Seated high in the mountains, drivers can enjoy views of both the Pacific Ocean and Inland Sea.
There are distinct sounds that accompany snowfall in mountain towns: Drivers scrape their windshields; snow shovelers clear the sidewalks; lifties (those who help load skiers into chairlifts) swat each chair's seat with a broom as it swings around the bullwheel, and grooming machines will roar across the mountain tonight.
There's something hallucinatory about climbing these mountains - drivers on one road have talked of sensing an extra passenger in the back seat.
As the sun began to drop behind the mountains, the driver set off to see if he could find a working cellular channel up on higher ground.
See lakedistrict.gov.uk for timetables and prices: you can buy tickets from the Windermere Lake Cruises ticket office, Coniston Launch, and from Mountain Goat (015394 45161; mountain-goat.co.uk) bus drivers.
Though races today are on a track rather than mountain byways and drivers tend to be wholesome, media-friendly "brands", not backwoods renegades, the sport still enjoys a rascally image.
Mr. Domjan — a former ambulance driver, mountain guide and rescue specialist — spent years raising funds before the PlanetSolar finally became a reality last year.
The PlanetSolar project, founded by Raphaël Domjan, a former ambulance driver, mountain guide and rescue specialist, hopes to hammer home that message.
"People did not think that it was possible to do, but we have demonstrated for the first time that you can do it — you can travel around the world in a boat using solar technology alone," Mr. Domjan, a former ambulance driver, mountain guide and rescue specialist, said by telephone last week, as the PlanetSolar was in the home stretch of its unprecedented trip.
