the two. Caravans and lorries are strongly advised to go another way, and in Porlock village you can often smell burning brakes from vehicles that have just come down. Beyond Exmoor, the appeal of the south-west is the coast road network of north Devon and Cornwall, which is narrow, hedged, and gridlocked from late July to the end of August.
The rules that catch out visiting riders
Ride on the left. The two moments that catch people are pulling out of a car park or fuel station, and entering a roundabout, which runs clockwise and gives way to traffic approaching from the right.
Everything is in miles per hour. Speed limit signs, distance signs and speedometers. The national speed limit for a solo motorcycle is 60 mph on a single carriageway and 70 mph on a dual carriageway or motorway. Villages are 30 mph in England, and in Wales the default on restricted built-up roads has been 20 mph since 17 September 2023 — not a blanket limit on all roads, but the standard through Welsh villages unless signed otherwise, and the most common way a visitor collects a ticket in Wales.
Single-track roads and passing places. A large share of the best riding here is on single-track lanes with marked passing places, and the etiquette is not optional. Pull in to let oncoming traffic through; if the passing place is on the other side, stop opposite it and let the other vehicle use it. If someone has been behind you for a while, wave them past. Never park in one, not even for a photograph — farm vehicles depend on them. Whoever is closer to a gap reverses, tractors get priority in practice, and on steep passes such as Hardknott traffic climbing has priority.
Livestock and gates. Upland roads are unfenced. Sheep on the tarmac, cattle grids that are slippery when wet, and gates you are expected to close behind you are all normal.
Enforcement. Motorcyclists are policed specifically on the well-known routes, particularly the A537 and around the Peak District and Lake District honeypots, and village noise complaints drive a lot of that. A quiet throttle through Castleton, Hawes or Beddgelert costs nothing.
Season, weather and closures
Nothing here has a seasonal closure in the Alpine sense, but the high roads shut for snow and ice in winter, and Snake Pass, Hardknott and the Dales moorland crossings are usually the first to go. April to October is the practical window, with May, June and September best for daylight, weather and quieter roads. Closures for engineering works happen at short notice, so check the relevant county council or National Highways pages the week you ride.
Gear notes for a British trip
Coverage disappears in the valleys of Eryri, the upper Dales and the Lake District, so a route stored on the device is worth more than any live routing feature — our offline navigation guide covers doing that properly, and a riding system display stays readable in the fine rain that makes a phone screen useless within minutes. These are also narrow, busy roads where close passes on blind bends are routine, and riders touring on the JADO S6 get map, tyre pressures and dash cam footage on one screen. Cold, damp mornings at 500 m move pressures more than short rides suggest — the mechanism is in our cold-weather pressure guide — and a TPMS sensor turns it into a number you can act on. Heading further north, see our Scottish roads guide and the North Coast 500 guide.
FAQ
What is the best motorcycle road in England?
Snake Pass and Hardknott Pass are the two most often named, for opposite reasons — one for the long moorland crossing, the other for the sheer difficulty. Buttertubs Pass in the Yorkshire Dales is the pick if you want scenery at touring pace rather than a challenge.
What is the best motorcycle road in Wales?
The A4086 through the Llanberis Pass is the famous one, and the A498 down Nant Gwynant is the better ride. For emptiness, the Gospel Pass at 549 m, the highest road pass in Wales, or Bwlch y Groes at 545 m in the south of Eryri.
Do speed limits differ between England and Wales?
The national limits are the same, but Wales changed the default limit on restricted built-up roads from 30 mph to 20 mph on 17 September 2023. Village limits in Wales are therefore usually lower than their English equivalents. All limits everywhere are posted in mph.
How long do you need for a trip?
A long weekend covers one cluster properly — the Peak District, or the Dales, or Eryri. Ten days to two weeks links all four main regions without a dull transit day.
What is the best time of year?
May, June and September. July and August have the most settled weather and by far the heaviest tourist traffic in every national park. Winter riding works in the lowlands, but the high passes close for snow.
