A591 road, Lake District - June 2009 Edit 1

The A591 is a major road in Cumbria, in the north-west of England, which lies almost entirely within the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

national park. A 2009 poll by satellite navigation firm Garmin named the stretch of the road between Windermere and Keswick as the most popular road in Britain. The 29.8 mile stretch between Kendal and Keswick was also named the UK's best driving road, according to a specially devised driving ratio formulated by car rental firm

Avis Avis is Latin for bird and may refer to: Aviation *Auster Avis, a 1940s four-seat light aircraft developed from the Auster Autocrat (abandoned project) *Avro Avis, a two-seat biplane *Scottish Aeroplane Syndicate Avis, an early aircraft built by ...

Route

The road begins (at its southern end) north-west of junction 36 of the M6 motorway at

Brettargh Holt Katharine Brettargh (1579–1601) was an English Puritan woman from a well-known evangelical Cheshire family, whose early death was made the subject of "godly" biographical commentary. Life Brettargh was daughter of a Cheshire squire, John Bruen ...

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

with the A590 road close to

Sizergh Castle Sizergh Castle and Garden is a stately home and garden at Helsington in the England, English county of Cumbria, about south of Kendal. Located in Historic counties of England, historic Westmorland, the castle is a grade I listed building. While ...

. It bypasses the town of

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

as a

dual carriageway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

, this £1.9m section opened on 29 August 1971. It becomes a busy single carriageway road as it enters the

. It bypasses the town of Windermere, closely following the north-eastern bank of Windermere. It then travels through the centre of Ambleside, follows the northern side of Rydal Water, passes White Moss Common, follows the eastern edge of Grasmere and passes the village of Grasmere. The road continues over Dunmail Raise and along the eastern edge of Thirlmere. Shortly afterwards it reaches the town of Keswick. It meets the A66 road at a grade-separated junction. Traffic then bypasses Keswick by following the A66 west for 2.2 km to a roundabout where the A591 resumes, continuing in a roughly north-westerly direction, with fine views over Bassenthwaite Lake. The road terminates at the village of Bothel, on the A595 road The Bothel to Keswick section has many acute bends and is particularly narrow in places, so care is needed when driving on it.

Storm damage and closure

The road was badly damaged during

Storm Desmond Storm Desmond was an extratropical cyclone and fourth named storm of the 2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season, notable for directing a plume of moist air, known as an atmospheric river, which brought record amounts of orographic rainfall to ...

on 5 December 2015 including a part washed away at Dunmail Raise and landslip adjacent to Thirlmere. The closed section of road between Grasmere and

Legburthwaite Legburthwaite is a village in the Allerdale district, in the county of Cumbria. It is located on the A591 road and the B5322 road. Legburthwaite has a disused place of worship and formerly, a youth hostel. It is just north of Thirlmere ...

reopened on 11 May 2016. While the road was closed a new tarmac path for walkers, cyclists, and horseriders was built to the west of the road at Dunmail Raise.

References

External links

SABRE page on the A591
{{DEFAULTSORT:5-0591 Roads in Cumbria Scenic routes in the United Kingdom