Favorite driving roads in Britain?

[KAR120C]

So you have your Lotus or other fun marque. Where are your favorite areas of Britain to have long spirited drives? I’ve driven crappy rentals in hilly areas of Wales, England, and Scotland and encountered fun roads, but only by accident going from point A to B.

If you have a free day and want to “tear some tar” with some mates away from traffic and heavy law enforcement where would you go?

This is mostly for my entertainment, but I’m sure others would be interested to learn about your fun roads.

 

[GetawayDriving]

Lots of fun road content in this thread, including some British roads...

An ode to roads.

For the drivers, right? I think that's everyone here. I want to know about the best road you've ever driven. Where is it? What did you drive? Which roads do you want to drive in your Emira? What if time, money and shipping your Emira were no object? I'm a bit obsessed with this. And by that I...

www.emiraforum.com

 

[_w_]

I take it there’s no website with lists of roads and ratings, or an app to plan a route for you based on decent road size but twisty and relatively quiet

 

[JimH]

These are the best driving roads in England

TG goes on a quest to find the finest 250 miles of English road. In an Audi RS4

www.topgear.com

The best UK driving roads (List) | GRR

From the Cat and Fiddle to the North Coast 500 and even our local A272…

www.goodwood.com

 

[KAR120C]

Thanks for the replies! I'm also looking for what you guys PERSONALLY drive when you have one day to make it count. Sometimes those won't be on the 'greatest roads' lists, but are still fun for you!

Oh, and I'm not planning a drive in Britain for myself right now. I'm just truly curious and enjoy the pictures!

 

[TomE]

Several of my favourite UK roads are in the Ode to Roads thread:

• The TT Course - Isle of Man
• The Sloc - Isle of Man
• Kendal to Keswick, Lake District
• Stirling Road/Old Military Road, Loch Lomond
• Elan Valley/Claerwen Valley - Wales

Here's a good view of the Sloc from my trip to the Isle of Man in July:



I'd also add the A494 along Lake Bala in North Wales, as used for the Top Gear Emira prototype road test:

 

[GetawayDriving]

I take it there’s no website with lists of roads and ratings, or an app to plan a route for you based on decent road size but twisty and relatively quiet

I own getawaydriving.com and have considered building something like this, it just keeps getting knocked down the list for more lucrative things.

 

[KAR120C]

Several of my favourite UK roads are in the Ode to Roads thread:

• The TT Course - Isle of Man
• The Sloc - Isle of Man
• Kendal to Keswick, Lake District
• Stirling Road/Old Military Road, Loch Lomond
• Elan Valley/Claerwen Valley - Wales

Here's a good view of the Sloc from my trip to the Isle of Man in July:



I'd also add the A494 along Lake Bala in North Wales, as used for the Top Gear Emira prototype road test:

Nice!! I’ll be on Google Earth tomorrow looking those up!

 

[TomE]

Curvature helps you plan routes with twisty roads:

Curvature

Find twisty roads.

roadcurvature.com

I also use Calimoto, which is a route planning and navigation app aimed at motorcyclists:

calimoto

calimoto.com

 

[nelly111s]

Maybe not to everyone’s taste, but Bealach na Ba (Pass of the Cattle) is great if you get a decent run.

 

[freefall_junkie]

The A894 from Loch Assynt over Quinag to Kylsku is an all time favourite of mine. Other worldy scenery and an endless series of well-sighted corners.

Closer to home the A701 via Devil's Beeftub takes some beating

 

[Andy H]

My personal favorite is Ingleton to Hawes in the North Yorkshire Dales. Everything freefall_junkie said above. When I finally drive my Emira along that route, the last 2+ years will all be worth it

^Alas not me, just the best pic I could find online

 

[PsymonR]

One of my favourites is the A686, Alston to Melmerby via the Hartside Pass in the North Pennines.
The road getting to Alston from County Durham up through Weardale on the A689 isn't bad either, but there are also good options from other directions such as Hexham or a certain ex-UK government advisor's favourite... Barnard Castle.

 

[GAVLA]

Can anyone recommend some great driving roads in the South East that aren't taken up by road works and speed restrictions

 

[nelly111s]

Not since Paul Daniels died

 

[AndyVX]

The Antrim coast road from larne to ballycastle is spectacular

 

[scoates]

The B974 over Cairn o' Mount is probably the best driving road I use regularly. Quickest way to head south for me, most of the time less busy than the A93 over Glenshee, and IMO as driving roads go it's up there with the best! An early morning run on a sunny summer day is fantastic.

 

[KAR120C]

Thanks for the great roads! Even though I have to enjoy them vicariously through Google Earth, I love to see where you drive in Britain! Our recent trips have been for hiking and sightseeing. Someday I'd love to do a hardcore driving trip and hit these roads with a nice car.

BTW, are radar detectors legal? I could see losing my license very quickly on those roads!

 

[TomE]

Detectors are legal, jammers are illegal. Several of the navigation apps also mark the fixed camera locations and social apps like Waze usually have mobile detectors reported by users.

The advantage of going to the Isle of Man is there are no speed limits outside the villages and a few stretches of 50 mph. Get there soon, as there is pressure to add more restrictions and I noticed more 50 limits this year than my last visit 4 years ago.