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We're thinking of spending a week in the Lakes after a week at southport, but was wondering how arduous is the terrain from the M6 to, say, Ambleside or Windermere?

Last summer we caravanned in Wales (Ceredigion) and the route was not too hilly; but one long hill just outside Camarthen (or was it Caernavon?) which began as soon as you exited a roundabout and allowed for no 'run-up' saw us crawling in 2nd gear at about 15mph. Not good for a national speed limit road, albeit there were two lane heading up the hill and there were only about three other vehicles on the road at the time.

However................. what can I expect for the last 40 miles or so of our journey? Is it a tortuous, twisty, hilly route and one which I should contemplate for next year when, hopefully, we will have a newer tow vehicle, or will we manage it in our 'beast' (112bhp, 188lbs ft torque, 2500kgs loaded with 1700kgs caravan)

Advice re: best route(s) in/out would be appreciated. We would be approaching the lakes from the south.

Hi Defender,

We went to windermere a couple of weeks ago...

The route i took was m6 north off at junction 36 onto a590 then onto a 591 towards Windermere and ambleside... The route is easy mate mainly dual carriage way with few hills really i managed it towing a 1250kg van with a picasso 2.0 hdi with no problems at all... When coming back from lakes there's a biggish hill but we managed to keep car at 25 mph and its only a couple of hundred yards...

The lakes is fantastic you will love it!

Quote: Originally posted by Defender on 09/5/2011

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We're thinking of spending a week in the Lakes after a week at southport, but was wondering how arduous is the terrain from the M6 to, say, Ambleside or Windermere?

Last summer we caravanned in Wales (Ceredigion) and the route was not too hilly; but one long hill just outside Camarthen (or was it Caernavon?) which began as soon as you exited a roundabout and allowed for no 'run-up' saw us crawling in 2nd gear at about 15mph. Not good for a national speed limit road, albeit there were two lane heading up the hill and there were only about three other vehicles on the road at the time.

However................. what can I expect for the last 40 miles or so of our journey? Is it a tortuous, twisty, hilly route and one which I should contemplate for next year when, hopefully, we will have a newer tow vehicle, or will we manage it in our 'beast' (112bhp, 188lbs ft torque, 2500kgs loaded with 1700kgs caravan)

Advice re: best route(s) in/out would be appreciated. We would be approaching the lakes from the south.

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It's a 1989 V8 Land Rover 110.

3rd gear takes me to around 45mph, unless I really have to work the engine for short spells eg uphill to maintain momentum. On a hill, 4th is no use at all; certainly not at speeds of 40mph or less. The change from 3rd to 4th is critical.

Hence my question about the viability of driving to/through (not literally!) the Lakes.

Defender

I used to drive a 17ton lorry all over the lakes....You'll have no problems.

Andy.

Thanks for all your extremely useful replies. It's a long way to go only to find that I'm thwarted by the mother of all hills 5 miles shy of our intended destination!

Looking forward to booking our site now.

Regards

Defender

Quote: Originally posted by chops58 on 15/5/2011

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amblesidew from south is easy - dont try hardknott & wrynose passes tho!!!!!!!!!

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