Start GR466538 Finish 508542
Length 7.4km (to King Down Farm)
Height Gain 198m
Max gradient 1 in 5(ish)
Heading out to the gorge, one sunny day in October, I had no real idea what I was taking on. Would I get up? Would I get close? The last time I'd ridden a road-bike with any purpose had been twenty plus years ago. Still - new bike, new challenge - legs a bit trained from 6 miles each way to work a couple of times a week - give it a go.
Pulling up past the tourist shops at the base of the climb I was rapidly wondering if this was really such a bright idea! The angle isn't that steep, but if this was the base, what was I going to be in for further up. The first bit is though, the hardest. From the shops to the High Rock bend the road rises but allows a rhythm. Then comes the short hard leg burning bend as the road makes the step into the base of the wilder section of the gorge. If my assessment of the OS 1:25,000 map is correct, this is a rise of about 20m in 100m horizontally - 1 in 5, but it's short and my untrained legs just did it. Just. I don't get out of the saddle. I was out of the saddle.
And then gorgeousness. The road eases back and back so the climb can be enjoyed at a fluid rhythm with increasing speed and a wealth of 'how's he doin' that'? looks from the tourists. There is one more steepish bit as the road rounds Wind Rock but this is addictive fun and I just wanted to drive on to the top.
The top proves to be rather a long way away. The climbing continues through the sweeping bends until you emerge from the top of the gorge - and the road keeps going up. Not steeply, just up. Now in my view you haven't finished a climb until the road starts going down for a fair distance so up on the top of the Mendips, up with the stone walls and the sheep, you need to turn left at GR495534 to follow the dry valley up to King Down Farm. And then you find you haven't finished. Turn left and the road goes up again, across the farmed uplands until it finally 'tops out' at the tumulus GR504549, but this is very gentle territory.
Enjoyable? Oh yes! That feeling of 'done it', the towering gorge, the open uplands, the smooth tarmac... Time to find another hill - though not that afternoon as my untrained legs could only just get up the stairs! I really must go back and do this one again just to see what it feels like now.
DP
So I went back, more trained. It was easier. The section through Wind Gap is still a short, sharp pull. Ah, that top section through the woods at the top though! Delightfully smooth and fast. I don't think I got near Simon Warren's 13 minutes (OK, I know I didn't) - but the next time I have to do a time on this...
DP
Length 7.4km (to King Down Farm)
Height Gain 198m
Max gradient 1 in 5(ish)
Heading out to the gorge, one sunny day in October, I had no real idea what I was taking on. Would I get up? Would I get close? The last time I'd ridden a road-bike with any purpose had been twenty plus years ago. Still - new bike, new challenge - legs a bit trained from 6 miles each way to work a couple of times a week - give it a go.
Pulling up past the tourist shops at the base of the climb I was rapidly wondering if this was really such a bright idea! The angle isn't that steep, but if this was the base, what was I going to be in for further up. The first bit is though, the hardest. From the shops to the High Rock bend the road rises but allows a rhythm. Then comes the short hard leg burning bend as the road makes the step into the base of the wilder section of the gorge. If my assessment of the OS 1:25,000 map is correct, this is a rise of about 20m in 100m horizontally - 1 in 5, but it's short and my untrained legs just did it. Just. I don't get out of the saddle. I was out of the saddle.
And then gorgeousness. The road eases back and back so the climb can be enjoyed at a fluid rhythm with increasing speed and a wealth of 'how's he doin' that'? looks from the tourists. There is one more steepish bit as the road rounds Wind Rock but this is addictive fun and I just wanted to drive on to the top.
The top proves to be rather a long way away. The climbing continues through the sweeping bends until you emerge from the top of the gorge - and the road keeps going up. Not steeply, just up. Now in my view you haven't finished a climb until the road starts going down for a fair distance so up on the top of the Mendips, up with the stone walls and the sheep, you need to turn left at GR495534 to follow the dry valley up to King Down Farm. And then you find you haven't finished. Turn left and the road goes up again, across the farmed uplands until it finally 'tops out' at the tumulus GR504549, but this is very gentle territory.
Enjoyable? Oh yes! That feeling of 'done it', the towering gorge, the open uplands, the smooth tarmac... Time to find another hill - though not that afternoon as my untrained legs could only just get up the stairs! I really must go back and do this one again just to see what it feels like now.
DP
So I went back, more trained. It was easier. The section through Wind Gap is still a short, sharp pull. Ah, that top section through the woods at the top though! Delightfully smooth and fast. I don't think I got near Simon Warren's 13 minutes (OK, I know I didn't) - but the next time I have to do a time on this...
DP
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