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Gear up for the UK's most scenic driving routes
The sultry days and shorter nights make ideal conditions for taking to the nation's roads with the windows rolled down. Let your car do the hard work up to vertiginous heights on some spectacular panoramic drives in the wild outdoors. Take a friend to share the driving and keep your eyes peeled for looking-glass lakes, thistle-coated moors, sheer cliff drops and dragon-back islets. Each of these backroad adventures takes about an hour, with picnic spots en route and restful stays at the end.
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The roads along Scotland's west coast undulate and twist, providing different framings at every turn. The best is along the coast of the Applecross peninsula, looking across to the Isle of Skye, where the Cuillins are etched out on the horizon. If you're brave, tackle the Bealach na Ba, the Applecross pass, one of the steepest roads in the UK, with stupendous views but tortuous hairpin bends. The 60-minute drive is the most dramatic part of the North Coast 500 and ends at the popular Applecross Inn, right on the B&B doubles from £160 (
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The glory of this 45-minute route, which reaches over to the western edge of the Lakes, is that it gets less busy the further you go, and topping the Honister pass will give you a full blast of a setting sun on the other side. There's plenty of waterside action, first along Derwentwater and Borrowdale's lazy lanes. The pass itself is surprisingly bleak and wild, before descending to the fellwalker Alfred Wainwright's favourite slice of lakeland, by Buttermere and Crummock Water. Honister's Via Ferrata allows thrill-seekers to scramble across the crag while harnessed to a safety cable (£65; End up at the Kirkstile Inn, a traditional hostelry where hikers dry their feet by the B&B doubles from £145 (
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Set out from Hay after a browse around the bookshops and head towards Gospel Pass, the highest road pass in Wales. Hay Bluff and Offa's Dyke are up to your left, and border country and the meandering Wye opens out beneath you. Then drop down the other side into the remote Vale of Ewyas, a magical valley rich in birdsong (and free of mobile phone signal), to the ruins of 12th-century Llanthony Priory, just as compelling as Tintern but far less busy. The poet Walter Savage Landor built the house in the ruins that is now a tiny hotel and awaits at the end your 40-minute pootle. Details B&B doubles from £140 (
The A39 runs through the hills of Exmoor National Park. Views to one side are of the Bristol Channel, picking out the superstructure of ships heading to Avonmouth; the other is across the moorland, where wild ponies graze. Factor in a stop off at the County Gate car park on the 30-minute journey to gaze down into the deep winding valley of the Lyn River, then try not to be distracted by the view on the long and steep descent down Countisbury Hill. Stay right on the quayside in Lynmouth at the Rising Sun and ride the unique water-powered cliff railway up to the sister resort of Lynton (£4; B&B doubles from £120 (
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The rawboned uplands of the Peaks feel like an ambush as you emerge from Sheffield's Ringinglow Road, and suddenly you're sliding down past the harsh grimace of Stanage Edge, a magnet for rock climbers. The sleepy village of Hathersage in the valley below provides welcome sanctuary, as does the spa town of Buxton, a less stuffy version of Bath complete with Georgian crescent and thermal spa. From here it is a short climb over and down the sinuous Cat and Fiddle road (named after an inn at the top) for the last stretch of this 90-minute drive, through bleak moorland, or take a longer route past Shutlingsloe on the A54. Stay in Bakewell's Rutland Arms, to be within easy driving distance of both opera ( and Bakewell tarts ( B&B doubles from £108 (
The A3055 between Chale and Freshwater Bay is on the Isle of Wight's western coast. This 16-mile road was originally a link between forts and barracks, with no public access until the 1930s. Since then it has regularly been re-routed, thanks to the Atlantic's winter pummellings. On a calm day, however, it is an exhilarating 30-minute drive. White cliffs reflect the sun's colours, particularly at sunset, and there are a couple of swooping ricochet bends just before the sanctuary of Freshwater Bay. Switch your engine off at the end to gaze out at the famous Needles ( or for a close-up take the chairlift down to Alum Bay (£6; Stay in the popular George right by the harbour in nearby Yarmouth. Details B&B doubles from £125 (
Starting at the seaside resort of Whitby, head up onto the moorland at Castleton and then descend into the peaceful Rosedale Valley. Turn right onto the A170 into Helmsley, with its 12th-century castle and former coaching inns. Keep going west until you reach Sutton Bank after 90 minutes, on the moor's west-facing escarpment. James Herriot described the outlook here, with the Dales in the distance and the Vale of Mowbray spread out like a tablecloth below, as 'the finest view in England'. Afterwards, retreat to Helmsley for a pint in the wood-panelled Black Swan. Hangovers can be assuaged the next day by a walk along the Cleveland Way ( B&B doubles from £110 (
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