Tag: road

Armthorpe Road

  • Armthorpe Road
  • Length: 661 feet
  • Avg gradient: 8.7%   Peak gradient: 11.6%
  • Difficulty: 1/5 (it’s steep but very short)
  • Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 2/5
  • Strava:  So short that it doesn’t even have its own segment.  How sad.

Armthorpe Road is a fairly innocuous hill climb in that the only reason that you’d ever find it is if you know someone who lives there.  The road itself just loops around, beginning and ending on Hangingwater Road but it’s a short sharp shock.  I once did a long and hilly Peak District ride, thought I’d do Armthorpe Road as I was passing on my way home, and it turned out to be the most challenging of the day.

Start by the red house on the corner and head full pelt into this quiet, residential street.  It’s not a long hill so you don’t need to keep any reserves but you’ll find that the incline picks up immediately, hitting 9.4% at the junction with Bramwith Road.  This is where the hill gets tough, though.

The road bends sharply to the left and, ideally, you’d be able to move over to the right hand side to reduce the impact of the 11.6% turn but it’s a blind bend and you’ve no idea if there’s a car coming so you’ll need to stay left.  Once you’re around that corner the gradient eases off as a high stone wall appears on your right.  Catch your breath and roll back round to rejoin Hangingwater Road.

Ringinglow Road

  • Ringinglow Road (from Bents Green)
  • Length: 2.09 miles
  • Avg gradient: 5%   Peak gradient: 10.6%
  • Difficulty: 3/5
  • Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 3/5 (It’s a 50/50 on driver attitude, despite plenty of available passing space).
  • Strava

Ringinglow Road is a steady gateway into the Peak District.  Leaving the suburbs of Bents Green behind, you’ll soon find yourself atop the world, on the edge of some of the most beautiful scenery in the country.  While Ringinglow Road can feel a bit of a slog, with it’s arrow straight direction, each turn of the crank gets you closer to some stunning countryside (and extremely fun descents).  Keep that in mind and you’ll be at the top in no time.

Starting at the junction of Common Lane, Ringinglow Road stretches ahead, well into the distance.  Never appearing too steep, it does have a couple of sneaky lumps waiting for you.  The hill’s first, tree-lined, half mile isn’t too strenuous, rarely touching 5% but just as the trees give way to reveal rolling countryside and you pass some farmhouses, a couple of cheeky spikes appear doing their best to pull up the average gradient.

The road briefly flattens out at Hangram Lane (which is a speedy descent) giving you a moment to recharge your legs and power on to the one mile mark and The Norfolk Arms pub.  Ignore the turnings and head straight on.  Once you’ve tackled a short 10.9% section you’ll soon be crossing into the Peak Distrct, marked by an iconic millstone.  From here it’s a steady slog upwards with the Lady Cannings Plantation on your left and ever more sprawling moorland on your right. Shortly passing the byway to Houndkirk Moor (and Lady Cannings’ MTB trails) and you’re at the top of the segment.

A little further on and you are presented with the glorious sight of Stanage Edge (above) in the distance and a couple of very enjoyable options downhill into Hathersage.

Hagg Hill

  • Hagg Hill, Sheffield
  • Length: 0.17 miles
  • Avg gradient: 19%   Peak gradient: 24%
  • Difficulty: 4/5
  • Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 1/5 (not as bad as it could be but only because they’re struggling just as much as you).
  • Strava

Hagg Hill isn’t one of the headline climbs around Sheffield and the Peak District but it was my first introduction to Sheffield’s hills when I moved north in 2011.  I used to struggle to get up Hagg Hill in my car, it’s even more challenging on a bike.

Hagg Hill is not a long climb at all but it is very steep and unforgiving from the start.  To date, I’ve only ridden it four times and only once managed to do so without stopping. It also features as one of the climbs in the annual Magnificent 7 hill climb competition.

You need to turn onto Hagg Hill from Rivelin Road, a blind 90 degree turn, which results in you losing any speed you may have had.  From there on it’s just up, up, up.  It’s only real redemptive point is that there’s no hidden summit, you can see the top of the hill from the outset.  Beginning at a relatively forgiving 14% you just need to drop into a low gear and grind, although you’d be wise to hold a gear in the bank for when the road peaks out at 24%, towards the end.

The gradient continues to increase as you cycle past the allotments, before there is a tiny (so small it doesn’t even register on the Strava segment) relent about 3/4 of the way up.  Use that brief respite to catch your breath before tackling the final spike of 24% and reaching Bole Hill Road.

Well done, you’ve just done one of the hardest climbs in Sheffield!

Any sense of achievement, however, is slightly tempered by the fact that, if you’re heading towards Crosspool, you’ve actually only done about a third of the climbing.  We’ll save Bole Hill Road / Back Lane for another time though.