April 2022 – Sheffield Cycling Climbs

Bubnell Lane
Length: 0.54 miles
Avg gradient: 10.6%
Peak gradient: 17.7%
Difficulty: 3/5
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 1/5
Elevation gain: 272ft
Strava

Quiet and picturesque.

Turning off the main road though Baslow, you join Bubnell Lane after crossing the river, and before you reach the beginning of this picturesque climb, you’re gifted a pleasant totter alongside the Derwent. Not long after the river meanders away from the road, you’ll reach the start of the climb, marked by a gate on your left and, up the hill, a farmhouse and stables.

Within the first 0.1 mile, you’re hitting around 8% but you will feel the extra 2% as you ride around the bend in the road. You’ll shortly reach the stables and the switchback: at 17.7%, the steepest section of the climb. It’s a quiet road, so fairly safe to go wide and take a shallower line.

From here, it’s a steady, straight plod to the top, graced by trees on your right and a lovely Derbyshire vista on your left. The gradient fluctuates around 10%, so it’s never too challenging, it just seems long because the top is hidden just around that corner you can see in the distance.

Once you make it round the corner, the top is marked by a footpath post, followed by a speedy descent to Hassop Road and down to Calver.

Pea Royd Lane
Length: 0.72 miles
Avg gradient: 12.5%
Peak gradient: 17.1%
Difficulty: 4/5
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 1/5
Elevation gain: 476ft
Strava

Is it really only 0.72 miles?

Pea Royd Lane is a fairly well known road, having been used for many hill climb races including the National Championships, so I’m sure there are far more authoritative and informative descriptions of this notorious cycle elsewhere on the internet but, since you’re here, make yourself comfortable.

This climb begins before you even get to the start of Pea Royd Lane, requiring you to cycle for 0.2 miles up Hunshelf Road, at a not insignificant 7.7% average. Once you’re past the factories and the view begins to open out over Stocksbridge, you’ll see Croft House on your left and a switchback on your right: the beginning of Pea Royd Lane proper.

In Simon Warren’s 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs he says ‘the surface is terrible and gets worse’ but I think the road must have been resurfaced since then as it’s not too bad now, not that that makes the road any less steep. This section, up to the bridge, involves some of the steepest climbing, with the incline hovering around the upper teens, briefly breaking 20%.

You’re given a short relent crossing the bridge but the hill is soon back to 15-16% on the approach to the next switchback. Take the bend as wide as you can (it is a quiet road but it’s not devoid of all traffic) and grab a look over your shoulder to appreciate how high you have come out of Stocksbridge. You’re now climbing at around 13-14% for 100 metres or so but this is the part I always find hardest as the end is still hiding from view.

The road shallows slightly as you pass a farm before picking right back up as you finally approach the apex, signified by black rocks jutting out of the hillside and which is hiding just around the corner.

Surely it was longer than 0.72 miles, right?