Cycling Weekly – August 22, 2019

T

he highest point in

the south of England,

Surrey ’s Leith Hill

has many well-ridden

roads — so many in

fact that a route has been devised

with eight climbs up its wooded

slopes. From the seven-kilometre

Coldharbour Lane that starts as

a drag, steepens, drops down and

then kicks up again at the end, to

the steep, rutted 1.9km Tanhurst

Lane, Leith Hill has it all. The whole

route only has 1,800m of vertical

ascent, but that ’s packed into

103km and is all done on one hill.

Pretty impressive. A ll the climbs

that criss-cross this part of the

North Downs, a designated area

outstanding natural beauty, are

equally attractive and testing, but

it ’s Leith Hill that is perhaps the

most popular.

Reasons to ride

1

A route like no other

There’s a novelty factor to this

ride that cannot be matched.

Eight times up one climb (probably)

can’t be done any where else in the

UK , especially with the variety

offered here. The GPX trace doesn’t

look like an octopus, but it ’ll have

your friends and followers staring at

it, trying to work out how you did it.

2

Perfect day out

This part of Surrey is just 27

miles from central London

and a one hour, 10 minute train ride.

This is one of the best rides available

for any London-based rider, and well

worth the day out. A nd if you want

to extend your ride, you can head

back towards town, via Box Hill.

ROUTE FOUR

LEITH HILL OCTOPUS

16

INSPIRE YOUR RIDING