This road (the 'Concrete Road') is a Manchester Water Board road from their Haweswater Reservoir to the A6 south of Shap. It seems that they built it because the existing country lanes were narrow, twisty and with steep hills, whereas this one, though still narrow, has very gentle curves and gradients, and excellent visibility.
Uploaded to Geograph by David Purchase on 31 March 2012
Photo © David Purchase, 31 March 2012. Licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons licence