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Buttertubs Pass

Cliff Gate Rd · Hawes → Thwaite · England

Length
6 miles
Drive time
12 min
Type
Mountain pass
Region
England

Jeremy Clarkson once called it England's only truly spectacular road: a swooping Yorkshire Dales crossing from Wensleydale to Swaledale past the limestone 'buttertubs' potholes. Featured in the 2014 Tour de France.

Hawes to Thwaite on Cliff Gate Road: a short Yorkshire Dales crossing from Wensleydale into Swaledale past the limestone potholes that named it. The road is narrow in places, well-enough sighted on the open bits, and shared with cyclists who came for the 2014 Tour de France stage. Surface is ordinary Dales tarmac. Sheep. The buttertubs themselves are beside the road near the top — a signed pull-in, not a car park empire. That is the photograph. Dale Head Garage is fuel in Hawes; Wensleydale Creamery is the obvious food; Kearton Country Hotel sits toward Thwaite.

Bank holiday middays are busy with people doing the same three Dales passes. Early, or a midweek in May, is quieter. There is no seasonal closure in the alpine sense, but it ices like any high Dales road.

Pair it with Hartside and the Lakeland passes if you are on the Lakes & High Pennines trip, or with Buttertubs as a spur from Hawes while you eat cheese. Clarkson called it England's only truly spectacular road; the Tour came through in 2014. Both are facts. Neither is a reason to treat a narrow Dales lane as a stage.

Give way to the sheep and the bikes. The potholes in the limestone are the stop; the road is just how you reach them. Hawes is the base (cheese, fuel, beds); Thwaite is a handful of buildings. The 2014 Tour painted this climb onto a generation of cyclists, so you will meet them in ones and twos. The limestone holes are fenced; stay on the pull-in. If you want a bigger Dales road the same day, the Buttertubs is a spur, not the A-road network. Clarkson's line is a quotation, not a surface report.

Highlights of the Buttertubs Pass

Where to stop on the Buttertubs Pass

Drive the Buttertubs Pass

Open Buttertubs Pass on the map → ⬇ Download GPX

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Route research: Venture Bound

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