Start: GR452545 at the junction of the A371 and B3135 Finish GR: 446563
Length: 1900m Height Gain: 140m Max gradient 1:8
Not to be confused with Shipham Lane which rises to Shipham out of Winscombe...
Shipham Road isn't the steepest of climbs, but it's long enough to notice and the gradient places demands on the legs all the way. From the moment you start northwards from the A371 you know you're climbing, gently at first, but the angle changes after about 400m and there is no real respite from here to the top. A slight right bend takes you into a dark wooded valley where the trees overhang the road and you set about gaining 25m in the next 200m of road. Through this and there is a brief easing past the quarry entrances before the angle returns for another 500m until a left bend at the end of the straight.
That's the thing with Shipham Road - it rises as a sequence of straights, each time you round one of the low angle bends you can see the next ribbon of road banked up before you. Much quieter than the A38 up Shute Shelve, and only 3km east of that route, this has to be the way over the Mendips in this section. Beyond the top there is a short, sharp dip down to Shipham followed by another rise - but if you fly down past Lillypool Farm fast enough, that one's easy!
Rating: Good grind. Recommended for inclusion in a longer day's cycling.
DP
Length: 1900m Height Gain: 140m Max gradient 1:8
Not to be confused with Shipham Lane which rises to Shipham out of Winscombe...
Shipham Road isn't the steepest of climbs, but it's long enough to notice and the gradient places demands on the legs all the way. From the moment you start northwards from the A371 you know you're climbing, gently at first, but the angle changes after about 400m and there is no real respite from here to the top. A slight right bend takes you into a dark wooded valley where the trees overhang the road and you set about gaining 25m in the next 200m of road. Through this and there is a brief easing past the quarry entrances before the angle returns for another 500m until a left bend at the end of the straight.
That's the thing with Shipham Road - it rises as a sequence of straights, each time you round one of the low angle bends you can see the next ribbon of road banked up before you. Much quieter than the A38 up Shute Shelve, and only 3km east of that route, this has to be the way over the Mendips in this section. Beyond the top there is a short, sharp dip down to Shipham followed by another rise - but if you fly down past Lillypool Farm fast enough, that one's easy!
Rating: Good grind. Recommended for inclusion in a longer day's cycling.
DP
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