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Sir Chris Hoy draws up ten-strong shortlist of Nation's Perfect Hill - is yours on the list?

Best descents include 2 from Scotland, 2 from Yorkshire, 6 from Southern half of England - but Wales misses out

You may recall that back in May we reported that Sir Chris Hoy had launched a search for the Nation’s Perfect Hill to Ride Down – well, the nominations are in and a shortlist of ten has been drawn up, including Arthur’s Seat in the four time Olympic champion’s home city, Edinburgh, and Ralph Allen Drive in road.cc’s own home town, Bath.

Sir Chris and fellow judges including Etain O’Carroll, editor of the Lonely Planet Cycling Guide, whittled down the final ten candidates from hundreds of nominations that had been received under the initiative, which was launched to tie in with this year’s Sky Ride programme.

The accompanying gallery of images shows each descent in all its glory - anyone familiar with Edinburgh will point out that Salisbury Crags is actually shown in the picture from there, but technically it is a spur of Arthur's Seat, so that's why it's there.

Factors influencing whether a descent made the shortlist included its historical significance, the view from the top and the actual route.
Besides Arthur’s Seat, Scotland is represented in the list by the Rest and Be Thankful road, also known as the A83 west of Loch Lomond, which gives stunning views across the Highlands.

Another descent close to road.cc’s heart that makes the list is Cheddar Gorge here in Somerset, while in Southern England, Silver Street in Lyme Regis, Hampshire’s Winchester Hill and Ham Common in Richmond-upon-Thames all feature, as does Newlands Corner near Guildford.

That leaves just two more spots in the top ten to be filled, and both those descents are in Yorkshire – Holme Moss and Blackstone Edge.
While many will be delighted to find their own favourite descent has made the list, there is bound to be disappointment in some quarters, not least in the North West and also in Wales, which doesn’t have a single descent featured.

So, what are your thoughts on the top ten? Did your favourite descent miss the list? And of the ten that do feature, which one do you think will prove the most worthy winner once the decision has been made? Let us know in the comments below.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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39 comments

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brucec | 12 years ago
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One of my favourite descents is on the A894 between Loch Assynt and Kylesku - it reminded me of the Alps and has great views.

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Rob 105 rider replied to bashthebox | 12 years ago
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Silver st in Lyme is a great climb and the views across the bay are spectacular. Desending this one is dangerous, Lyme Regis is my home town although I live in Salisbury now. I agree that there are many other desents nearby on lanes that are safer and better with less traffic. Dropping down to Axmouth and and Colyton are ace with nice nice country pubs to stop off at at the bottom!

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armchairbiker | 12 years ago
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I love it that Wales have zero entries. Surely Chris knew he was going to get a response with that omission.

Lake Vyrnwy / Bala loop has two great climbs/descents in one go.

Otherwise someone was taking the mick putting in Richmond park....

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cllr hodgen | 12 years ago
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Luckily living in the lakes has it's perks! Kirkstone is superb, you can easily hit 60mph down then when the wind is behind you, and as mentioned already, you often have clear view of the road ahead so as long as you're "careful" it's no problem!

Whinlatter down to Lorton is good, and also Wrynose into little langdale, but the best two to try next time are: Kirkstone backwards, either get up the struggle from Ambleside or from patterdale side past brothers water to the top and head down to troutbeck, really long (Fred folk will know this from biking up it!) and puts a smile on your face as it's a sit back and relax descent! Buttermere over Newlands and then the superb LONG LONG descent back down to Keswick (or the foot of Whinlatter Pass)... maybe see you out on the road!

Hodgy.

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whizzkid | 12 years ago
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Mmmmm.... Ralph Allen, not sure what sets that apart from other descents in Bath and the surrounding area, maybe I'd better go and have another look and see if I become a convert...

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spikes | 12 years ago
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Well what about Llanberis Pass, the climb starts from Nant Peris for a couple of miles up to the Pen y pass youth hotel always a good ride with great scenery,either freewheel all the way down the pass back to Llanberis or go down hill through Nant Gwynant to Beddgelert, another popular ride with us locals. :

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dave atkinson replied to whizzkid | 12 years ago
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whizzkid wrote:

Mmmmm.... Ralph Allen, not sure what sets that apart from other descents in Bath

the shiny new surface! have a go while it's still fresh. great fun  1

but no, i'm not sure why that one over a bunch of others. you don't even get a great view, you're mostly in the trees. Not like Lansdown Lane where the whole of Bath is laid bare before you...

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WolfieSmith | 12 years ago
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The NW keeping quiet about our best roads? Absolutely. It's bad enough having to share the Trough of Bowland with motorbikes without legions of soft southern, fair weather sportive riders turning up to bray about Cervelo, electronic shifters and whether they can get a through train from Kendal to Kings Cross.

It's all wool shorts, flat caps and lonely roads up here and that's the way we want it to stay.

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killing-joker replied to dandan | 12 years ago
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rather than Ham Common, which is very flat, he must mean Star and Garter Hill next to Richmond Park

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