Hardest climb in the UK?
Comments
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Hardknott pass for me. Done a lot of steep climbs in the Lakes and Dales and none of then are a match for Hardknott from the FWC side. Wrynose from the opposite way is a close second.
The Bealach na Ba is Scotlands hardest but sadly in terms of difficulty it is bnot in the same league as Hardknott and Wrynose. In scenic terms though it is the most breathtaking road/climb in Britian and rivals many of the climbs that I have done abroad in terms of granduer. Check out the link for my favourite pic of the first half of the climb.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/u ... -1024.htmlBrian B.0 -
The ultimate disgrace.... even google fight disagrees with me
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?la ... st+hardest
I still remember the first time riding toward Hard Knott from Wrynose back in 1982 , and seeing it ahead of me for so long, maybe that's why it stuck with me.
I have climbed them both many times since and still hate the East side.
<slinks away in shame>
I even think the FWR way over Wrynose is harder than the other way, we must all be different climbers.
enjoy the fight
george0 -
Hi Jibi,
We all have our opinions...I wasn't having a go earlier on..honetsly...its just that when you said of the western approach of Hardknott 'OK until the top I thought no way!...i'm having none of it....its just so bad from the start...
I think its sometimes a mental thing....like you said Hardknott East is unbeleivable looking with the naked eye...no camera/photo can do it justice...and with my earlier replies I want to make it clear I've got the deepest respect fro hardknott East.....but for me when i look at the full climb of Hardknott West with the naked eye its just the most harrowing experience I've ever seen on a bike...On the FWC this year I could see the line of cyclists making there way up the full road...95% walking....and when I hit the slopes it near destroyed me...I managed but only just...I've climbed it 4 times now but on the FWC it was the toughest.
A guy on the FWC afterwards tried to say to me me "On its own Hardknotts not so bad..."..I cut him straight off..."listen mate, that climb would be a killer even with fresh legs "....but funnily I reckon I suffered more on the Eastern approach of Wrynose than I do with hardknott West...must try it again with good fitness.
I've got a mate who hates Stickle Pike in the Lakes...he does Wrynose East etc many times but hates Stickle Pike...where Stickle Pikes much easier than Wrynose East...its just whats in the head with past experiences etc....
2 weeks and i'll have a pop at Bwlch Y Groes....Oldwelshman / Montydog say they can climb the hard side of Bwlch Y Groes on a 39 x 19 / 39 x25 respectively...can't be anything like Hardknott / Wrynose as no way could you get up those buggers of a climb in that gearing unless a Pro....especially 39 x 19!....0 -
Richboy
Thank you for that reply
That is the most amazingly honest response I have read on the web.
We all have our own Nemesis.
Once again I thank you. Much appreciated
I still hate Hard Knott East, and always will
george0 -
I plotted the Bwlch Y Groes (up to Vyrnwy turn) and Hardknott east on Anquet and came up with following:
Bwlch, ~1.2 miles , 280 m ascent steady profile
Hardknott West, ~ 1.3 miles, 300m ascent, but with sharply increased profile at points (= hairpins)
Asterton Bank on Long Mynd, 0.6 miles, 170 m, steady ascent, which makes it steeper over a shorter distnace than either of teh above!!
Whichever by that reckoning, depends how you like your hills!!0 -
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for me the hardest climb was the Long Mynd, on the "steeper side", so we dropped down into church stretton!? thats a guess!!!
but the climb on the other side was a killer. i thought i was going to go backwards!!!
ive ridden the Bwlch Y Groes and the like too, but this one was the hardest for me!!!_______________________________________________________________________________________
If You Can't Cut It With The Big Dogs, Then Don't Pi$$ Up The Tall Trees!0 -
I rode Bwlch-y-Groes from the hard side this week. It's a tough climb, not very long, but the gradient is just so sustained that all you can really do is just mash the gears until you get up it... I did it with a 39x27, but I'd have gone much faster with a lower gear. I haven't done Hardknott, but with such extreme gradients, it's hard to say which is actually the hardest, all you remember afterwards is the fact that you forced your way up in your lowest gear... give me the Tourmalet anyday!
Maybe we should do a Bwlch-y-Groes challenge in the same style as the Boxhill and Richmond Park ones! It took me 15 minutes 23 secs from the hairpin at the bottom to the car park... I did stop to take my helmet off, but not sure I'd have gone much faster without lower gears.0 -
Kirkstone Pass with only a 21 on the back was certainly difficult!0
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Apparently, Asterton Bank (Long Mynd, Shropshire) is the steepest 1km road (on average) in England. It goes to 25% after 10m and doesn't go below that until the top. Not as dramatic as Hardknott or as long as some of the other brutes already mentioned, but it's a fantastic climb - and the view is stunning.0
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Just spent 2 weeks in North Devon - Woolacombe area - there are some very steep hills around there , not long but steep 1in4's 1in5s a plenty , need to take a 39 next year.0
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The hill to my house near Huddersfield. It's a straight mile (straight and boring), climbing about 5-600ft but trust me - after a day in the saddle its the longest steepest b******.0
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Fluffster wrote:Apparently, Asterton Bank (Long Mynd, Shropshire) is the steepest 1km road (on average) in England. It goes to 25% after 10m and doesn't go below that until the top. Not as dramatic as Hardknott or as long as some of the other brutes already mentioned, but it's a fantastic climb - and the view is stunning.
Took the kids to the NT centre down at Cardingmill Valley and whilst eating our picnic I could see the line of cars sruggling up Asterton Bank and thought I'd have to try that. I use a training route that takes me Stourbridge to Wenlock Edge and back but that extra bit to Church Stretton has always been an extra 20 miles that I've not wanted to tag on.
I didn't realise it was the steepest bit of road in England though; now that I do I suppose I can justify that extra bit. Across the Severn Valley, over Brown Clee, up Asterton Bank and back in time for lunch.
But nobody's mentioned the road by the castle in Harlech. Rumoured to be 40%. Anyone confirm that? Anyone ignored the one-way and tried it?
For my money Hardknott West. Doing WWC next week so will have chance for comparison with B-y-G from D-M0 -
blooocow wrote:Fluffster wrote:Apparently, Asterton Bank (Long Mynd, Shropshire) is the steepest 1km road (on average) in England. It goes to 25% after 10m and doesn't go below that until the top. Not as dramatic as Hardknott or as long as some of the other brutes already mentioned, but it's a fantastic climb - and the view is stunning.
Took the kids to the NT centre down at Cardingmill Valley and whilst eating our picnic I could see the line of cars sruggling up Asterton Bank and thought I'd have to try that. I use a training route that takes me Stourbridge to Wenlock Edge and back but that extra bit to Church Stretton has always been an extra 20 miles that I've not wanted to tag on.
I didn't realise it was the steepest bit of road in England though; now that I do I suppose I can justify that extra bit. Across the Severn Valley, over Brown Clee, up Asterton Bank and back in time for lunch.
But nobody's mentioned the road by the castle in Harlech. Rumoured to be 40%. Anyone confirm that? Anyone ignored the one-way and tried it?
For my money Hardknott West. Doing WWC next week so will have chance for comparison with B-y-G from D-M
I've got memory map...and i've worked out average km's on most horrors...
Asterton Bank is around 17% avg...very steady gradient.
Top Km of Wrynose East is 16% avg (but 1km of 13% previous to that)
Winnats Pass 16% avg
Top Km of Hardknott West 16%(top 500 meters 26% avg)
Hardknott East - 0.8km at 18% avg
Boltby Bank 16% avg
Rosedale Chimney 16% avg (but 400 solid meters at 32%)
Top Km of Honister from Buttermere 16% avg
1st km of Honister from Seatoller 15% avg
1st km of Park Rash 16% avg...
top km of Bwlch Y Groes from Dinas Mawwdwy 16% avg...
I'll also be able to compare ByG against the other brutes this next Sunday....0 -
I'm only concerned with looking concerned0
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ok, here is my honest opinion. It very much depends on a combination of:
how you feel
how far you have ridden before you encounter a climb
weather conditions.
etc (there are much more than what I have mentioned obviously)
I have done some climbs which others have rated as hard and breezed them, yet have found others which do not even twitch the "hard" scale and been in a great deal of pain. Nobody knows how anyone else feels at a given time on a given ride.
e.g I rode a longish route last weekend and climbed some "serious" hills early on which I found easy, but then encountered some "easy" hills later on which had me in the lowest gear.
Get Over It. :?
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jpembroke wrote:
Beautiful!!
If you like climbing, there's a programme "The Great Climb" on BBC2 between 1pm and 7pm today - i.e. NOW! Live coverage of Dave MacLeod and others tackling a route in the Cairngorms. I think I heard the presenter at the beginning of the programme saying it's an E10 route.
EDIT: It has been postponed due to bad weather, and will be shown tomorrow. And it looks like it may be BBC2 Scotland only.0 -
As the weather was looking crap over the weekend I decided to take a hol on Friday and go for some serious training for next weeks Wild Wales....I headed down to the Lakes to take in some infamous brutes I'd never did before...Newlands Pass from Braithwaite, Honister Pass from Buttermere, and finishing with the 'Struggle' upto Kirkstone Pass, had already ridden the Struggle and it was soul destroyying...wanted a return visit to see if maybe I was on just a bad day or indeed it was simply awfull.
Newlands Pass....fairly easy-ish until the last steep ramp which was just plain horrible...sign says 20%...no way...I couldn't sit down...worse from the FWC direction IMO.
Honister from Buttermere...a few lads had said they reckoned this was a good candidate for one of the toughest out there...I'd did the otherside from Seatoller 3 times and I had serious doubts if the Buttermere side could be harder than that way!
I reckon this way its more to do with your head...you can see right upto the slatemine from way below...and the road upto it is gobsmackingly scary...it could possibly beat lots of people before they even attempted it...anyway I found it very very sore...especially the last ramps to the top...one of those is 30% defo!...but I reckon its a tad harder from Seatoller..not much in it...both brutal!
Struggle...was very aware to take it easy on this huge 5km climb...as I knew lastime it just slowly destroyed me...anyway don't matter as I did take it easy....but again the repeating bowts of 20% from the start started biting away at me...then after AGES i hit a small dip, after this there were 2 huge 20+% which leads you upto the flatter/downhill kilimeter, these 2 ramps completely sucked whatever strength I had left straight out...onto the flatter section and recovered for the last but not least most brutal section upto the Inn...25% easypeasy...I can honestly say I just managed...at the top there were all these women mountainbikers looking at me and I couldn't for the life of me look cool! I simply put my head over the handlebars with my arms flagging as I thought I was going to throw up!...yip it wasnt that I was on a bad day last time, it's just that this climb is simply horrendous...
For me I reckon the Struggle is around 3rd equal toghest climb i've so far did in the UK...I rate it alongside the Bealach Na Ba...but Hardknott West and Wrynose East still remain my candidates for toughest.0 -
The straights of Hard Knott and Wrynose are hard enough, but I think its the corners where the climb really ramps up to 30 ish percent and do your knees in!! Kirkstone on a road bike is fun if you're sadistic enough to try and attack it :-)0
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RICHYBOYcp wrote:
Honister from Buttermere...a few lads had said they reckoned this was a good candidate for one of the toughest out there...I'd did the otherside from Seatoller 3 times and I had serious doubts if the Buttermere side could be harder than that way!
I reckon this way its more to do with your head...you can see right upto the slatemine from way below...and the road upto it is gobsmackingly scary...it could possibly beat lots of people before they even attempted it...anyway I found it very very sore...especially the last ramps to the top...one of those is 30% defo!...but I reckon its a tad harder from Seatoller..not much in it...both brutal!
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I've just come back from the lakes and Thursday went on a loop from Keswick taking in Whinnlatter pass and Honister from Buttermere. Went over Whinnlater no problem but had to take a breather or two on Honnister but was determined to go over the last 2 ramps up to the slate mine without stopping (too many punters watching
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It was the hardest climb I have ever done in the worst weather I have ever rode. _ I dont think my shoes will survive
Going down, I could not pull the brakes tight enough to stop on some of the sections towards Seatoller and at one point I missed a coner and had to go strainght over the edge
Does it count if you have to stop? No walking up, just a stop and restart (which is hard enough in itself ) or can you only count a climb if you do it in one go?
Oh big up to the guy touring fully laden as I passed on the approach who had been there all week camping/touring he must have been soaked for a week."You must return here with a shrubbery, or else, you will never pass through this wood... alive."0 -
I've just come back from the lakes and Thursday went on a loop from Keswick taking in Whinnlatter pass and Honister from Buttermere. Went over Whinnlater no problem but had to take a breather or two on Honnister but was determined to go over the last 2 ramps up to the slate mine without stopping (too many punters watching )
It was the hardest climb I have ever done in the worst weather I have ever rode. _ I dont think my shoes will survive
Going down, I could not pull the brakes tight enough to stop on some of the sections towards Seatoller and at one point I missed a coner and had to go strainght over the edge
Does it count if you have to stop? No walking up, just a stop and restart (which is hard enough in itself ) or can you only count a climb if you do it in one go?
I reckon thats personal I suppose....for me (and I can only speak for me) I have to do the climb in one go without stops...If I stopped for a breather I suppose it meant the hill was too much and I hadn't the fitness/form to make it....I remember the first time I climbed Hardknott from Eskdale...it was lashing down with rain and at the steepest part nearing the top(35% switchback) my wheel spun on the small bumps and soaking surface....I had to push my bike around 5 yeards to the corner and remount..I then rode to the top...but I still didn't count it as a success...I went back down 1 month later and redid it proper...its just how you feel personally..0 -
Not sure about UK but in N Yorks if you start off in Thirsk as I do, and go up Sneck Yate then over to Helmsley up Farndale and out up church houses that puts you just about in the right mood for Rosedale. And if that isn't enough do what the cycling + team did and ride it on a double chainset ! (wonder how long the skinny 10 speed chains lasted) Resect !0
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RICHYBOYcp wrote:I've got memory map...and i've worked out average km's on most horrors...
Asterton Bank is around 17% avg...very steady gradient.
Top Km of Wrynose East is 16% avg (but 1km of 13% previous to that)
Winnats Pass 16% avg
Top Km of Hardknott West 16%(top 500 meters 26% avg)
Hardknott East - 0.8km at 18% avg
Boltby Bank 16% avg
Rosedale Chimney 16% avg (but 400 solid meters at 32%)
Top Km of Honister from Buttermere 16% avg
1st km of Honister from Seatoller 15% avg
1st km of Park Rash 16% avg...
top km of Bwlch Y Groes from Dinas Mawwdwy 16% avg...
I'll also be able to compare ByG against the other brutes this next Sunday....
Sadly mapping software ain't accurate enough to make comparisons as it only has OS data to the nearest 10m (i.e. the countours) apart from spot hieghts. That could be an error of 20m or 13-10% on a 150-200 m ascent. Gradients would be out by the same amount. Only way is to get the theodolite out or use an accurate altimeter and cycle computer.
And road signs take the height climbed divided by distance along the surface of the road so generally underestimate gradients.
But after that techy discussion Asterton Bank gets my vote and I've ever only walked up it!0 -
Just come back from the Wild Wales Challenge...boy do they not have some nightmares down there?
After 70 gruelling miles we hit the infamous Bwlch Y Groes from the steep Dinas Mawddwy side.....horrible thing about it is you can see near the whole climb spread out right before you...and it looked just plain dreadful!....looked very on Par with the sight of Hardknott on the FWC...never ever thought i'd see anything so frightening again but there you go!
Thought to myself I'll keep a gear spare for the steep last km...what a joke! I was bottomed out in a nanosecond upon hitting its slopes(just after the switchback)...and the sights I seen on this climb were identicle as on Hardknott on the FWC....so many people walking...all the rest crawling...and that was on the 1st half of the climb!...
It took me sometime to overtake someone who said he was doing 3mile/hour on his computer....people zig zagging over the road..others pedalling square...I was in my 30x27 and on the edge....I reached the steeper section and I couldnt even feel the difference...the difference was I had to honk out the saddle a whole lot more...what a relentless brute.....anyway,managed it...but what an ordeal....and I was in good form!
Only 2 other climbs have put such doubt in my mind in my whole life...Hardknott West and Wrynose East...I was feeling exact same on Bwlch Y Groes in the Wild Wales Challenge as I did on Hardknott on the FWC....giving massive respect and always on the Edge of my abilities.
After seeing all the previous entries my opinion is the Bwlch Y Groes is on equal pegging to the Hardknott West and Wrynose East...what a monster!0 -
RICHYBOYcp wrote:Just come back from the Wild Wales Challenge...boy do they not have some nightmares down there?
After 70 gruelling miles we hit the infamous Bwlch Y Groes from the steep Dinas Mawddwy side.....horrible thing about it is you can see near the whole climb spread out right before you...and it looked just plain dreadful!....looked very on Par with the sight of Hardknott on the FWC...never ever thought i'd see anything so frightening again but there you go!
Thought to myself I'll keep a gear spare for the steep last km...what a joke! I was bottomed out in a nanosecond upon hitting its slopes(just after the switchback)...and the sights I seen on this climb were identicle as on Hardknott on the FWC....so many people walking...all the rest crawling...and that was on the 1st half of the climb!...
Totally agree. I was in 36/26 by the time we hit that switchback with nothing smaller left. How many times did I check for an extra gear when I knew there were none there? I tried to stay in the saddle as much as possible, but then my front wheel started lifting cos the gradient had tipped me so far back.RICHYBOYcp wrote:It took me sometime to overtake someone who said he was doing 3mile/hour on his computer....people zig zagging over the road..others pedalling square...I was in my 30x27 and on the edge....I reached the steeper section and I couldnt even feel the difference...the difference was I had to honk out the saddle a whole lot more...what a relentless brute.....anyway,managed it...but what an ordeal....and I was in good form!
Only 2 other climbs have put such doubt in my mind in my whole life...Hardknott West and Wrynose East...I was feeling exact same on Bwlch Y Groes in the Wild Wales Challenge as I did on Hardknott on the FWC....giving massive respect and always on the Edge of my abilities.
After seeing all the previous entries my opinion is the Bwlch Y Groes is on equal pegging to the Hardknott West and Wrynose East...what a monster!
Not too sure about that. I think Hardknott West is considerably harder. When you pass the phone box at the base the road rises like a wall and destroys you. Granted there are more 'flatter' bits where you can recover, but that means the gradients in between are steeper. ByG wasless hard because it doesn't change too much, find a gear and a rythm and as long as you can turn the peddles you're OK.
But I will concede 2 points:
1 - I've only done HK during FWC and the preceeding 4 montains have destroyed you by the time you hit it. Yesterdays WWC did not have any Kirkstone's or Honisters before hitting the Bwlch.
2 - the old guy at the top was quick to point out we'd missed the hardest bit to turn off to Vyrnwy.
As someone has said already, it's all down to the person, the day etc.
Yesterday someone told me the Russian team climbed off their bikes as the Milk Race hit the Bwlch. Is that so? Does anyone have the details?0 -
Yeah everyone to there own of course...I've been up Hardknott West 4 times...twice after doing the FWC and once at 70 horrendous miles...the other at 50 miles...not going to try and put it down its just brutal..BUT I suffered more on Wrynose East more than I ever did on Hardknott West!.....the Bwlch's stats are comparable with Hardknott West...last 2kms of the Bwlch avg 15%...same as hardknott....I think I can handle steeper gradients (like hardknott) if I can get micro breaks in between...whereas on Wrynose East and the Bwlch ist just relentless....and all the guys I spoke to yesterday reckoned the Bwlch is the toughest climb in the UK...I personally think its on a par...
And about yesterdays course...I would much rather cycle up kirkstone the easyway the FWC does it compared with that 1st trauma from Pale up over the Milltir Gerrig...that averaged 13% over 1 1/2kms to the main road....and there was no flat at all...I personally reckon the yesterdays Wild Wales was on par with the FWC...and the Hirnant after the Bwlch was tough going aswell...
I can only give my own opinions....but the bwlch for me was everybit the climb Hardknott / Wrynose is....and it takes a lot for me to say that!0 -
OK Here goes first post of a newbie!!
I am going back to 1982 when i last had my skinny little bum on a bike, and for me it was The Old Bulk. If it is spelt different in Welsh, then i apologise. But it is a turn off for Moel Fammau from Mold to Ruthin, steady and then builds up. I can still see the gradient sign towards the end that said 1:2 1/2 So is that 45% in new money???
I used to struggle up that in 42 x 26
Now, 12 stone heavier than my ideal racing weight, i am waiting to order my new bike and get back on the road and burn some miles back into the legs, avoiding any major hills for now, as i was never really a climber anyway but a decent sprinter.
So if anyone around the Tamworth area wants to hear the old sotries from a bygone fat (OK very fat) Scouser, watch out, i may be hanging onto your wheel very soon.
PS Does anyone know where i can buy XXL shorts and jerseys, all the stuff i have seen is for skinny buggers!!!!!Just a fat bloke on a bike0 -
1st km away from the lighthouse at the Mull of Kintyre 18% avg(*), then another 1km at 14%
(*) according to www.salite.ch MemoryMap gives 19-20%0 -
Hi Richyboy
Just a few words from sunny Tenerife and I am pleased to see you enjoyed your cycling at Bala and a few of the climbs around there.
regards Alan (videoman)0 -
Here's a couple more difficult climbs:
1) The road off the "main" road to Cwm Bychan from Llanbedr near Harlech. It goes NW in the direction of Harlech. I only went down it but it was a shocker. I wasn't tempted to go up it!
2) A road out of Glyn Ceiriog going north toward Llangollen. Think it's called Church Hill. Used to go up when I was a wee lad.
3) Getting out of bed in the morning.0
