Don’t let the average fool you it’s tough!!

Follow the A616 from Honley towards New Mill and you will find this climb by passing the Rock Pub on your right immediately after a pedestrian crossing in Brockholes village. Go onto the next pedestrian crossing where you turn left immediately before it. Start by following the road past the church and continue straight on at an angled crossroads. The road narrows and bends past the Primary School on your left and then the gradient increases as you approach the railway line. Don’t turn left to the railway station, but continue up under the railway bridge. You will now start what I class as one of the hardest climbs in this book! The surface can be tricky at the best of times but especially if the road is damp or leaf covered in autumn. It is quite narrow and you may have problems passing vehicles approaching in the opposite direction. The gradient never gets less than 10% anywhere from the bridge onwards and it reaches 16% for quite long sections. You pass through a crossroads and then you can virtually see the top where there is a hard finish to the climb. Once you pass the telephone transmitter you can relax and pedal along the flat to the crossroads around a quarter of a mile further on. I am sure you will appreciate this relaxing flat as it will have been a very tough ascent!! You can just see the mast (top centre) at the top nearly hidden by the trees.