Cheddar Gorge, Somerset
The jaw-dropping Cliff Road—less romantically, the B3135—presents about as much drama as one can take when travelling on four wheels. Starting at Cheddar, it weaves through England’s deepest natural canyon like a tangled shoelace, in a tight sandwich between limestone cliffs as tall as 453ft. After a few slow, careful miles, rocks start to be replaced by trees and, soon enough, the rolling Mendip Hills open up beneath the road as it sweeps more gently over contours in the landscape towards the village of Ashwick. Should you stop to walk along the gorge’s rocky footpaths or the West Mendip way, watch out for resident feral goats (below), Soay sheep so nimble they can cling to clifftops and the famous Cheddar pinks and rock stonecrop flowering in summer.
Hardknott and Wrynose Passes, Cumbria
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