Scenic Lake District Drive 📍Honister Pass📍 from Buttermere to Seatoler

Honister Pass starts at Gatesgarth Farm, at the southern end of Buttermere. It connects the Buttermere Valley with the eastern end of the Borrowdale Valley. Rising to 1,167 feet in height at the summit, it is one of Cumbria’s highest passes, with a gradient of 1 in 4. Flowing through the pass from the summit to Buttermere is Gatesgarthdale Beck. Today’s visitors use the summit, where you can find the Honister Slate Mine, as the start of a walk up to Great Gable or Dale Head (2,473 ft). The pass cuts through the landscape of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, which consists mainly of andesitic lava flows and volcaniclastic rocks. The Honister Slate Mine still quarries the slate here: a fine-grained metamorphic rock derived from the original volcanic ash deposits. It has been used for centuries for roofing tiles, flooring, and other construction purposes, and now also for finer architectural pieces.