Winnats Pass, Peak District National Park, England

Through the heart of the pass. Winnats Pass, Peak District National Park, England

A long, winding road cuts through rocks more than 300 million years old in England's Peak District. As if that geological timescale were not remarkable enough, the road passes through Winnats Pass, a narrow limestone gorge whose towering cliffs reveal the ancient seas that once covered this part of Britain.

Yet Winnats Pass is only one highlight of the Peak District National Park, Britain's first national park. Here, green limestone valleys give way to sweeping gritstone moorlands, while hidden cave systems run beneath the hills. Visitors can hike along dramatic ridges, explore underground caverns once worked by lead miners and wander through picturesque communities such as Castleton and Bakewell. Few places in England pack so much geological diversity and outdoor adventure into a single landscape. Whether viewed from a windswept hilltop or from the depths of a cavern, the Peak District is a place where every turn reveals something new.