📌 Road pass between Elvanfoot, South Lanarkshire & Carronbridge, Dumfries & Galloway
★★★
The scenery of the Southern Uplands is underrated, and too many visitors from across the English border zoom through on the M74 bound for Scotland’s cities or the Highlands. Except that leaves the roads fabulously quiet for the rest of us. The Dalveen Pass threads a route south from the motorway through the Lowther Hills, first following the broad Lanarkshire glen of a baby River Clyde, before clinging to the edge of the Carron Valley in a long but gradual descent towards Carronbridge in Dumfriesshire. It’s probably best driven (and definitely cycled) in a southbound direction: 9 gravity-assisted miles after gaining the summit near the county border. The narrower, higher Mennock Pass provides an alternative scenic route a few miles to the north.
🌍 Location
📌 North end is at Elvanfoot
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NS 953171
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.436620,-3.656085
△ Summit is at:
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NS 926085
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.358764,-3.696146
📌 South end is at Carronbridge
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NX 870979
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.262678,-3.780100
🚌 Infrequent buses cross the pass on the Edinburgh-Dumfries route
🚗 Surfaced A-road, suitable for most vehicles, with occasional laybys
📝 Key info
▶ 24 km / 15 mi | ▲ 280 m
⌚ Always open except after exceptional snowfall
🎫 Free
