100 Greatest Climbs

nbalcombe

Andcp wrote:

drlodge wrote:

MrB123 wrote:

drlodge wrote:

Great Dun Fell followed by Hartside are two great hills, both very different but remarkable in their own way. Only 2, but think of quality over quantity. Don't forget to try the mars bar cake at the Hartside café.

A fantastic route is possible taking in those two and some more. Starting from Brough, follow the back roads to Dufton, take in Great Dun Fell and then on to Hartside. From there, on to Alston, over Killhope Cross, then cross from Weardale to Teesdale via Chapel Fell. Down the valley to Middleton in Teesdale and back to Brough on the road above the reservoirs.

A single route to take in England's highest categorised road, highest uncategorised road and highest climb of all!

Bookmarked for a future date!!!

Do you perchance have either a Strava link or .gpx for this route? sounds promising

Ditto, I would be interested in a copy of this

mrb123

nbalcombe wrote:

Andcp wrote:

drlodge wrote:

MrB123 wrote:

drlodge wrote:

Great Dun Fell followed by Hartside are two great hills, both very different but remarkable in their own way. Only 2, but think of quality over quantity. Don't forget to try the mars bar cake at the Hartside café.

A fantastic route is possible taking in those two and some more. Starting from Brough, follow the back roads to Dufton, take in Great Dun Fell and then on to Hartside. From there, on to Alston, over Killhope Cross, then cross from Weardale to Teesdale via Chapel Fell. Down the valley to Middleton in Teesdale and back to Brough on the road above the reservoirs.

A single route to take in England's highest categorised road, highest uncategorised road and highest climb of all!

Bookmarked for a future date!!!

Do you perchance have either a Strava link or .gpx for this route? sounds promising

Ditto, I would be interested in a copy of this

Afraid not. Have a look at a map though, the route is fairly self explanatory for the most part.

From Brough, cross the bridge over the A66 and go through Great and Little Musgrave, then on to Appleby. Cross the A66 again and head for Dufton. The Great Dun Fell road is not much further on, at Knock. Then it's back roads to Langwathby or Melmerby to hit the A696 to Hartside. From there it's straightforward. If you don't want to go into Alston there is an alternative via Garrigill to Nenthead.

The turn off for Chapel Fell is in St John's Chapel. Over the top into Teesdale and then down to Middleton in Teesdale. Cross the Tees and pick up the road back to Brough.

I think the whole route is about 90 miles.

Flâneur

https://www.strava.com/routes/5620409

horribly wrong?

mrb123

Flâneur wrote:

https://www.strava.com/routes/5620409

horribly wrong?

Spot on

davep1

drlodge wrote:

MrB123 wrote:

drlodge wrote:

Great Dun Fell followed by Hartside are two great hills, both very different but remarkable in their own way. Only 2, but think of quality over quantity. Don't forget to try the mars bar cake at the Hartside café.

A fantastic route is possible taking in those two and some more. Starting from Brough, follow the back roads to Dufton, take in Great Dun Fell and then on to Hartside. From there, on to Alston, over Killhope Cross, then cross from Weardale to Teesdale via Chapel Fell. Down the valley to Middleton in Teesdale and back to Brough on the road above the reservoirs.

A single route to take in England's highest categorised road, highest uncategorised road and highest climb of all!

Bookmarked for a future date!!!

Snap!

Tiesetrotter

A lot of the southern hills are picked as icons. So York's and Catford hill club. But there are dozens of similar climbs around of the short sharp variety. I do a different every week. They have Toy's hill for example. A pretty little climb up from the Westerham vale to the Surrey hills but there are a whole succession of them.

But some have to be chosen. Actually if you take Toys hill then turn left across the top and up the final part to Ide Hill you reach a cafe with a great view of the Kent Weald.

ktuludays

what have you done in the peaks? there are around 6 or 7 iirc that can be done in one long ride!

jimmocrates

Have you been up to Lancs? Not too far from Cheshire, and apart from the climbs in the book, it's really good riding terrain. Set off from Whalley or Clitheroe and you can tick a few off

davep1

Tiesetrotter wrote:

A lot of the southern hills are picked as icons. So York's and Catford hill club. But there are dozens of similar climbs around of the short sharp variety. I do a different every week. They have Toy's hill for example. A pretty little climb up from the Westerham vale to the Surrey hills but there are a whole succession of them.

But some have to be chosen. Actually if you take Toys hill then turn left across the top and up the final part to Ide Hill you reach a cafe with a great view of the Kent Weald.

Sounds like that is north to south? I thought it was from the south heading north?

itboffin

DavidJB wrote:

DaveP1 wrote:

I've done all 14 of the original south east ones, but they are spread out.

Ditchling Beacon and Steyning Bostal are about an hour apart, in the south.

North has the two in London (Swains Lane and Mott Street) again about an hour apart. Maybe add Boxhill, Leith Hill and White Down nr Dorking to these, but that leaves a long ride through London.

Dorking or nearby would be good to combine with the 100 Another list, you should get 6 or 7 from a ride in that area.

East has 4; - Kidds Hill (the Wall) to the south (maybe combine with Ditchling and Steyning, but I think that would be over 100 miles, not 100 km) and then 3 close-ish in Kent, Toys Hill, Yorks Hill and White Lane.

The last three are in a line from Newbury ish to Aylesbury ish. I strung them together, but got lost near the last one, Coombe Gibbet. It was over a 100 miles, and I was tired, so could not make sense of the map I had. I went up and down the ridge for hours, missing the actual climb by less than half a mile, and ended up having to abandon as it was getting dark. It was the last one for me to complete as well!

I held the KOM up that for a while (combe)

As did I but some prick flagged it, which I contested and Strava agreed was real based on one months worth of efforts before gaining the KOM but still left it as flagged :evil:

I ride it about once every two to three weeks

Guanajuato

DaveP1 wrote:

drlodge wrote:

MrB123 wrote:

drlodge wrote:

Great Dun Fell followed by Hartside are two great hills, both very different but remarkable in their own way. Only 2, but think of quality over quantity. Don't forget to try the mars bar cake at the Hartside café.

A fantastic route is possible taking in those two and some more. Starting from Brough, follow the back roads to Dufton, take in Great Dun Fell and then on to Hartside. From there, on to Alston, over Killhope Cross, then cross from Weardale to Teesdale via Chapel Fell. Down the valley to Middleton in Teesdale and back to Brough on the road above the reservoirs.

A single route to take in England's highest categorised road, highest uncategorised road and highest climb of all!

Bookmarked for a future date!!!

Snap!

I like that idea too. Although 90 miles with that amount of climbing may be beyond me Keep meaning to tackle GDF again, if only to confirm there really is a radar up there. One word of advice - if there's anything beyond a gentle breeze at the bottom, or a whiff of rain or low cloud, don't be a hero! When I went up on a spotive & it was a little breezy and overcast at the bottom. Thick cloud and howling wind towards the top. I never saw the radar! :shock:

drlodge

I've done GDF twice, the second time without stopping (other than to get past the top gate). Both times it has been on the warm side and I've had to undo my jersey and sweat it out. It really does get one a bit hot under the collar. Apparently the toilet in the radar building is the highest in the UK.

mrb123

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mrb123

It appears I'm not the first to devise that route round Hartside, Killhope, Chapel Fell and Great Dun Fell.
http://roofofenglandcycling.co.uk/the-big-4/4587373168

honeybadger99

Done GDF a couple of times, a great climb on a good surfaced road with no traffic. First time I already had 130miles in my legs, having already done Birker fell, Hardknott, Wrynose and Kirkstone via the struggle :shock:
https://www.strava.com/activities/343994418

defride

ugo.santalucia wrote:

The thing is, while the climbs in the north are iconic, big and worth travelling for, the climbs in the south east are randomly chosen out of a pool of small hills and some of them frankly questionable... why Whiteleaf hill and not the more famous and steeper Kop Hill side of the same climb?

That's a fair call and the book is pretty lightweight in terms of it's focus on climbs closer to the author than for example exploring Scotland.

Whiteleaf though is a good call for the Chilterns, it has the history going back to the Archer Grand Prix, Kop's only really become more well known since the Tour of Britain went up it. WL goes up 440ft in 0.8 of a mile, Kop 460ft over 1.1 miles if taken from Risborough but that takes in the New Road hill before turning on to Kop. Kop itself is 340ft over 0.7 mile with the steep ramps at the top, a tough hill but I'd contend that Whiteleaf is the tougher test, that's what my legs are telling me!

Lakes is a great bet for a bunch of interesting hills. In the South the best area to hit a few is out of Dorking as others have mentioned though by contrast they are mere pimples compared to Hardnott!

drlodge

There has to be a better way to more objectively measure the "hardness" of a climb. Even something like every [10 meter stretch] * [percentage of that stretch] add one point. So a 500m climb of constant 5% gets 250 points. Then you might introduce a non-linear scale so gradients of 10% or more have an increasingly higher weighting.

davep1

drlodge wrote:

There has to be a better way to more objectively measure the "hardness" of a climb. Even something like every [10 meter stretch] * [percentage of that stretch] add one point. So a 500m climb of constant 5% gets 250 points. Then you might introduce a non-linear scale so gradients of 10% or more have an increasingly higher weighting.

Climbbybike has http://www.climbbybike.com/climb_difficulty.asp

I took it as a yardstick for a while. I made some notes in 2013 on hills in the South Downs and how they compared to the big ones in the Lakes and the Alps, and when I looked more recently some had changed slightly. But then how do you factor in weather - is a hot sunny day (say over 30 degrees) harder than a 20 mph headwind? if the climb starts at 1000m and goes to 2000m, how much harder is that than a similar climb starting at sea level?

Bignor and Barhatch have similar numbers on CBB, but Bignor has its steepest section at the bottom, whereas Barhatch is at the top. For me, that makes Barhatch harder in my head because I know it keeps getting worse whereas Bignor gets easier, but physically when you are climbing them, Bignor takes more effort. Maybe because keeping the back wheel gripping and the front wheel from lifting is harder on Bignor.

drlodge

Yeh that Climbybike index is more like what I had in mind. However I did a quick search on Barhatch and it shows 2 climbs. The longer climb (I assume the whole climb) is rated lower than the shorter climb (the top half?) I assume since the short climb is much steeper on average. That makes no sense! Its obviously more difficult to do the whole limb than a part of it.

I don't think the weather is relevant to the climb itself. Climbs over 1000m are factored into CBB.

ugo.santalucia

'nuff about Barhatch and The Dun Fell, they are NOT in the original 100 climbs and the second book is a bit dull!

SFT

I have a suggestion that subverts the question, as there is only one '100 greatest climbs' close by - but actually there are loads, they are simply not in the book. Bealach na Ba is just beautiful, and the Applecross peninsula is gorgeous with azure sea, white sand beaches, wonderful moorland and deserted - almost no cars. If you make a circuit of the peninsula, there are some climbs that are pretty arduous - longer and steeper than anything down south, it's possible to climb about 2500 m in a nice short day's ride. Bealach na Ba itself looks pretty benign, as the average gradient is only under 7%, but don't let that fool you - it's a very pleasant, easy ride for almost all, then it kicks up a lot.

ugo.santalucia

SFT wrote:

I have a suggestion that subverts the question, as there is only one '100 greatest climbs' close by - but actually there are loads, they are simply not in the book. Bealach na Ba is just beautiful, and the Applecross peninsula is gorgeous with azure sea, white sand beaches, wonderful moorland and deserted - almost no cars. If you make a circuit of the peninsula, there are some climbs that are pretty arduous - longer and steeper than anything down south, it's possible to climb about 2500 m in a nice short day's ride. Bealach na Ba itself looks pretty benign, as the average gradient is only under 7%, but don't let that fool you - it's a very pleasant, easy ride for almost all, then it kicks up a lot.

I did Bealach Na Ba this morning, west side... very nice climb... firs half easy, then it kicks, but not too steep, maybe 10-15% and a 20% hairpin. Then descending into the east side, the view is simply stunning... one of the best views anywhere in the world.
The climb itself is enjoyable, not one of the hardest in the country in my view... not as hard as the stuff in the Lakes

bobmcstuff

The 3 Pistes Sportive will take you over Glenshee/The Cairnwell (65), the Lecht (66) and up to Cairngorm (67), over the course of a 100 mile ride. Absolutely spectacular ride, and includes a few other big climbs... You'd also not be far from Cairn o'Mount (64).

The Lecht in particular is tough - starts with a 20%+ wall out of C0ck Bridge, and another ramp approaching that higher up. Not counting the fact you have to come over Gairn Shiel to get to it, which is a serious climb on its own. Glenshee steepens towards the top and is the highest public road in the UK, but otherwise not so bad. Cairngorm is steady away, 300-odd metres over 5.5km so not too steep. Hard after 100 miles though! Cairn o'Mount is a great climb.

Scotland has been rather short changed in that book given how many of the south east climbs are fairly unremarkable.

cgfw201

bobmcstuff wrote:

The 3 Pistes Sportive will take you over Glenshee/The Cairnwell (65), the Lecht (66) and up to Cairngorm (67), over the course of a 100 mile ride. Absolutely spectacular ride, and includes a few other big climbs... You'd also not be far from Cairn o'Mount (64).

The Lecht in particular is tough - starts with a 20%+ wall out of C0ck Bridge, and another ramp approaching that higher up. Not counting the fact you have to come over Gairn Shiel to get to it, which is a serious climb on its own. Glenshee steepens towards the top and is the highest public road in the UK, but otherwise not so bad. Cairngorm is steady away, 300-odd metres over 5.5km so not too steep. Hard after 100 miles though! Cairn o'Mount is a great climb.

Scotland has been rather short changed in that book given how many of the south east climbs are fairly unremarkable.

A look at Simon Warren's Strava would indicate he's currently rectifying the Scottish-imbalance.

buckmulligan

Can anyone on here lay claim to having ticked off all 100? Strava evidence not required, I'll take your word for it

ugo.santalucia

BuckMulligan wrote:

Can anyone on here lay claim to having ticked off all 100? Strava evidence not required, I'll take your word for it

mroli has as a challenge for his charity

http://100hillsforgeorge.blogspot.co.uk/

cgfw201

BuckMulligan wrote:

Can anyone on here lay claim to having ticked off all 100? Strava evidence not required, I'll take your word for it

There's a VeloViewer thingy set up here for this
http://veloviewer.com/segmentHunterSeries/3

Looks like only one completion on there. My 25/100 is surprisingly high up the boards.

ugo.santalucia

cgfw201 wrote:

BuckMulligan wrote:

Can anyone on here lay claim to having ticked off all 100? Strava evidence not required, I'll take your word for it

There's a VeloViewer thingy set up here for this
http://veloviewer.com/segmentHunterSeries/3

Looks like only one completion on there. My 25/100 is surprisingly high up the boards.

Last time I counted I was at 36

Summit2ride

Hi,

I've only just started counting but think I've got 15 under my belt. Going for all 100 in 2 years, it's the most family friendly way of doing it!

I'm writing a Blog about them at http://www.summit2ride.com might be interesting.....
Hayden.

ugo.santalucia

Summit2ride wrote:

Hi,

I've only just started counting but think I've got 15 under my belt. Going for all 100 in 2 years, it's the most family friendly way of doing it!

I'm writing a Blog about them at http://www.summit2ride.com might be interesting.....
Hayden.

Half of them are not worth bothering... most of the south east ones, for example. The must do ones are in the Lakes, Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales, maybe a couple in the south west