A Tour of the Hills

Last weekend Maggie had a business meeting in Edinburgh, and I was invited along as her Consort for the formal dinner. While this looked like pretty good fun, I thought I could get a bit more out of it by adding on a couple of days before, and a couple after, to do some of the better climbs in Simon Warren's 'Greatest Cycling Climbs' book.

So, on Thursday morning, I set off for Lincoln to ride up Michaelgate, the first of my climbs. It's a steep cobbled street that is used in the Lincoln Grand Prix, and the book advises that you turn off at the top rather than ride the obvious finish 'Steep Hill', which is also cobbled and even steeper. The feeble excuse given is that Steep Hill is pedestrianised, but once I got going I forgot all about this and the few pedestrians on Steep Hill were happy to stand aside; some even applauded my efforts. A couple of minutes later I was at the top in a fine medieval square.

Next was Rosedale Chimney, but I drove over the Humber Bridge on the way and stopped for a few minutes to ride the bike across - easy riding and grand open views over the estuary. Then on to Hutton-le-Hole, which was my base for the Rosedale Chimney.

Approaching this way you come to the top of the climb and ride down first, passing a couple of discouraging signs. The hill itself is very steep - the road sign shows 33%, or 1 in 3, though the GPS shows rather less, and this makes it difficult to climb. Not for the obvious reason, though that is part of it, but because it is so steep that any major effort on the pedals lifts the front wheel off the road, clearly a bad thing. Equally, failing to make a major effort on the pedals is not much good either ... so I was glad when the slope eased off a bit and the balancing act was over.

After a pleasant night in Durham I drove to St John's Chapel to ride up Chapel Fell, the highest paved road in England. The book says that you will be alone with the wind at the top, and so it was. Plenty of both, really.

Then on to Edinburgh, best bib and tucker and on parade, under the stern eye of Mrs G.

Leaving Edinburgh on Sunday the weather was pleasant enough, but it got rapidly worse as I drove North. I soon abandoned plans to ride up the Lecht, and concentrated on Bealach na Ba, arguably the greatest climb in Britain. Driving towards Lochcarron, my base, the weather was terrible, with a North-Easterly gale and heavy rain. However, the weather forecast was for the wind to swing round to the West, and there was a chance of a break in the worst of it as it did so. So I headed for Bealach na Ba and waited for the wind to change. It would be a shame to come all this way and have to abandon the ride.

Bealach na Ba is quite a serious climb. It starts at sea level and rises to 2050-odd feet. It's in two parts, the first being a series of ramps with a couple of sharp bends, the second is a series of hairpins. It's a bit like Whitedown with Box Hill on top, but bigger. The country is impressive - wild and remote with expansive views.

Well, the wind did change. It wasn't exactly calm, and the squalls were still pretty wild, but I thought I'd go for it. It's a good ride, but pretty hard in the conditions. I had to stop twice to brace myself against squalls, which is a real nuisance as starting again on a steep hill in a strong wind isn't easy. Better than being blown over, though. By the time I had got to the top the wind had made it to the West and was beginning to get up. Time to go down.

Next morning it was obvious that hill climbing was over for the next few days. The view across the loch was entirely obliterated by sheets of rain, driven by the gale. The forecast was for it to get stronger, and this turned out to be right - gusts over 100 mph were recorded later in the day.

So, with a full tank of diesel and 'SM5' on the GPS it was off on the road home, for supper at my own table and a chance to regale Maggie with traveller's tales.

But it was a very good little adventure, and I'll do another when I have the chance.

Mark