Buttertubs Pass, Yorkshire Dales

About this drive

The Buttertubs Pass road crosses the northern Yorkshire Dales between Hawes in Wensleydale and Thwaite in Swaledale, climbing to 526 metres over a moorland saddle before descending into one of the most complete and unaltered dale landscapes in England. The pass takes its name from the Buttertubs — natural limestone shafts on the roadside near the summit, up to 20 metres deep, formed by the solution of limestone by rainwater over thousands of years. The road was used as a stage finish in the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ — the most famous road race in the world coming through one of the most remote corners of the Yorkshire Dales. The combination of the landscape, the quality of the light, and the completeness of the dales scenery on either side makes it one of the best short mountain roads in England. Swaledale on the northern descent is the more dramatic of the two sides — a dale that stayed largely agricultural through the industrial period and retains the field walls, isolated farmsteads, and village pubs that most English valleys lost a century ago. Keld, at the bottom of the Swaledale descent, has a waterfall within easy walking distance of the road.

Stops along the way

• 📸 The Buttertubs · Scenic Viewpoint

  The limestone potholes the pass is named for, just off the road near the summit.