A flat lakeside hairpin two thirds of the way up should give you the slingshot needed for the last push, with the road cutting through rock on its final approach to the summit. World Cycle Tours, Nutterswood Cottage, Nutters Wood, Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL52 3PZ, United Kingdom. The road levels between the sharp bends giving you a chance to attack each wicked corner then gather yourself in time for the next. How many have you ridden? The gradient on the inside of the bend is estimated to be somewhere in excess of 30%, and while you'd be daft to try riding over that bit, the outside isn't exactly a piece of cake either. Average gradient: 6.5% Another 100 Greatest Cycling hills 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs at Amazon.co.uk Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs at Waterstones Another 100 climbs include: Longest Hill Climb Cragg Vale - The longest continuous ascent in England - 9.1 km. Heave yourself round this evil corner and you're through the worst of it. Where Head north into the mountains from Ballater on the A939. The Gospel Pass is 548 high. Afon Ddu from Trefriw is the toughest ascent with a difficulty score of 621. The scenery gets more barren as you climb, dispensing with the trees and dry stone walls of the lower stretches and opening out into a classic Brecon Beacons landscape at the summit. The second set of switchbacks are steeper still, and these now 30% slopes will have you straining every sinew as your front wheel desperately searches for a kinder gradient and weaves all over the road fighting to stay upright. How many have you suffered on your way up? It covers 827 square miles (2,140 km2), and has 37 miles (60 km) of coastline. Explore the climbing route via Google Street Views. It then all but levels off as you pass various farm buildings, where the surface is broken and covered with the mud and debris from passing tractor tyres. Browse all of our prepackaged trips and find your next adventure! It might be less than a mile, but make no mistake - this is the one of the toughest climbs in South Wales, with the gradient hovering around 15% virtually all the way until it finally shows some mercy in the last couple of hundred metres. Once the gradient kicks in it just gets steeper and steeper, 20% past the last of the houses, then the fun really starts. After a few slight rises the road surface improves dramatically and stretches far into the distance, taking the shortest route over the featureless ridge. Therefore, after Bealach na Ba (UK #1 Most Epic and #4 hardest), Bwlch y Groes might be the second best bike climb in all the land. A little bit about Simon Warren - We contacted Simon Warren with our request for his Top 10 lists because we consider him the Gold Standard and cyclist with the most thorough and comprehensive knowledge of hill climbing by bike in the UK. 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It is really tough to crown just one climb in Wales as a favorite after riding so many over our few weeks of riding in June 2022. Three Cycling UK members have successfully completed an epic challenge to tackle 100 of the UK's most iconic climbs in one mammoth month-long road trip. Newly formed Denver Disruptors and Miami Nights NCL teams will make their debut at Tucson Bicycle Classic and tackle a full season of NCL and domestic racing, By Anne-Marije Rook After an age on the opening steep gradient the road banks right to plateau before a brief downhill. For more epic hill climbing data, visit our Top 10 Most Epic UK and also our Top 10 Most Epic Welsh hill . This climb has the steepest 500 meter segment in all the UK. Photograph: Paul White/Alamy, Scotch mist hanging over Bealach na Ba. The landscape is rough, its easy to see how the area gets pounded with rain and freezing temps most of the year. Venture into Scotland or the North of England, and you'll also find some climbs to rival many an Alpine climb too, with England's Mont Ventoux - Great Dun Fell being a particular highlight. In Welsh, the area is named Eryri. The surface is rough at first and steep from the outset, but improves as you pass over a cattlegrid and approach the double hairpin. Deep in the dark heart of Wales, climbing nut Simon Warren thinks he has discovered Britain's steepest hill. Signup for our. Only two miles, but one of those climbs that feels like it goes on forever. Within a few hundred feet of the start point, a switchback of over 20% warns you of the battle to come. In Wales cyclists can find 74 interesting climbs between 5 and 550 meters above sea level. Grid ref: SO 983 279 (OS 163)Length 1.54kmHeight gain 167mApprox climb time 9 mins, Named Hellfire Pass by the English but better known by its Welsh name, Bwlch-y-Groes is the highest tarmacked pass in Wales. Approaching from either direction you see the radar station's "golf ball" glowing like a beacon on the top of the ridge. >>> Subscriptions deals forCycling Weeklymagazine. Passing farm buildings and trees, the road veers left, then a very sharp 25% right a taste of what's to come before easing as the last of the trees disappear beneath you. Visit our corporate site. What follows is a brief levelling out but you can't put off what lies ahead for long. There is also now a Welsh Climbs book 100 greatest cycling climbs is a list of some of the hardest climbs in the UK from Constitution Hill to Kirkstone Pass and Ditchling Beacon. Cycling Weekly is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. It is an incredible climb both ways but the road from Tornapress, heading north-west, is just awesome. And Lots of them. Staring with 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs in 2010, Simon has set out to chronicle and, of course, ride the toughest cycling climbs across the UK and Europe. In Wales cyclists can find 74 interesting climbs between 5 and 550 meters above sea level. Babusar Pass, 4. While our Fiets list overlaps Simons for some climbs, the 2 lists do give you a nice sense of the objective and subjective Top 10 hardest Welsh climbs. Grid Ref: NG 775 423 (OS24) Length 8980m Height gain 623m Approx climb time 37 mins, Extracts taken from 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs and Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs by Simon Warren, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Cyclist climbing Hardknott Pass, The Lake District National Park, Cumbria Photograph: Peter Oliver/Alamy, Cyclists on Wrynose Pass in the Lake District. As of 2022, Simon Warren has published 12 cycling climbing books - 10 focusing on the UK, one on TdF and the other on the Giro. It's a long drag, but not particularly taxing in the most part, rising through the trees with the rumbling of vehicles on the adjacent main road in the distance. South Wales needs no introduction. You have 50 climbs on your lists, if you want to add more you can do so with climbfinder+. Whatever it is, it makes the stretch of climbing ahead look terrifying. Its found as you head north-west out of Pontardawe. Have you tackled the toughest climb in your region? I had to go and check it out. Snowdonia National Park (Welsh: Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri) was established in 1951 as the third national park in Britain, following the Peak District and the Lake District. Who knows. The 1.9 mile route is memorable for its scary hairpin climb. Sign up with your email address to receive offers, news and updates. The Netherlands: A trip through the lowlands. This climb comes with the steepest 500 meters in all of the UK at 25%, and it comes at the beginning of the climb so be prepared to strain at the outset. Penbarra ( Bwlch Pen barras / Bwlch Penbarras / Old Bwlch) - 258m - 11 to 25% - 2.3km #89. The Great Orme from Llandudno via Marine Drive, The Great Orme from Llandudno via Ty Gwyn Road. With this in mind, I put my eyes to work scanning the gradients ahead looking for any stretch of reprieve, no matter how short, where I can take a break from the infernal torment. 1. Cyclist and spectators make their way up The Tumble Abergavenny. Now very narrow and lined with snow poles, the climb is so well surfaced it resembles a two-metre-wide carpet. Before the construction of the Heads of the Valleys road, this was the main road between Gilwern and Brynmawr. Id evaluated the merits of all contenders from Yorkshire's Rosedale Chimney to Ffordd Penllech via Bushcombe Lane and Vale Street but then came that bigger fish, then came a new vision of hell: Afon Ddu, AKA the Baby Zoncolan. Deep in the dark heart of Wales, climbing nut Simon Warren thinks he has discovered Britains steepest hill. From there, there's the option of a fast descent into Defynnog, but a much better alternative is to continue in a straight line uphill and onto the ancient Heol Senni. The gradient kicks up to 14% as you head through the Cimla area of Neath, before a descent the other side takes you down into the Afan Valley. Let us know what you thought of this climb. Cwm Eigiau, 6. As Dan waltzes off ahead I am beginning to falter. But what is the attraction? Rounding the corner I spot our photographer Andy ahead and see he isnt in position. Join the road up from Thornhill and things get a little easier before the final wall up to the main road. From the long, straight opening stretch, the summit seems scarily close in distance, while worryingly far away in altitude. Read next: This spectacular virtual fly-through shows the stunning route of the 2016 Velothon Wales. You'll probably wish you were enjoying a sedate stroll along the fairways of the adjacent golf club by the time you reach the lung-crushing gradients at the top of this punchy climb out of Pontypridd. Saw signs of a moose, unstrapped and started walking down the trail and saw her about 100ft up the trail. This is the highest paved road and hardest bike climb in Wales. This brutal, bucket list climb invites you to tackle an incredible 48 hairpin bends between Prato and the mountain's summit. (sort by distance, difficulty, elevation and more). The hardest part is swinging onto the six or seven kilometre climbs and seeing riders crawling up the hill ahead of you looking like ants . Follow the road alongside the river to Llanymawddwy, pass through and begin the climb across the Pont y Pennant. The surface, just wide enough for a single car, is smooth at the edges but little more than gravel and moss in the centre. When we reached this last hairpin though his jaw hit the floor, he recalls. Simon ranked Bwlch y Groes as the fourth hardest climb in Wales (7 UK) and second most epic in Wales (after Stwlan Dam). And don't even think about putting a foot down - you'll never get started again. Bending right the slope immediately kicks up to around 25 per cent but this is mere childs play compared to what lies ahead. As I force round this wicked right-hander, bend three, the pale, rugged and debris-strewn surface rises up like a wall through the trees. The climb lasts for almost a mile and has an elevation gain of 180 metres. It never relents, never lets up until you reach the bend in the shadow of a rocky outcrop, you've still got a fair bit of climbing to reach the top, but it's not as hard now. The scene of a brilliant double ascent during the 2013 Tour of Britain, this iconic route out of Caerphilly also features as the final climb in the Velothon Wales loop of South Wales. . Luckily for us the rain was holding on our expedition. The sense of achievement? WOW - enough said! The Tour of Britain tackled the climb in 2010, when Swiss Michael Albasini attacked up it to take a solo win in Swansea. How steep? Each country has her crowned Jewel and Bwlch y Groes makes a good argument for taking that award for the Welsh territory.