Great British scratchoffable Climbs part 1. Holme Moss.
For Christmas this year my sons thought it would be funny to buy me a “scratch off climbs” map of Great Britain. They knew that once they had got me to scratch off the few climbs that I had already done then I would be fully sucked into the project and not rest until the map was fully scratched off.
Unfortunately my home turf, of the Eastern Counties, is devoid of any scratchoffable climbs with the nearest one well over 100 miles away. But I’m not looking for excuses so let’s look at the task in hand. There are 75 climbs on the map which are rated green, blue or red depending on difficulty. I have so far done 2 green, 1 blue and 1 red so a disappointing total of 4.
However I did spot an opportunity to make it 5 and tackle Holme Moss as it’s near Manchester where eldest son Peter lives.
Therefore on this weekends visit I snuck my bike into the car and then insisted that we (me, Peter and Mrs Crusader) take a trip there. My plan was for me and Peter to tackle the climb while Mrs Crusader provided support from the team car.
But first there obviously needs to be scratchoffable climb rules.
1. You always have to cycle up what is considered the most difficult route
2. You can only have one car journey per day to get to the start of a scratchoffable climb bagging day.
I checked and the correct way to tackle Holme Moss is heading south from Holmefirth as per 2014 Tour de France, so despite it being wet, cold and grey we headed there. As we were just doing the one climb we would not be breaking rule 2 by going straight to the start.
Due to traffic related issues it took much longer than planned to get there and I was surprised that a little village in the middle of nowhere was so rammed. We were very lucky to get a parking space as they were like gold dust. I assumed it was this busy on such a miserable day as word had leaked out about my attempt to submit scratchoffable climb #5. But it turned out that Holmefirth was where the BBC hit and so called comedy series Last of the Summer Wine was filmed (younger readers ask your parents).
This also explained why 50% of the shops were tearooms. Despite the fact I would be breaking the cake crusader cafe reviewing rules by reviewing a cafe before I had cycled to it, we were in need of sustenance before we started and choose to test out Beatties which had much LotSW memorabilia plastered over the walls.
It was a typical Peak District destination cafe where everything was fine and got a fine type rating of 6.8 for its offerings with no particular highs or lows. Although Mrs Crusader thought her cheese scone was too doughy.
At last it was time to set off. I had agreed with Peter that he could bail for the last and steepest mile as he didn’t want to strain anything before an important volleyball match the next day. I was on my gravel bike packing bike I plan to use for my North Cape 4000 trip and he was on his cycle to work hybrid.
The ride to the top was only 5 miles but was described as a very challenging climb on one of Englands highest roads. It started with a cheeky 15% section away from town before settling down for the next few miles with the occasional steep ramp.
For fans of fog and mist todays views were stunning.
As planned a mile from top Peter got in the team car and headed to the top.
It was a good move as last mile was a bit more challenging with mainly double digit gradients.
But as I neared the top clear views of the surrounding fog kept my spirits high as you could see literally metres of the Peak District stretching out in front of you.
As it was cold and wet at the top we decided a quick turn around was needed so I descended a few miles to a pub where we had a debrief and I reviewed the stats.
According to Strava, and despite stopping for photos and chatting, I was very pleased to see I had made the fastest ascent of Holme Moss that day, at an average speed of 6.8mph and average power of 144w. The whole ride being just under 8 miles. Also according to Strava I was the only person to cycle up Holme Moss that day and the 18,678 fastest of all time. Impressive stuff.
I declared it as an official success. We left the pub, reloaded the car and set off back to Manchester with scratchoffable climb #5 in the bag.
Note as a bonus treat I plan to make my first ever YouTube video of this adventure to launch my new Cake Crusader YouTube channel. Look out for that coming soon.
Map of todays ride
Scores for Beatties
Guest Hot Drink Quality | Effective Cake Selection | Cake Quality | Ambiance and Atmosphere | Café Rating | |
7 | 7 | 6.2 | 5.9 | 7.82 | 6.78 |
