Brockley Combe to Bristol Airport

Start: A370 GR: 473668    Finish: Bristol Airport Perimeter Road GR: 496648
Horizontal Distance: 5.9km       Height Gain: 155m

I would guess that most readers will have 'done' Brockley Combe a some stage. Perhaps not this version though. Most will have started from the crossroads on the A370, proceeded up Brockley Combe and Downside Road and finished on the A38 beneath the the airport. And there's the point. There is a variation that finishes above it. Watch out for the little road on your right once you've passed the 16th tee of Tall Pines golf club, it's called Cooks Bridle Path, but in fact it's a perfectly passable road. Follow this and it will take you up to the airport, round the perimeter road then to a sharp right angle bend where the road turns south and you've arrived at the summit.

As you may well know, the section up Brockley Combe and Downside Road isn't too demanding. For sure there's a steady climb but the angle is simple enough. The sting in this route comes on the Cooks Bridle Path section; there's a reasonable bank up past Tall Pines golf club which leads on to another onto the airport perimeter road. The perimeter road itself is perfectly pleasant (and about level) before a dip round past the end of the runway leads on to two final climbs, one pulling up from the right angle bend that takes you back east after passing the runway and and another up to the summit past all the people watching the aeroplanes take off... Why? I guess they're wondering why we're cycling up the hill. But only we get to sail off down to Wrington.

Summary: Perfectly pleasant. Not overly demanding but fairly long with a sting at the end. 

Winford to Dundry via Dundry Lane

Start: In the centre of Winford GR540652    Finish: In Dundry village GR553665
Horizontal distance: 2.4km    Height gain: 120m

The narrow lane up to Dundry is clearly sign-posted from the 6 way junction in the middle of Winford so you can press on knowing that this narrow little road really is the right way!

There seemed to me to be a bit of a climb (brief) near the bottom which doesn't show up on the cross section profile, but in the main the first kilometre out of Winford is pretty easy. Enjoy the tranquility of open farmland - it's hard to believe that you're only a couple of miles from the edge of Bristol. I was visited by a Buzzard. Actually that's not quite true, the Buzzard swept across the front of me and visited something in the field at the side of the road - Buzzard lunch.
Having not been selected from the menu I then got to meet the most courteous of farmers. Seeing me coming up the hill he actually pulled his Land Rover right against (into) the hedge in order to let me get past. A farming cyclist?
If you've looked at this climb on the map you'll have seen the gradient arrow. A house on the right marks the start of the serious ascent which, whilst only averaging 1:10 has a couple of far steeper sections with a 100m or so of something between 1:5 and 1:6 (judged by what I had to do to get up it - i.e. lowest gear and up out of the saddle for a quick burst.
When you can see the radio mast on your left you're up bar for the convex bit at the top. It was short, it was steep and it was so much more pleasant than the climb up to Bristol airport on the A38 that more or less immediately preceded it.

Rating: A really nice little climb. 

Cowslip Green to Bristol Airport

Start: On the A38 at Cowslip Green GR481616      
Finish: Northern Bristol Airport Roundabout GR513654
Horizontal Distance: 5.0km   Height Gain: 155m

The road surface on the A38, north from Churchill lights, is rough and jarring so in may ways slowing down for the hill itself comes as a blessing. As the road has been laid out with an overtaking lane almost all the way up the hill the ever present fast moving traffic isn't too much of an issue - though it does provide a collection of pretty noxious gases to breathe in as you go. Perhaps I was unwise to choose a Monday morning.

Crossing the bridge over the Congresbury Yeo you can see the scale of the hill in front of you. You can't see the road, but you can see the crest of the hill and it's flat up there with an airport on the top so that's where you're going. The first kilometre or so is easy enough, just a gentle grind, but a short steeper section near the right turn for Lye Hole (and the Butcombe brewery) lets you know this isn't going to die easily. This is a short section though and the road again settles into a more affable gradient for 200m or so before you start on the hill proper and settle in to gain 90m in the next kilometre. The gradient does remain pretty constant through this part so can you settle into a rhythm and work on up. Keep your concentration though as the biggest issue is avoiding getting flattened by a speeding vehicle (most were doing over the allowed 50mph this morning according to the speed camera - I wasn't!) as you pick a line that avoids the potholes in the road.
Once through the small village of Redhill the gradient eases back considerably leaving you to finish the pull to the mixed sounds of aircraft and passing traffic. I must say I wish I'd made a 'no busy A roads' rule when selecting the 25 routes! Still - it's an obvious local hill and one that I guess most local cyclists will have done at some point.

Rating: Would be a really nice climb if the surface were better and the traffic was removed from the road. I suggest taking it on about 2am just after someone gets round to re-surfacing it. In the meanwhile, I suggest the recently described route from Wrington to Redhill and then up the lane the other side of the airport as a far more peaceful and less dangerous alternative that runs broadly parallel to this one.
DP