Hill climbing on the Downs
Shere to Box Hill via Ranmore, Westhumble, Betchworth, Brockham, Dorking, Abinger Hammer & Gomshall - 33 miles
OK, so it's cliched and done to death but Box Hill is a climb that every self-respecting cyclist is told they ought to do. I had only previously used my climbing legs in a walking capacity on the iconic mound, some years ago. It's supposed to be over-run with cyclists but on a Friday lunchtime I only saw two riding on the whole stretch!
So what was I expecting and how did it go? Let's start with gradient: I read that it is a reasonable 5% over a span of 2.46km but at it's steepest ramps up to 14.6%. I had heard that it wasn't such a difficult climb and that proved to be the case. Probably the worst bit was the first of the straight sections on the Zig-Zag road (1).
Straight bits 2 & 3 level out a bit and were finer. It was just a question of tapping out a rhythm and getting up to the top.
So Iconic more for its association with events and riders than its difficulty? Had to laugh when I saw that some wag had painted 'WHERE'S CAV?' on the upper section.
Iconic in another sense: I passed the hill top Cafe, the clouds parted and the sun shone down on pretty impressive views south and east.
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| View from the top |
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| and looking East |
But this ride wasn't about one iconic hill!
I'd knocked together a route which started from the pretty village of Shere, just off the A25 and went immediately and sharply up onto the high ridge of Ranmore Common (without much time to warm up the legs!). Once up there, roads were good and the view south worth stopping for.
Ranmore's church is pretty impressive too.
The descent to Betchworth proved to be tricky because of the appalling state of the road surfaces on the south side of Box Hill. Shame the road surface on the way up was immaculate, due to it's use for the Olympic Road Race in 2012. I'm guessing I took the non Olympic route descent!
The return leg was cut shorter due to lack of time. I followed the A25 west at various points back to Shere although I did divert to include the village of Brockham.
Lovely locations, challenging hills and good weather but the overall the ride was marred by some seriously dangerous road surfaces, uneven, broken and hole-ridden. Roads this bad compromise speed and enjoyment and what is depressing is that there are so many. What chance is there of all these being fixed soon?!
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| Brockham - looking towards White Downs |
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| The Route |
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| The Climbs |
