Rob Ainsley sets out to conquer the nation’s highest six tarmac roads in the wild North Pennine fells <\/p>

Height matters. When we were children, our dad measured us with chalk on the garage wall each birthday. Tall was good. An aspiration. An asset.<\/p>

Every American presidential contest has been won by the loftier man, it\u2019s said (it’s not true, apparently, but it says something that it\u2019s believed).<\/p>

So it is with road cycling. Summits define many routes \u2013 and the more altitude, the better.<\/p>

Britain has nothing as aerial as the highest roads in Europe. No 2,000-metre passes, no Col de la Bonette, Grossglockner or Pico Veleta.<\/p>

The highest domestic asphalt you can ride on goes up to the Great Dun Fell air-traffic radar station in Cumbria, which sits at 850m \/ 2,789ft (higher than anything paved in Scotland, surprisingly).<\/p>

It\u2019s closed to public motor traffic but, being a bridleway, you can cycle it. Many do.<\/p>

But at the top \u2013 unless you continue on rough-stuff tracks \u2013 you have to turn round and whizz back down. It\u2019s one heck of a whizz, though.<\/p>

The Pennines south of Harthope \u2013 don\u2019t worry, there\u2019s a nice pub down there somewhere. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
However\u2026 nearby, between Weardale and Teesdale in County Durham, clambering between fells that resemble a pod of humpback whales, are England\u2019s six highest cyclable through-roads.<\/p>
Map-gazing one day, I realised they made a satisfying, challenging day trip. The country\u2019s roofiest summits, bagged in one go.<\/p>
Which is the the very top? Sources disagree \u2013 some maintain it\u2019s the A689 outside Nenthead.<\/p>
Others insist it\u2019s Chapel Fell at Harthope. Bloggers cite conflicting handlebar GPS data.<\/p>
So what is the truth? Which is England\u2019s highest road pass? I rode the top six one summer day to find out for sure, armed with Ordnance Survey evidence. Here\u2019s what happened\u2026<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit A: Newbiggin to Westgate at Swinhope<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 609m \/ 1,998ft (joint 3rd highest road)<\/p>**
$\"Road$
The French mark summits with monuments. We mark ours, like Swinhope Head, with cattle grids. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
I cycle west across moorland from Bishop Auckland train station. It\u2019s grouse season.<\/p>
I head past the shooters, then through the pleasant centre of market-town Middleton.<\/p>
I refuel at a pavement-table cafe and continue up the valley to Langdon Beck Youth Hostel \u2013 \u00a312 for a dorm bed. It\u2019s remote here: Hexham\u2019s Waitrose is 31 miles away.<\/p>
Upper Teesdale feels unfamiliar. There’s no sign of any hamlets or villages, only isolated white farmsteads speckling vast, sparse, grey-green fellsides.<\/p>
It could be rural Norway, or the Faroes. Cronkley Scar, the Uluru-like northern extremity of ceremonial Yorkshire, glows bronze in the sunset.<\/p>
In Langdon Beck\u2019s pub \u2013 hard to miss, there\u2019s little else \u2013 the farmers are talking about a stolen quad bike.<\/p>
They think they know the culprit thanks to the tyre tracks, which take a path only known to locals.<\/p>
Next morning is clear and chilly at England\u2019s highest youth hostel. The first peak to tick off is the old drove road between Newbiggin and Westgate.<\/p>
I outnumber motor traffic all by myself, climbing steadily up this narrow tarmac strip. It\u2019s crowded with gormless sheep though, and fertilised lavishly with poo.<\/p>
Perhaps they\u2019re stray descendants of those first drove flocks. <\/p>
Up top, I get the first of my succession of celestial views: gaunt Teesdale down behind me; the more upholstered Weardale in front.<\/p>
The whoosh down is fast and unsheeped. There\u2019s a house halfway. Fancy living out there.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit B: Chapel Fell at Harthope<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 626m \/ 2,054ft (highest road)<\/p>**
$\"Cyclist$
Rob checks the map at Harthope summit. Yes, it says it\u2019s 2,054ft \/ 626m, whatever the GPS thinks. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
From the rugged Weardale-bottom village of St John\u2019s Chapel, a road lumbers right back up and over to Teesdale again. It\u2019s the main connection between these dales.<\/p>
A sign at the bottom says \u2018CYCLISTS: This route is liable to poor weather conditions at all times\u2019.<\/p>
They\u2019re not joking. It\u2019s a sunny August day, but there are malicious clouds and drizzle at the top, plainly visible on the ascent to the ridge in front of me.<\/p>
It\u2019s a bit of a haul, with some traffic, but a straightforward haul. Halfway up, the car behind me is rattling like a wheelie bin full of tinfoil trundling over cobbles.<\/p>
It grinds to a halt, then reverses, freewheel, all the way back down. This is not the place for a mechanical.<\/p>
A couple of hairpins and I\u2019m at the distinct, exhilarating summit.<\/p>
In France, they commemorate such things with a big sign \u2013 \u2018Col de Harthope Sommet 626m\u2019, plus congratulatory graffiti, \u2018Allez! Bravo! Bi\u00e8res \u00e0 la fin Robi!\u2019, or such.<\/p>
In England, we say things such as \u2018Cattle Grid\u2019 and \u2018Beware of Adders\u2019.<\/p>
$\"Cyclist$
Ride up to Harthope and you\u2019ll be the top cyclist in England, in one respect. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
It\u2019s England\u2019s highest road, 626m up. Forget any GPS figures you\u2019ve seen confidently quoted online. Ignore what your Garmin tells you.<\/p>
Their algorithms make guesses, they\u2019re inconsistent, they misread, they don\u2019t know exactly where sea level is (it\u2019s in a shed in Newlyn, in Cornwall).<\/p>
For elevation figures, trust the Ordnance Survey, an unbiased OS spokesperson assures me.<\/p>
Traditional fieldwork by teams hiking between triangulation points has measured and cross-checked the spot-heights you see on OS maps, and they are the only reliable data for altitude.<\/p>
So here I am, the nation\u2019s top road cyclist, for now anyway. I celebrate with a pasty and a swig of water, and take in the lordly views. I can see Great Dun Fell to my right.<\/p>
Two cars stop; the drivers chat to each other through wound-down windows about the wonderful scenery, but stay inside to view it.<\/p>
I finish up my pasty, and like a kayaker in rapids, I shoot the expansive, rolling felltops back down to Teesdale.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit C: Grasshill Causeway at Coldberry End<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 674m \/ 2,211ft (highest unpaved road)<\/p>**
$\"Sign$
Grasshill Causeway\u2019s good to do with a bike, so long as you don\u2019t want to ride it. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
I included this crossing to make the route work, by making the traverses connect start to finish.<\/p>
As I was planning the ride, I was put in mind of the great mathematician Euler, who solved a similar problem crossing bridges in K\u00f6nigsberg in 1736. In doing so, he invented the new field of topology.<\/p>
He\u2019d have been great at planning bike rides.<\/p>
There are higher \u2018cyclable\u2019 bridleways than this (such as the one up Helvellyn in the Lakes, 950m \/ 3,117ft).<\/p>
But this is the highest unpaved public motorable road in England: one of those stony, mud-brown \u2018green lanes\u2019 trashed by adventure drivers.<\/p>
Access from the B6277 is low-key, and could be easily missed, looking more like a gated grouse-shooting track than a highway.<\/p>
My steel tourer is robust, but the first bit of this track is like trying to cycle Chesil Beach, and a full-suspension mountain bike would be more appropriate. I give up and push a rocky mile up to the summit.<\/p>
The wind whips my curses back to Bishop Auckland. Back down to Weardale, the track becomes broken tarmac, then smoother curse-free tarmac, and I glide down past a reservoir to the valley-bottom A689.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit D: A689 at Killhope Cross<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 623m \/ 2,044ft (2nd highest road)<\/p>**
$\"From$
From the top of Killhope Cross, England\u2019s highest A-road, the only way is down. Steeply down. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Guinness used to list this as England\u2019s highest road, but it\u2019s only the runner-up. An A-road it may be, but it\u2019s quiet.<\/p>
The approach to the inevitable cattle grid at the top, an inviting sashay up the valley head, rakes up in front of me.<\/p>
Behind me, an aftermath landscape is scarred by historical lead mining.<\/p>
There\u2019s a museum of it, with hard-hatted visitors outside and a tour guide pointing at things.<\/p>
The top really feels like a top. And yes, there\u2019s a small stone cross, possibly ancient, possibly just weathered. The sunny new view down to the dale in front of me opens out suddenly and cinematically.<\/p>
I can see why Guinness thought this was the highest road. It looks and feels like it.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit E: NCN7 at Black Hill<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 609m \/ 1,998ft (joint 3rd highest road)<\/p>**
$\"North$
David Raeside of North Pennine Cycles in Nenthead during emergency repairs. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Close by, down a short drop then up a short climb, is the highest point on the Coast to Coast route, perched above the village of Nenthead.<\/p>
There\u2019s an interesting range of scenery here and some enticing roads that bound over the hills into the distance.<\/p>
I stop to chat to some weary but happy C2Cers: chirpy, laughing mature women from Essex, taking apex selfies. Their smiles say: ‘Tough, this? We\u2019ve been round the block \u2013 jobs, marriages, kids, caring for elderly relatives. We can handle this’.<\/p>
An irritatingly stony farm track plunges me down to Nenthead. At the small but vital cycle shop, North Pennine Cycles, wizardly owner David is multi-tasking three cyclists each wanting different, significant, instant repairs.<\/p>
One, it turns out, is the Guinness record holder for altitude in 48 hours \u2013 name of Alan Colville.<\/p>
David finds time to banter with me about my trip, and we all swap opinions on highest tops, highest-feeling, highest-challenging, etc.<\/p>
He even has a list of summits with its own data, but it\u2019s a bit out of date: 1920.<\/p>
David says my route reminds him of the great mathematician Euler, and the K\u00f6nigsberg Bridge Problem of 1736. Great minds\u2026<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit F: Dowgang Hush at Nunnery Hill<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 599m \/ 1,965 ft (5th highest road)<\/p>**
$\"Two$
Rob and David swap notes over listed summit heights \u2013 and branches of pure mathematics. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The climb out of Nenthead is a 1 in 4 leg-buster, but thanks to my tourer\u2019s ultra-low gearing (22 front! 36 rear! mwahaha!) it\u2019s not a problem, even loaded with picnic stuff from Nenthead\u2019s friendly village shop.<\/p>
There\u2019s another theatrical reveal at the top as I crest yet again, and plummet down to the large, open dale of the South Tyne.<\/p>
There are more C2Cers at the bottom, who plead with me to confirm there\u2019s not much more climbing.<\/p>
I fudge my answer. More fudge than a visit to a fudge shop by someone who loves fudge. With a voucher for free fudge.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit G: B6277 at Yad Moss<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 598m \/ 1,962ft (6th highest road)<\/p>**
**And, finally. A gradual climb up past Tynehead (yes, Tyne, as in Newcastle) and a zig-zag up to the last top.<\/p>**
**It\u2019s the most anticlimactic of the lot: no summit feel, just a large dull expanse of moor.<\/p>**
**Yad Moss, the notional vertex here, is a notorious element of London-Edinburgh-London and other endurance routes.<\/p>**
Especially if they slog through this in the dark. They\u2019re not missing much though. There\u2019s little to see except the inevitable Great Dun Fell golfball over there, like a Ventoux tribute act.<\/p>
**I wander round trying to the find the true pinnacle, for completeness’ sake. It seems to be a scruffy milestone.<\/p>**
**My downhill doesn\u2019t materialise for a mile or two, after some forgettable flat road.<\/p>**
**At last, the road deigns to descend, and I can freewheel easily \u2013 with traffic almost totally absent \u2013 back to Langdon Beck.<\/p>**
**I celebrate at the pub with a pint of Allendale Waymarker, which seems appropriate. I toast Euler and head back to the hostel. I\u2019m done. I\u2019m happy.<\/p><\/div><\/div>**
Looking back<\/h2>
$\"Cyclist$
Still having fun after a day of extreme climbs. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
This is a super route, with sweeping views all the way, very few car, and a real edge-of-civilisation feel. Unlike, say, Devon or Cornwall, there\u2019s no needless climbing: it\u2019s all height in the bank, soon cashed in as downhill.<\/p>
These seven summits were less strenuous than I expected. Fun, indeed. <\/p>
The road summits each have their own character. Yad Moss (#6) is the most humdrum, bleakest.<\/p>
Dowgang Hush (#5) is the most intense. Black Hill (#3=) is the most awesome and varied. Newbiggin\u2013Westgate (#3=) is the most Yorkshire-Dales-like. The A689 (#2) is the most continental feeling.<\/p>
And the top of the lot, Chapel Fell (#1), is probably the most satisfying.<\/p>
It has challenge and reward, space and views, freewheeling joy \u2013 plus a drink and rest immediately on completion at Langdon Beck\u2019s pub and hostel.<\/p>
Is this six-summit special England\u2019s top ride? It\u2019s up there. And not just in height terms, important though height is. Cheers, dad, I feel 10 feet tall.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Local knowledge<\/h4>
**Distance:<\/strong> 76kmElevation:<\/strong> 674mRoute:<\/strong> Download the full route from Ride With GPS<\/a><\/p>**
The seven summits ride starts at Langdon Beck Hotel pub \u2013 Swinhope \u2013 Harthope \u2013 Coldberry End \u2013 Killhope Cross \u2013 Black Hill \u2013 Nunnery Hill \u2013 Yad Moss \u2013 finish at Langdon Beck Hotel pub.<\/p>
Getting there:<\/strong> There are three scenic train-then-bike possibilities to get to Langdon Beck, thanks to stations at Bishop Auckland (28 miles); Haltwhistle (31 miles) and Kirkby Stephen (32 miles).<\/p>
**Where to stay:<\/strong> Langdon Beck Hotel, DL12 0XP; Langdon Beck** **Youth Hostel<\/a>.<\/p>**
**Where to eat:<\/strong>** **The Hive Community Cafe<\/a>, Nenthead, CA9 3PF. Open Thurs to Sun 10am-3pm.<\/p>**
**Bike shop:<\/strong>** **North Pennine Cycles<\/a>, Nenthead, CA9 3PF. Open every day 8am-6pm.<\/p>**
**Tourist Information:<\/strong>** **Middleton-in-Teesdale<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n**
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The Pennines south of Harthope \u2013 don\u2019t worry, there\u2019s a nice pub down there somewhere. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
However\u2026 nearby, between Weardale and Teesdale in County Durham, clambering between fells that resemble a pod of humpback whales, are England\u2019s six highest cyclable through-roads.<\/p>
Map-gazing one day, I realised they made a satisfying, challenging day trip. The country\u2019s roofiest summits, bagged in one go.<\/p>
Which is the the very top? Sources disagree \u2013 some maintain it\u2019s the A689 outside Nenthead.<\/p>
Others insist it\u2019s Chapel Fell at Harthope. Bloggers cite conflicting handlebar GPS data.<\/p>
So what is the truth? Which is England\u2019s highest road pass? I rode the top six one summer day to find out for sure, armed with Ordnance Survey evidence. Here\u2019s what happened\u2026<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit A: Newbiggin to Westgate at Swinhope<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 609m \/ 1,998ft (joint 3rd highest road)<\/p>**
$\"Road$
The French mark summits with monuments. We mark ours, like Swinhope Head, with cattle grids. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
I cycle west across moorland from Bishop Auckland train station. It\u2019s grouse season.<\/p>
I head past the shooters, then through the pleasant centre of market-town Middleton.<\/p>
I refuel at a pavement-table cafe and continue up the valley to Langdon Beck Youth Hostel \u2013 \u00a312 for a dorm bed. It\u2019s remote here: Hexham\u2019s Waitrose is 31 miles away.<\/p>
Upper Teesdale feels unfamiliar. There’s no sign of any hamlets or villages, only isolated white farmsteads speckling vast, sparse, grey-green fellsides.<\/p>
It could be rural Norway, or the Faroes. Cronkley Scar, the Uluru-like northern extremity of ceremonial Yorkshire, glows bronze in the sunset.<\/p>
In Langdon Beck\u2019s pub \u2013 hard to miss, there\u2019s little else \u2013 the farmers are talking about a stolen quad bike.<\/p>
They think they know the culprit thanks to the tyre tracks, which take a path only known to locals.<\/p>
Next morning is clear and chilly at England\u2019s highest youth hostel. The first peak to tick off is the old drove road between Newbiggin and Westgate.<\/p>
I outnumber motor traffic all by myself, climbing steadily up this narrow tarmac strip. It\u2019s crowded with gormless sheep though, and fertilised lavishly with poo.<\/p>
Perhaps they\u2019re stray descendants of those first drove flocks. <\/p>
Up top, I get the first of my succession of celestial views: gaunt Teesdale down behind me; the more upholstered Weardale in front.<\/p>
The whoosh down is fast and unsheeped. There\u2019s a house halfway. Fancy living out there.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit B: Chapel Fell at Harthope<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 626m \/ 2,054ft (highest road)<\/p>**
$\"Cyclist$
Rob checks the map at Harthope summit. Yes, it says it\u2019s 2,054ft \/ 626m, whatever the GPS thinks. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
From the rugged Weardale-bottom village of St John\u2019s Chapel, a road lumbers right back up and over to Teesdale again. It\u2019s the main connection between these dales.<\/p>
A sign at the bottom says \u2018CYCLISTS: This route is liable to poor weather conditions at all times\u2019.<\/p>
They\u2019re not joking. It\u2019s a sunny August day, but there are malicious clouds and drizzle at the top, plainly visible on the ascent to the ridge in front of me.<\/p>
It\u2019s a bit of a haul, with some traffic, but a straightforward haul. Halfway up, the car behind me is rattling like a wheelie bin full of tinfoil trundling over cobbles.<\/p>
It grinds to a halt, then reverses, freewheel, all the way back down. This is not the place for a mechanical.<\/p>
A couple of hairpins and I\u2019m at the distinct, exhilarating summit.<\/p>
In France, they commemorate such things with a big sign \u2013 \u2018Col de Harthope Sommet 626m\u2019, plus congratulatory graffiti, \u2018Allez! Bravo! Bi\u00e8res \u00e0 la fin Robi!\u2019, or such.<\/p>
In England, we say things such as \u2018Cattle Grid\u2019 and \u2018Beware of Adders\u2019.<\/p>
$\"Cyclist$
Ride up to Harthope and you\u2019ll be the top cyclist in England, in one respect. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
It\u2019s England\u2019s highest road, 626m up. Forget any GPS figures you\u2019ve seen confidently quoted online. Ignore what your Garmin tells you.<\/p>
Their algorithms make guesses, they\u2019re inconsistent, they misread, they don\u2019t know exactly where sea level is (it\u2019s in a shed in Newlyn, in Cornwall).<\/p>
For elevation figures, trust the Ordnance Survey, an unbiased OS spokesperson assures me.<\/p>
Traditional fieldwork by teams hiking between triangulation points has measured and cross-checked the spot-heights you see on OS maps, and they are the only reliable data for altitude.<\/p>
So here I am, the nation\u2019s top road cyclist, for now anyway. I celebrate with a pasty and a swig of water, and take in the lordly views. I can see Great Dun Fell to my right.<\/p>
Two cars stop; the drivers chat to each other through wound-down windows about the wonderful scenery, but stay inside to view it.<\/p>
I finish up my pasty, and like a kayaker in rapids, I shoot the expansive, rolling felltops back down to Teesdale.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit C: Grasshill Causeway at Coldberry End<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 674m \/ 2,211ft (highest unpaved road)<\/p>**
$\"Sign$
Grasshill Causeway\u2019s good to do with a bike, so long as you don\u2019t want to ride it. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
I included this crossing to make the route work, by making the traverses connect start to finish.<\/p>
As I was planning the ride, I was put in mind of the great mathematician Euler, who solved a similar problem crossing bridges in K\u00f6nigsberg in 1736. In doing so, he invented the new field of topology.<\/p>
He\u2019d have been great at planning bike rides.<\/p>
There are higher \u2018cyclable\u2019 bridleways than this (such as the one up Helvellyn in the Lakes, 950m \/ 3,117ft).<\/p>
But this is the highest unpaved public motorable road in England: one of those stony, mud-brown \u2018green lanes\u2019 trashed by adventure drivers.<\/p>
Access from the B6277 is low-key, and could be easily missed, looking more like a gated grouse-shooting track than a highway.<\/p>
My steel tourer is robust, but the first bit of this track is like trying to cycle Chesil Beach, and a full-suspension mountain bike would be more appropriate. I give up and push a rocky mile up to the summit.<\/p>
The wind whips my curses back to Bishop Auckland. Back down to Weardale, the track becomes broken tarmac, then smoother curse-free tarmac, and I glide down past a reservoir to the valley-bottom A689.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit D: A689 at Killhope Cross<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 623m \/ 2,044ft (2nd highest road)<\/p>**
$\"From$
From the top of Killhope Cross, England\u2019s highest A-road, the only way is down. Steeply down. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Guinness used to list this as England\u2019s highest road, but it\u2019s only the runner-up. An A-road it may be, but it\u2019s quiet.<\/p>
The approach to the inevitable cattle grid at the top, an inviting sashay up the valley head, rakes up in front of me.<\/p>
Behind me, an aftermath landscape is scarred by historical lead mining.<\/p>
There\u2019s a museum of it, with hard-hatted visitors outside and a tour guide pointing at things.<\/p>
The top really feels like a top. And yes, there\u2019s a small stone cross, possibly ancient, possibly just weathered. The sunny new view down to the dale in front of me opens out suddenly and cinematically.<\/p>
I can see why Guinness thought this was the highest road. It looks and feels like it.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit E: NCN7 at Black Hill<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 609m \/ 1,998ft (joint 3rd highest road)<\/p>**
$\"North$
David Raeside of North Pennine Cycles in Nenthead during emergency repairs. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Close by, down a short drop then up a short climb, is the highest point on the Coast to Coast route, perched above the village of Nenthead.<\/p>
There\u2019s an interesting range of scenery here and some enticing roads that bound over the hills into the distance.<\/p>
I stop to chat to some weary but happy C2Cers: chirpy, laughing mature women from Essex, taking apex selfies. Their smiles say: ‘Tough, this? We\u2019ve been round the block \u2013 jobs, marriages, kids, caring for elderly relatives. We can handle this’.<\/p>
An irritatingly stony farm track plunges me down to Nenthead. At the small but vital cycle shop, North Pennine Cycles, wizardly owner David is multi-tasking three cyclists each wanting different, significant, instant repairs.<\/p>
One, it turns out, is the Guinness record holder for altitude in 48 hours \u2013 name of Alan Colville.<\/p>
David finds time to banter with me about my trip, and we all swap opinions on highest tops, highest-feeling, highest-challenging, etc.<\/p>
He even has a list of summits with its own data, but it\u2019s a bit out of date: 1920.<\/p>
David says my route reminds him of the great mathematician Euler, and the K\u00f6nigsberg Bridge Problem of 1736. Great minds\u2026<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit F: Dowgang Hush at Nunnery Hill<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 599m \/ 1,965 ft (5th highest road)<\/p>**
$\"Two$
Rob and David swap notes over listed summit heights \u2013 and branches of pure mathematics. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The climb out of Nenthead is a 1 in 4 leg-buster, but thanks to my tourer\u2019s ultra-low gearing (22 front! 36 rear! mwahaha!) it\u2019s not a problem, even loaded with picnic stuff from Nenthead\u2019s friendly village shop.<\/p>
There\u2019s another theatrical reveal at the top as I crest yet again, and plummet down to the large, open dale of the South Tyne.<\/p>
There are more C2Cers at the bottom, who plead with me to confirm there\u2019s not much more climbing.<\/p>
I fudge my answer. More fudge than a visit to a fudge shop by someone who loves fudge. With a voucher for free fudge.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Summit G: B6277 at Yad Moss<\/h2>
**Height:<\/strong> 598m \/ 1,962ft (6th highest road)<\/p>**
**And, finally. A gradual climb up past Tynehead (yes, Tyne, as in Newcastle) and a zig-zag up to the last top.<\/p>**
**It\u2019s the most anticlimactic of the lot: no summit feel, just a large dull expanse of moor.<\/p>**
**Yad Moss, the notional vertex here, is a notorious element of London-Edinburgh-London and other endurance routes.<\/p>**
Especially if they slog through this in the dark. They\u2019re not missing much though. There\u2019s little to see except the inevitable Great Dun Fell golfball over there, like a Ventoux tribute act.<\/p>
**I wander round trying to the find the true pinnacle, for completeness’ sake. It seems to be a scruffy milestone.<\/p>**
**My downhill doesn\u2019t materialise for a mile or two, after some forgettable flat road.<\/p>**
**At last, the road deigns to descend, and I can freewheel easily \u2013 with traffic almost totally absent \u2013 back to Langdon Beck.<\/p>**
**I celebrate at the pub with a pint of Allendale Waymarker, which seems appropriate. I toast Euler and head back to the hostel. I\u2019m done. I\u2019m happy.<\/p><\/div><\/div>**
Looking back<\/h2>
$\"Cyclist$
Still having fun after a day of extreme climbs. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
This is a super route, with sweeping views all the way, very few car, and a real edge-of-civilisation feel. Unlike, say, Devon or Cornwall, there\u2019s no needless climbing: it\u2019s all height in the bank, soon cashed in as downhill.<\/p>
These seven summits were less strenuous than I expected. Fun, indeed. <\/p>
The road summits each have their own character. Yad Moss (#6) is the most humdrum, bleakest.<\/p>
Dowgang Hush (#5) is the most intense. Black Hill (#3=) is the most awesome and varied. Newbiggin\u2013Westgate (#3=) is the most Yorkshire-Dales-like. The A689 (#2) is the most continental feeling.<\/p>
And the top of the lot, Chapel Fell (#1), is probably the most satisfying.<\/p>
It has challenge and reward, space and views, freewheeling joy \u2013 plus a drink and rest immediately on completion at Langdon Beck\u2019s pub and hostel.<\/p>
Is this six-summit special England\u2019s top ride? It\u2019s up there. And not just in height terms, important though height is. Cheers, dad, I feel 10 feet tall.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Local knowledge<\/h4>
**Distance:<\/strong> 76kmElevation:<\/strong> 674mRoute:<\/strong> Download the full route from Ride With GPS<\/a><\/p>**
The seven summits ride starts at Langdon Beck Hotel pub \u2013 Swinhope \u2013 Harthope \u2013 Coldberry End \u2013 Killhope Cross \u2013 Black Hill \u2013 Nunnery Hill \u2013 Yad Moss \u2013 finish at Langdon Beck Hotel pub.<\/p>
Getting there:<\/strong> There are three scenic train-then-bike possibilities to get to Langdon Beck, thanks to stations at Bishop Auckland (28 miles); Haltwhistle (31 miles) and Kirkby Stephen (32 miles).<\/p>
**Where to stay:<\/strong> Langdon Beck Hotel, DL12 0XP; Langdon Beck** **Youth Hostel<\/a>.<\/p>**
**Where to eat:<\/strong>** **The Hive Community Cafe<\/a>, Nenthead, CA9 3PF. Open Thurs to Sun 10am-3pm.<\/p>**
**Bike shop:<\/strong>** **North Pennine Cycles<\/a>, Nenthead, CA9 3PF. Open every day 8am-6pm.<\/p>**
**Tourist Information:<\/strong>** **Middleton-in-Teesdale<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n**
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