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Cycling Climbs Of Wales by Simon Warren

9
£8.99

VERDICT:

9
10
It's another Festival of Pain from the irrepressible Simon Warren – a practical guide, or simply for browsing/dreaming
Weight: 
184g

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Simon Warren's Strava totals must be astronomical, judging by the pace at which he's delivering his regional guides to his publishers. Right on the wheel of his guide to Yorkshire comes Cycling Climbs of Wales, with every bit as much to enjoy – and fear – as the previous volumes.

For those unfamiliar with the format, each climb takes a double-page, with a colour photograph on the left and the ride description, location map and 'Factfile' on the right. Into the factfile go statistics such as length, height gain (in metres, of course) and a handy OS grid reference. Warren also suggests a climb time, based on his own experiences but, as he says, a lot is down to the weather conditions on the day.

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In Warren's case, weather conditions were pretty horrendous for many of his research trips, judging by the photographs. Also, in his introductory chapter, he describes almost abandoning the job after a tempestuous day on Llantysilio mountain. However, in true Welsh fashion, the sun came out and the rest of the week was spent under clear blue skies.

Cycling Climbs Of Wales by Simon Warren - pages.jpg

Warren admits Wales has too many hill climbs to do full justice, but he's done his best to root out some hidden gems. In my review of the Yorkshire volume, I got into trouble for referring to someone's favourite local hills as 'obscure' so I won't do that, but Warren says even finding some of these hills is a challenge in itself.

Cycling Climbs Of Wales by Simon Warren - pages 2.jpg

The guide is divided into four regional chapters, namely North, Mid, South East and South West Wales. This works fine for Snowdonia and the Clwyds, in particular, but the Brecon Beacons get a bit scattered between chapters. However, Warren is very fair to the south of Wales, where he finds plenty of obscure – er, I mean 'well-hidden' – climbs. I particularly want to ride The Blorenge, near Abergavenny, not only because it's meant to be tougher than The Tumble but because it rhymes with 'orange'. As usual, it's not only the longest climbs that qualify. Constitution Hill, in Swansea, is barely 300m in length but still earns a respectable 4/10.

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In his introductory chapters, Warren describes the search for a hill climb in Wales that would stand alongside his two giants of England and Scotland: respectively, Great Dun Fell and Bealach na Bà. His choice, and you may disagree, is The Stwlan Dam at Blaenau Ffestiniog. Though he awards it only 8/10, he says, 'If this road were situated just north of Dorking, it would need a permanent police present to control the number of riders heading up it...'

Even with 75 climbs included, there are bound to be some that knowledgeable readers will regret are absent, and others they will argue should not be there. That's all part of the fun and perhaps you would like to add yours below.

Verdict

It's another Festival of Pain from the irrepressible Simon Warren – a practical guide, or simply for browsing/dreaming

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Cycling Climbs Of Wales by Simon Warren

Size tested: Paperback

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

This is the second in a series of eight regional guide books from the author of the "100 Greatest Cycling Climbs" series.

From the cover:

Countless incredible climbs span the entire length of Wales; peppered across the exposed peaks of Snowdonia and nestling among the tangled lanes of Denbighshire, reaching across the sparse wilderness of the stunning Brecon Beacons and diving deep into the congestion of the southern Valleys. Climbs such as the Devil' s Staircase, the Horseshoe Pass and Bwlch-Y-Groes are etched into cycling history, and there are many lesser known yet equally amazing ascents out there waiting to be unearthed. With scenery to rival anywhere on Earth and roads so quiet you could hear a pin drop, Wales, under clear blue skies, is cycling heaven.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Published by Frances Lincoln, London

ISBN 9780711237032

Paperback

178 pages

Colour photography

Rate the product for durability:
 
5/10

Attractively bound and printed but not for carrying in your pocket in a Welsh deluge.

Rate the product for value:
 
10/10

Lots of reading and riding, for a pocket-money price.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Inspiring and a fun read.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Better photographs would do the series justice...

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your score

This is a thorough revision and expansion of Warren's Welsh chapters in the 100 Best Climbs books, with masses more to go at. For the amount of work that goes in, and the potential for enjoyment to be taken out either in riding or armchair planning, it's great value.

Overall rating: 9/10

About the tester

Age: 50  Height: 6'2  Weight: 73kg and rising

I usually ride: Cannondale CAAD10   My best bike is:

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: A few times a week  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: touring, sportives, general fitness riding, mountain biking

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6 comments

Avatar
VeloPeo | 7 years ago
0 likes

Only just picked it up 'cos I saw it in the bookshop on Friday - didn't realise it was a new edition.

Pretty good intro to Welsh hills but as mentioned we've got far too many for one book. All the major ones near us are covered but the benefit of local knowledge is knowing where the hidden gems are.

His scoring category scares me though. His 7/10s are my 10/10s  1

Avatar
mostly replied to VeloPeo | 7 years ago
1 like
VeloPeo wrote:

His 7/10s are my 10/10s  1

 

I agree Church Hill destroys me everytime. As said the spelling is dreadful it ruins an otherwise excellent book. 

Avatar
timb27 replied to mostly | 7 years ago
1 like
mostly wrote:

I agree Church Hill destroys me everytime. As said the spelling is dreadful it ruins an otherwise excellent book. 

perhaps if you weren't so keen to liberally sprinkle half a dozen unnecessary consonants into every word... 

Avatar
Simon E replied to timb27 | 7 years ago
0 likes
Spatulala wrote:
mostly wrote:

I agree Church Hill destroys me everytime. As said the spelling is dreadful it ruins an otherwise excellent book. 

perhaps if you weren't so keen to liberally sprinkle half a dozen unnecessary consonants into every word... 

But they're not consonants.

And there's no excuse as the correct spelling is everywhere - on signs, Strava, Google maps etc etc. It's just shoddy.

Avatar
Simon E | 7 years ago
0 likes

Picked this up last week. Very few are covered in his previous 100 Climbs volumes and most are accessible. There are a shocking number of place names spelt wrongly, which is just sloppy.
He does get rather excited about the Stwlan Dam access road, which was for the construction of the reservoir in the 1950s. Since it's tucked away in the hills above Blaenau Ffestiniog it hopefully won't ever get as busy as Box Hill. There are far more than 75 great climbs in Wales but this little book serves as a great starting point.

Avatar
crazy-legs | 7 years ago
0 likes
Quote:

In his introductory chapters, Warren describes the search for a hill climb in Wales that would stand alongside his two giants of England and Scotland: respectively, Great Dun Fell and Bealach na Bà. His choice, and you may disagree, is The Stwlan Dam at Blaenau Ffestiniog.

That climb became well known when it featured in a route in Cyclist Magazine. Not the easiest climb to actually reach (a shed load of climbing just to get to the foot of it) and then it's a dead end road anyway but it's quite nice, very peaceful as it's more or less closed to traffic - it gets the occasional van going up to the reservoir but that's it.

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