At this point I divert my attention from the effort by seeking out the scenery over to the left towards Swinham Wood to pass the ever lengthening time as I make my way towards the tree line that promises – but doesn’t quite deliver – an end to the climb. Cycling event organisers that take the rider up this brow sometimes place encouraging signs – or should that be gently mocking ones? – to let you know that you’re not quite there yet. Satisfying views over to the right now beyond Mount Ferrant Farm towards Leavening provide a very welcome distraction.

At the crossroads that mark the end of the climb you may carry on towards Garrowby Hill or turn right to drop in to Leavening. My preference – in part because when it’s open on a Sunday there is the excellent Village Hall cafe – is to turn left for a well-deserved reward that offers plenty of time to forget about the pain of climbing Birdsall Brow as I coast along the sublime Water Dale road in to Thixendale.

View Birdsall Brow segment in Strava

A route from Hull taking in a number of Yorkshire Wolds hill climbs including Birdsall Brow (based on the Big G Cyclosportive). View the route in Garmin Connect or Strava

Fantastic area for cycling! That climb out of Birdsall never gets any easier.

— Paul Cromack (@CromackPaul) June 15, 2020

Related post: Shorter Loops | Sledmere and Thixendale from Pocklington

It’s also a useful route to avoid travelling along busier roads in the direction of Market Weighton. It is, however, worth repeating my warning made elsewhere that this particular crossing of the A1079 is not made legitimate, for want of a better phrase, by the ‘Cyclists Crossing’ signs of the sort either side of the Arras Hill crossroads further west along this main road between Beverley and York.

Riders new to this climb might be surprised to see a stretch of briefly glimpsed horizon disappear momentarily as they sink in to the little dip part way up Stoneknowle Hill – perhaps needing to drop in to a lower gear for a few pedal strokes. On Strava I find myself just outside the top third for this hill’s segment. I’m not too fussed as the views over the shoulder to the right are a pleasant distraction from any huffing and puffing.

For those determined to follow the official off-road section of the Yorkshire Wolds Cycle Route that veers off to the west on Stoneknowle Hill there are ample signs as you approach the shallow summit of the climb to point you in the right direction.

If you’re on a twitchy road bike – or indeed your pennyfarthing – you might prefer to carry on and negotiate the staggered crossroads when you meet the A1079. Just proceed with caution.

So if you are simply looking for a short, manageable climb to include in a ride around the southern Wolds – and especially if you are a big fan of wind turbines – then Stoneknowle Hill offers something for you.

The topmost loop from North Newbald, shown below, crosses the A1079 at two points to take in Stoneknowle Hill (northwards) and Kiplingcotes Lane (southwards) in an anti-clockwise direction. The circuitous route was ridden to also take in both Trundlegate and Brantingham Dale.

Follow the route on Garmin Connect (no need to log in) or view the segment ‘Stoneknowle Hill’ on Strava.

The category ‘ Cycling Climbs ‘ is prompted by the excellent article ‘Hill Climbs on the Yorkshire Wolds’ written by Roger England and first published in the Winter 2010/2011 edition of the ‘Woldsman’ magazine. Five of the climbs that will be detailed are also contained in Simon Warren’s ‘Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire: A Road Cyclist’s Guide‘, which is highly recommended.

Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire – A Road Cyclist’s Guide, by Simon Warren

Simon Warren describes a ride towards Askrigg (# 46 Oxnop Scar) that I haven’t done, but would like to. According to Warren this climb has a height gain of 243 metres. The Harkerside road from Grinton goes from about 186 metres to 541 at its peak. Even if you start counting at Low Witta (about 220 metres) the climb to the top, and the cattle grid shown below, is well over 300 metres of height gained, with more false summits than I can remember, and no fewer than seven Ordnance Survey chevrons pointing at the wearying cyclist. The chap in the B&B in Askrigg told me that drivers’ Sat Nav systems sometimes send them along this narrow road. I wouldn’t fancy driving it, but how long will we have to wait before 100 More Greatest Cycling Climbs I wonder…?

Well I got the follow-up title wrong (the sequel was to be ‘Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs‘) and the climb didn’t make the cut, but that oversight is remedied in ‘Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire: A Road Cyclist’s Guide‘, the latest publication in this popular series.

(By the way, if you get the chance, do take the road between Grinton and Askrigg – it’s called Fleak Moss – as part of a loop from Askrigg or somewhere in Wensleydale; you can hardly go wrong in this my favourite part of Yorkshire for cycling, walking or maybe just sitting in front of that open fire with a cheeky pint.)

But perhaps – for this East Riding cyclist anyway – the greatest oversight in the first two volumes of the original books is the poor showing of the Yorkshire Wolds; only one climb (4/10) gets a mention as that area’s sole representation in the second volume. Hanging Grimston, despite being categorised as being in the ‘East Riding’, is actually over the border – the physical separation that is Salamanca Beck – in North Yorkshire, so is not even an ascent those of us in East Yorkshire can claim as our own. More on East and North Yorkshire later…

However, despite not one hill scoring more than 5/10 no fewer than seven out of the 75 climbs in this second regional guide (the first was ‘Cycling Climbs of South-East England‘) are within the Yorkshire Wolds. Anyone who as ever ridden an established sportive in East Yorkshire will most likely have gone up Nunburnholme Hill. Each year on event photographers’ web sites there will be some poor soul captured – mercifully in the distance and therefore fuzzily out of focus – wheeling their bike up beyond the final push. Let’s hope they don’t have the energy to read through the pages of ‘Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire‘ as this nemesis of over-geared and out-of-condition road cyclists in East Yorkshire scores a modest 2/10 according to Simon Warren.

But the lowest rating of 1/10 is reserved for Brantingham Dale. On a good day I get up on a 39T chain ring (that’s the middle one of my triple – the inner one on my road bike is a reassuringly forgiving 34T) but I have suffered the ignominy of being overtaken by a young bloke going up on the big ring. So perhaps I shouldn’t grumble about that apparent low-scoring slight.

Apologies for dwelling so much on the Yorkshire Wolds. And the Dales and Moors. It’s just that I can’t comment specifically on the hills of South and West Yorkshire. For me there is a world of difference between taking in the vistas of the Dales, Moors & Wolds and humping your bike past somebody’s kitchen window in Huddersfield or Sheffield or somewhere like that. Nevertheless, there is clearly a demand for this kind of stuff among list ticking roadies out there and not just those trying to “Ride Them All“.

Riders on the Wolds 123 Sportive: Thrussendale Road, Acklam, in the Yorkshire Wolds. Image courtesy of Adie Turford

However, if you had to be scrupulously impartial and include these Yorkshire cycling climbs based on some sort of inflexible measure it’s likely the Yorkshire Wolds would struggle to make the grade. For instance, some of the climbs out of Grosmont and Egton Bridge are stiffer and longer than almost anything the Wolds has to offer.

The climb out of Egton Bridge towards Egton, with one of the roads in to the village visible in the background. Neither features in Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire

The book follows the now familiar formula of a double page spread for each climb – used in earlier volumes for perhaps a third of the climbs – with one page bearing a photograph and the climb’s rating, and the other page containing a brief overview and including an even briefer fact file along with a map, grid reference, length, height gain and approx. climb time. All the entries carry a graphic of the climb’s profile detailing particular points of interest – such as cattle grids, cobbles, hairpin bends etc. – that were presumably excluded for some climbs in previous books for reasons of space. There is also the tick list at the back, but it does not provide a page reference or other system to avoid flicking through the book to find the entry you want.

Safely round the hairpin on Rosedale Chimney. In ‘East Yorkshire’

It’s interesting to compare this book with James Allen’s ‘50 Classic Cycle Climbs: Yorkshire & Peak District‘. Although that book takes a different approach both authors conclude that Trooper Lane in Halifax is worthy of the grading 10/10. What’s notable is that it doesn’t feature in Simon Warren’s work until this third opportunity. That’s the difference of local knowledge, I suppose. They also agree on the maximum score for Caper Hill/Glaisdale Head, but James Allen gives the infamous Rosedale Chimney ‘only’ 9.5/10 compared to Simon Warren’s 10/10. It’s also a relief that since ‘100 Greatest Cycling Climbs‘ was released this latest publication upgrades Boltby Bank/Sneck Yate Bank from 7/10 to 8/10. That’s still short of the grade given in ‘50 Classic Climbs‘; James Allen gives it 10/10. (For what it’s worth – and in my humble opinion – I found Boltby Bank harder going than Rosedale Chimney.)

A hapless East Yorkshire cyclist grinds up Buttertubs Pass on a cold day one April. Despite the ‘iconic’ images during stage one of the Tour de France 2014, the southern ascent doesn’t get a separate listing in any of Simon Warren’s Cycling Climbs books. Image courtesy of Dave Barter

So, if you’re a cyclist in Yorkshire and like climbing hills you will be needing a copy of this book. Further summary points:

• Despite the first two volumes having the climbs numbered from 1 to 200, ‘Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire‘ does not employ any sort of numbering system, and has no index for ease of use.
• As in previous editions no cyclists appear in the photographs of the hills. I’d prefer it if they did, at least occasionally and to give some sort of perspective, but I can understand why for the sake of consistency none is included.
• Simon Warren’s definition of ‘East Yorkshire’, in order to separate the areas of Yorkshire in to four convenient sections of his book, lumps the likes of North Yorkshire climbs Caper Hill and Rosedale Chimney in to this handy geographical construct, but may well upset some purists. The reasoning is given as part of the introduction, but I would have thought ‘Moors & Wolds’, ‘Dales & Surroundings’, oh… maybe not. It just doesn’t sit right. Never mind.
• There are only 75 climbs! Surely there are 100 challenging climbs in Yorkshire. To some extent we’re back to arguments that came about after the publication of the first book, but could it be that other books in the regional guides cannot support that number of worthy climbs? I don’t know. Anyway, the book is highly recommended.

A version of this review first appeared on the web site CycleSeven.org, which is no longer online.

Burdale is one of those short, punchy climbs you face as the East Riding of Yorkshire gives way to North Yorkshire and one that the producers asked eighty-five-year-old Brian to take on for their TV advertisement. It was also the toughest hill among those encountered on the Big Skies Bike Rides – until Stamford Bridge was given its own ‘ Western Wolds Bike Ride ‘.

Here’s what John Woodcock, for the Yorkshire Post, wrote about this part of ‘Thixendale from Malton or Norton on Derwent’:

A couple of miles on you start pedalling back to Malton. That is you would if you were of Tour de France standard. At this point most average cyclists will have to dismount and push the bike up to the plateau above the remains of the medieval village of Wharram Percy.

I could have sworn that my fastest ascent would have been the time we were chased up the hill by an enormous tractor – its ballooning tyres never far behind the last-placed rider – me – as we made our way to coffee and cake in Sledmere. No, my ‘PR’ for ‘burdale climb’ currently places me at 1167/2447 which I recorded on the way to scrape a ‘Silver’ time on the 150km Big G Cyclosportive back in 2016. (Needless to say the effort meant I blew up on Birdsall Brow when just about everyone overtook me again.)

https://www.strava.com/segments/18272851

It may not be the most testing of climbs, but the views from around Wharram are a delightful reward for getting over the top of this gravelly, twisting ascent. And as you take the big right bend near the top spare a moment to check out where you’ve come from. Such a lovely, unspoilt view.

Francis takes on Burdale during his first 100 mile ride

If, having conquered Burdale, you would prefer to avoid the occasionally busy B1248 there is an off-road route starting at a bend and not long before the main road to which it runs parallel. It is literally sign-posted by a Yorkshire Wolds Way marker (see photograph below). I’ve ridden it once. From memory it’s a bit stony and I would imagine it would be rather squelchy in parts after a downpour, but it’s there as an option. Just keep an eye out for the end of the track and the point at which you will pop out of a hedge and on to the minor road that takes you towards Grimston.

A loop of around 30 miles from Sledmere that includes Burdale:

Check out this ride on Garmin Connect or Strava.

The category ‘ Cycling Climbs ‘ is prompted by the excellent article ‘Hill Climbs on the Yorkshire Wolds’ written by Roger England and first published in the Winter 2010/2011 edition of the ‘Woldsman’ magazine. Five of the climbs that will be detailed are also contained in Simon Warren’s ‘Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire: A Road Cyclist’s Guide‘, which is highly recommended.

I wasn’t there later on, but towards the end of the ride – along the twisting, tree-lined ascent of Brantingham Dale – it turned out no-one was responding to Jeffery’s chit-chat as he tapped away along Dale Road. He looked around. Jeffery was genuinely surprised that his new-found companions were nowhere to be seen. I do hope those cyclists weren’t disheartened, but Jeffery had overlooked just how fit the grizzled cycle tourist can be compared to the beginner cyclist. Although it is no alpine climb Brantingham Dale can be a bit of a shock for the unprepared cyclist.

I was delighted to see Brantingham Dale included in Simon Warren’s ‘Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire: A Road Cyclist’s Guide’. It just sneaks in with a score of 1/10. There are countless hills in Yorkshire that could lay claim to a place in this excellent little book ahead of Brantingham but Warren, who went to art school in nearby Hull, recognised the worth of this genuine tester. I’ve had ride buddies grind to a halt after being over-confident on the earlier, gentle incline only to blow up on one of the later ramps. I’ve also had a young fellow wordlessly pass me by on the big ring as I grunted my way up. When Warren’s regional guide to Yorkshire climbs was released one online reviewer dismissed Brantingham Dale and other minor climbs in ‘Humberside’ as “obscure”. (The same reviewer – wrongly – proclaimed that the publication outlined the Buttertubs Pass climb taken in by the 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart. He was confusing north with south, so what does he know, eh?)

Certainly the early gradient of Brantingham Dale is not so testing, but – almost imperceptibly – the road gradually steepens and before long I find myself searching for a lower gear – and another – as I round a bend and find there is still another ramp and bend to tackle. The heavily leafed trees in summertime – and my slackening pace towards the summit – mean my Garmin device occasionally auto-pauses as I grind my way up this otherwise satisfying Yorkshire Wolds climb.

Somehow I find myself in the top quarter of the Strava leaderboard for the ‘Brantingham Full’ segment – I think I had a tailwind on that occasion – with my only sub-ten minute ascent to date. Simon Warren reckons that eight minutes is the time we should be aiming for. It’s a good job the views are a welcome distraction for those of us who routinely take a while longer.

https://www.strava.com/segments/7025802

A 25-mile lumpy loop that takes in Brantingham Dale (and Trundlegate) from Welton:

Check out this ride on Garmin Connect or Strava.

The category ‘ Cycling Climbs ‘ is prompted by the excellent article ‘Hill Climbs on the Yorkshire Wolds’ written by Roger England and first published in the Winter 2010/2011 edition of the ‘Woldsman’ magazine. Five of the climbs that will be detailed are also contained in Simon Warren’s ‘Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire: A Road Cyclist’s Guide‘, which is highly recommended.

Thankfully, my road bike has a relatively forgiving 30T largest sprocket on the cassette. In the 80s, however, I spent the not inconsiderable sum of £375 on a Raleigh Road Ace from Cliff Pratt’s in Hull. What was I thinking? The bike came with the then standard 52/42 chainset and at the back was a six-speed 13 to 21 cassette. It was a blip, perhaps even an expensive fad; the 52 chainring is still in virtually pristine condition. I bring up all of this cycling nostalgia as the no-compromise gearing and de rigueur stainless steel toe clips and tightly fastened Sturmey Archer toe straps combined to bring about my only defeat so far on a Yorkshire Wolds hill climb: Trundlegate.

Rising gently out of South Newbald Trundlegate doesn’t on the face of it appear to be much of a challenge. But then there is the right-hand bend and a slight ramping of the gradient that always seems to sap me of energy and any remaining momentum. It doesn’t help that I’m almost always going up Trundlegate towards the end of a longish ride. But even when I’m relatively fresh I’ve never gone quicker than 6:17 on this mile or so 5% climb since getting my Garmin 200 a few years ago. Yes, I really should know better than to look at the stats on Strava (FYI I’m currently 1043/3576 – not that it’s a competition or anything), but the KoM has posted a time at around half of my own.

I don’t know how fast (or slow) I was going up Trundlegate that time on my Raleigh Road Ace before the ride was punctuated by my disastrous fall – in those days Strava existed only as a way some of us locals would pronounce the word ‘striver’ – I certainly didn’t have time to reach down and unbuckle a strap before keeling over in slow motion on to the roadside verge. (I would later fit a whopping 24T on the Uniglide cassette freehub.)

When it was announced that Simon Warren was to release a Yorkshire edition in his Greatest Climbs series I wondered whether Trundlegate would make the relatively tame grade. It didn’t – that modest 1/10 rating was taken by Brantingham Dale – but it remains a testing little hill all the same.

Perhaps I shall rage against the dying of the light and try to go under six minutes – maybe even scaling the giddy heights of the top 1000 league table – one day before it is too late. But I doubt it will be on a 42T chainring.

Check out the segment ‘Trundlegate full’ on Strava

Big Skies Bike Ride from Beverley – with a twist

The category ‘ Cycling Climbs ‘ is prompted by the excellent article ‘Hill Climbs on the Yorkshire Wolds’ written by Roger England and first published in the Winter 2010/2011 edition of the ‘Woldsman’ magazine. Five of the climbs that will be detailed are also contained in Simon Warren’s ‘Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire: A Road Cyclist’s Guide‘, which is highly recommended.

Writing in Cycling Active, Maria David rode a variation of the original route that avoided backtracking on Middlehow Road to Walkington instead returning to Beverley along Walkington Heads to make a loop of it.

So, that’s three versions of a ride from Beverley to North Newbald and back. Here’s a fourth – with a twist…

During the summer I rode to Beverley and set off from the street behind Café Velo and went out towards the Westwood. (The official route favours the minster as a start point, but I was feeling a little fragile and needed a caffeinated pick-me-up first.) Cars are usually packed tightly in to the available spaces along these narrow residential streets, although there are gaps to nip in to on the way to the Westwood. Once over the cattle grid at the old gatekeeper’s cottage the road widens and the speed limit increases to 40mph, a rate at which I rarely drive here, especially when there are cyclists about – and cows – as the road is not particularly wide.

A right turn follows at the T junction where there is the option of taking the shared use cycle path (just watch the cattle grid as you leave the Westwood) in to and partly through Walkington where another right turn at the Dog and Duck pub takes you north before a left turn and a back road broadly parallel to the B1230. Middlehowe Road is normally a very pleasant, smoothly surfaced road that rises gradually to the crossroads at Wold Road. (At this stage I should probably mention that the Garmin Connect link at the bottom of this post allows you to press a Start button and follow the route via online mapping in conjunction with my directions.)

Now, the official Big Skies Bike Rides route has you cycling on over the crossroads, but I prefer a right turn – either way caution: the sightlines to the left are not great – then a quick tap to the next T junction. Turn left and enjoy pleasant riding – mostly downhill – and views on the way in to North Newbald along Walkington Heads. Whether or not you can resist either of the pubs here – the route takes you between both – there is a left turn just before the church and on through South Newbald.

Trundlegate is rather hidden away – a left turn on a right-hand bend – and before the houses at the bottom of this hill are behind me I’m dropping down through the gears – hopefully reserving two or three for the steeper bit – as I try, though usually fail, to keep the momentum going on the way to the gradual right-hand bend on this locally infamous ascent.

With Trundlegate – and Whin Lane – now behind I go over the crossroads on to Little Wood Lane and make my way back along the lumpy road to that crossroads with Wold Road again. I’m not normally one for retracing my route, but here I turn left along this occasionally busy road and then when I reach that T junction for the second time turn right towards Beverley along Walkington Heads.

This is another road that carries a fair bit of traffic at the busier times I try to avoid, but I enjoy the swift downhill ride – which I personally prefer to the option of riding the same road uphill – to the crossroads at Coppleflat Lane and on towards Beverley along Newbald Road that takes you over the other side of the Westwood. Nearly back now and a right turn on to the A1174 towards the traffic lights at North Bar Without which I pass through on the way back to the centre of Beverley, specifically Café Velo again in my case for post-ride sustenance.

NB – if you didn’t fancy the sometimes busy roads travelled after reaching the Wolds Road crossroads as you headed east earlier, you could return along Middlehow Road to Walkington picking up that quiet outbound lane and ultimately retracing the original route. But if you feel confident I think my offering is an enjoyable and rewarding figure 8 variation of the ‘Big Skies Bike Rides: North Newbald and back from Beverley’ – with a twist.

Key features of this figure 8-on-its-side variation:

One passing of the gentle uphill, normally quiet road out of Walkington
(and the short-cut option of a right turn at the T junction with Wold Road and Walkington Heads)
Enjoyable descent west in to North Newbald along Walkington Heads
The ascent of Trundlegate
Downhill back in the direction of Walkington along Little Wood Lane
Downhill east along (the occasionally busy) Walkington Heads back to Beverley
Did I mention Café Velo at the end?

Check out this ride on Garmin Connect or Strava.