The Trough of Bowland is a really very pretty valley with lots of steep little climbs and nice views. It was only a relatively short drive to the start of the climb from the top of Jubilee Tower and I managed to park in some shade near the start of the climb; it was turning into another hot day and the dog was already starting to suffer with the heat.
Some much needed shade in the Forest of Bowland
There were loads of cyclists out enjoying the local roads and the weather and I got on the bike looking forward to the climb. At first the gradient is gentle as the road meanders through the valley before finally ramping up. Even when things do get steep they aren’t too drastic. My main problem was dealing with the heat which has always been my achilles heal. As I got to the steep part of the climb I started to slow as my temperature rose. Mind you, I was doing better than one bloke I spotted in the distance who had climbed off his bike as soon as the road went properly up. Sadly at my slow speed he was too far ahead for me to catch up with and he remounted about three quarters of the way up the climb. I may be slow but I never walk.
After an enjoyable, if slow climb up to the top, I had an even more enjoyable ride back down to the car. The road back down was wide enough and smooth enough to get up to a decent speed which certainly helped me cool off. After completing the usual process of packing away the bike and my cameras it was off to Slaidburn for lunch before tackling the Cross if Greet climb.
It seems a bit daft really; to be based in Yorkshire for a weeks cycling and to end up spending a day in Lancashire but there was method in my madness. The Jubilee Tower, Trough of Bowland and Cross of Greet climbs are all very close to each other and so it made sense to drive for an hour or so from Bradley where I was staying, start off with the Jubilee Tower climb and work my way backwards.
Jubilee Tower
The weather was perfect and near the tower of Jubilee Tower fame there was a handy car park so I parked up, set up the bike and largely free wheeled my way down to the start of the climb. The weather was amazing and the views were equally spectacular on the way down and it was nice to be hurtling down a decently surfaced road in good weather. It was even nicer to get to the bottom and not find myself wet through or frozen to the bike.
The view from the top was crystal clear in the fantastic weather
The Jubilee Tower climb is by no means one of the hardest of the hundred climbs but it does have a pretty long steep section that tops out at 14% near the start. My high speed descent had been great fun but on the lower slopes it was a struggle to get my legs turning over a decent sized gear. In short I started slow and it was only until I got to the mid point of the climb that I was able to start moving up through the gears although I never reached a particularly high speed. In fact I was passed by a chap in his sixties in full club gear and despite my best efforts to shift up a few gears and up my pace he was soon a disappearing spec on the horizon. Oh well, I did have two other climbs to tackle and it is important to pace yourself. That’s my story anyway.
The upper part of the climb has a fairly gentle gradient so spinning my way back up to the car park wasn’t too troublesome and I took a bit of time to take in the view and look at the Jubilee Tower itself. It was apparently constructed to mark the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria but I’ve got to be honest and state that it is a fairly unremarkable building. It is square, squat and looks like it should have a public toilet housed within it. Mind you the views from the top are pretty good.
Surely even Queen Victoria expected something a bit more impressive to mark her diamond jubilee
After packing the bike away it was time to travel back down the road to the Trough of Bowland climb which I had been able to scope out on my way through earlier in the morning.
Langcliffe Scar is shorter in length compared to Malham Cove but has steeper gradients and a couple of really steep uphill bends to tackle. Descending to the start from the top was fast and fun but as with a lot of climbs I struggled to get going on the lower part of the hill. Taking on the 100 climbs means you have very little chance for a warm up before the road starts going uphill and most climbs are tackled after at least 40 minutes sat in the car.
The views were impressive all week
On Langcliffe Scar I struggled to get the legs turning early on and even when I did find some semblance of pace it wasn’t fast. Making sure I cleared the steep hair pin bends only served to get me really hot and so I ended up feeling pretty cooked quite early on. As with Malham Cove the local rock formations really dominate the view, especially at the top of the climb so at least my slow pace allowed me to have a good look.
Langcliffe Scar was the second and final climb of the day. I had a trip over the border into Lancashire planned for the Tuesday and the dog was starting to struggle in the heat. He is getting on in years for a Cocker Spaniel and with my car not having air con I was aware that the week could turn into a bit of an ordeal for him unless we made efforts to keep him cool. As the temperatures stayed high all week I very quickly got used to driving everywhere with all of the car windows open at high speed.
One very hot and unhappy dog at the top of Langcliffe Scar
After getting back to our base in Bradley it was time for dinner and a fairly early night as the following day I would be taking on three climbs and covering quite a bit of mileage in between them. More to follow.
On Saturday the 1st April I arrived in the very lovely village of Bradley just outside Skipton with my dad and the dog, and my bike, for a week of hill climbing fun in Yorkshire. After taking the Sunday off it was straight down to business on the Monday morning with the climb at Malham Cove. The weather was fantastic with high temperatures, no wind and absolutely no chance of rain. After months of bad weather it made a change to be riding without needing to don full winter gear although a breeze would have helped to take the edge of the temperatures a bit.
I took a break on the descent to grab a quick photo
With limited parking at the top of the climb I left the car in the care of my dad and the dog in the Malham visitor centre car park and rode through the village to get to the start. It wasn’t long before the road started to ramp up and my attempt to keep a high gear turning over were derailed by me slowing to look at the fantastic rock formations. I was quickly crashing down through the gears in order to keep moving forward but in truth Malham Cove isn’t the steepest of climbs, its just that I wasn’t quite tuned into the task at hand. It was mid morning by the time I started the climb and the sun had had plenty of time to heat things up. As you ride up the climb the dry stone walls obscure your view of the road ahead and it also felt like they were reflecting light and heat back onto the road. I was feeling pretty hot and breathless by the time I reached the summit.
After a quick descent back to the car park it was time for lunch and a walk for the dog in the local stream and then onto Langcliffe Scar.
I’ve just come back from a week in Yorkshire where I managed to tick off another nine climbs. The weather and scenery was amazing and the roads largely steep. Nine climbs in the space of a week means that I have a terrifying amount of video editing to plough through (it takes time to produce poor quality videos) but hopefully the first couple of climbs will be up on the blog by the end of the week.
I've just spent a week looking at views like this so despite the hard work involved I'm not complaining
Over the course of the last week I took on the following climbs in between large pub lunches:
Malham Cove - very picturesque and steep
Langcliffe Scar - quite picturesque and steep with some amazing hairpin bends
Jubilee Tower - great views from the top, long slog to get to them. The tower itself was a bit of a disappointment
Trough of Bowland - Lovely little climb and by far the easiest of the week
Cross of Greet - a pretty stunning ride up through a valley and at the speed I was moving there was plenty of time to take in the view
Norwood Edge - I got lost finding it and then lost my mojo on the way up
Park Rash - Nuts to look at but manageable to ride, just
Greenhow Hill - A bit of a slog and I struggled with the heat
Halifax Lane - strangely not the hardest hill leading out of the village of Luddenden. I managed to find one that even my car struggled with.
Right, that’s all for now. I need to go and swear loudly and continuously at some video editing software.
After riding the Penbarra climb I headed into Mold with my dad and the dog for a spot of lunch. Mold turned out to be a nice little town and the sausage and egg sandwich I had, whilst not considered ideal from a sports nutrition point of view, was lovely.
Whilst strolling around Mold it was apparent that the calf muscle I wrenched on The Shelf was going to be an issue as it felt quite tight but as I was so close to the Moel Arthur climb, and bad weather was forecast for the afternoon, I decided it was best to press on and see how the riding went.
Finding the start of the climb is made much easier if you look on the map for the ancient hill fort and then just head downhill from there. The little lanes in the area all look the same and it is very easy to get confused as to where the start of the ride is otherwise. The hill fort marks the top of the climb and has a small car park.
The descent down to the start of the climb was interesting to say the least. The narrow road is very badly surfaced with huge potholes and crumbling bits of asphalt all over the place. At least going up my slow speed would enable me to miss them more easily.
The first part of the climb is fairly gentle and it is only when you get to the mid section that things start to get serious. The road ramps up to 20% and the surface of the road also gets worse. I'll be honest and say I struggled on this climb. My leg was worrying me and I really don't like it when the road reaches 20% or more. A 20% gradient is the point at which gravity stops being my friend.
Sheep lurking like trouble making teenagers in the Moel Arthur car park
After huffing and puffing my way up the steepest section I was able to regain a bit of composure on the easing gradient but never really got up to a great speed. I arrived back at the car park to find a number of sheep rubbing themselves all over some poor buggers mini. I've no idea what it meant for the cars paint work and thankfully the arrival of a red faced man on a bike scattered them away from my car.
After packing the bike away at the top of Moel Arthur it was back to the Travelhovel at Wrexham and a rather nice curry from a local takeaway. There was very bad weather forecast for the evening with heavy rain being the main feature. Hopefully it would clear by the morning, along with the pain in my leg.
Horseshoe Pass
After a night of listening to rain battering against the window May the 15th started grey and damp. The rain was still clearing away from North Wales and the drive to the Horseshoe Pass took in quite a few flooded roads. Thankfully the Qubo has pretty good ground clearance and I have zero mechanical sympathy and we made it through the flooded sections at speed and with no real hold ups.
At the top of the pass it was wet and windy and so cold I had to layer up with my winter gear including long fingered gloves and neoprene overshoes. I'm sure in good weather the views are stunning but to me it just looked like a long wet uphill slog lay ahead. Rain eased off as I descended to the start but it became clear that the wind had every intention of hanging around. My left leg also hadn't improved much over night and as I span my way up the first gradients on the lower part of the climb I decided that my time in North Wales was going to finish a little earlier. Fighting into a head wind on the mid section of the climb was quite painful and I figured it was best to rest a wrenched muscle rather than press on and attempt other climbs. I would only have risked giving myself a worse problem to deal with.
Without the persistent wind on the mid section of the climb it would have been a quite pleasant ride. the gradient never gets too steep and on I good day I reckon I could ride up at a decent pace. As it was I wasn't having a good day and it took until I reached the upper section of the pass and had some shelter from the wind before I was able to pick up the pace. It hurt pushing a higher gear around but it was nice to be able to stick some power down. Of course as soon as I reached the final bend in the road before the summit I rode straight back into the wind that had made most of the climb such a misery. Ah well, can't win them all.
Riding into the wind meant this section took forever to complete
It was clear I needed to stop pushing my knackered leg any further and so we decamped to Llangollen for lunch. This is another nice little town and is clearly on the tourist trail. The dog caught the attention of a Japanese tourist who decided that he needed a picture of a miserable looking Cocker Spaniel to complete his holiday snaps and some American tourists in the pub where we stopped for lunch also gave the dog some attention. He was looking much happier by this point as there was food in the pub.
After lunch it was time to head back to Wrexham, pack up and go home. It was an earlier departure than I had hoped for but it was the right decision to make. I took a couple of days off from riding the bike and have kept the rides relatively light. I've got a trip to Yorkshire coming up soon and even though my calf muscle still isn't a hundred percent I'm pretty confident that with a bit more rest it will be up to the task.
The ride up Penbarra was my second of the day and tackling it soon after riding The Shelf I felt pretty keyed up for it. A short drive to the climb meant I didn't cool down too much.
The base of the hill was easy enough to find but as we drove up to the top my little Fiat Qubo started to struggle with the increasing gradient. The mid point of the climb is marked by a 25% section with a steep hairpin bend. As I coaxed the car round in 1st gear it dawned on me I would probably have similar problems on the bike.
The descent down to the start from a car park at the top was a fast and fun ride and then the hard work started. The lower slopes are pretty steep and you only get one bit of respite just after a junction about a 1/4 of the way up where the gradient eases for a bit. After that it just gets steeper and steeper. I decided to take a slow and steady approach to this hill as the mid section was going to require a lot of effort. Just after passing the junction in the road I also noticed that the calf muscle I strained on The Shelf was starting to feel a bit tight. This gave me a further incentive to keep things slow as I didn't want to completely knacker it.
Approaching the steep hairpin bend I was determined not to get my approach wrong. I took a wide line in to reduce the effect of the gradient which, although not very pretty, meant I could get round without grinding to a halt with the steepness of the slope The inner part of the hairpin is ludicrously steep but thankfully there was no traffic coming down the hill to baulk my progress like I experienced on the Riber climb in Matlock.
The final drag up to the finish proved to be just that; a drag for my tired feeling legs
Once past the hairpin the gradient starts to ease off for the final section of the hill. At this point I was starting to flag a bit and the final ramp up to the car part at the summit seemed to take forever; I guess I used up my reserves of energy on the steeper lower slopes and my calf muscle at this point was starting to feel like I needed to get off the bike and rest it. Sadly once at the top the dog was in need of a walk and a chance to befoul the Welsh countryside and a trek round the top of the hill followed.
The top of Penbarra
After loading the dog and the bike back into the car it was off to Mold for lunch before heading back into the depths of the countryside to tackle the Moel Arthur climb. The weather was set to be quite bad overnight and I wanted to get the Moel Arthur climb out of the way on dry roads. I suppose I should get a move on a edit the video for Moel Arthur.
I am a fool
Time for a quick update on the video editing. After writing this blog post it dawned on me that I have managed to edit, encode and upload the video for Penbarra and The Shelf with the wrong bloody dates on them. I actually tackled both climbs on the 14th of MAY, not April. This I find very annoying as I can tell I will now have to edit both videos again and then encode them to HD and THEN upload the damn things to Youtube all over again as getting little things wrong like that really annoys me. I'm off to bang my head against a wall...
