Peak District Climbs - #4 New Road

Another back-wack that demands the most from you. New Road is a great alternative route back to Sheffield.

If you're unfamiliar with this road, it's the first left turn after Yorkshire Bridge, the small road with trees over-hanging as far as you can see up. It's a quiet one and the chance of traffic is slim, but it's far more demanding than the steady gradient of Manchester Road and ten times more scenic. If you miss this road, you're missing a trick. 

I've been dropped on New Road plenty of times but that said, I've also done my fair share of dropping others. It's one of those climbs where you can really tell how well your going and if you're on your own after the trees disappear, then I'd say your not going bad! 

Here the scene opens-up and you can look down into the valley and see how far you've climbed, it's a nice reward as the views to your right are close to amazing. You can see as far as Mam Tor and you've got Win Hill behind you. Looking down the slopping valley there's Bamford and Hathersage in the distance. But it doesn't stop there - a sharp up that swings left and you find yourself a on quick-small decent. Time for a little 'breather' before the road then swings right into another grueling short-sharp gradient. 

If you can make it over this in the big-ring your a harder man than me, but if you can get on- top of 42.21 then your mates will probably think your charging! If that is the case, I suspect you'll have a sweat-on for the decent onto Stangage Edge. Then you'll be greeted by another spectacular view of the famous ridge and glad you rode over New Road. 

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New Road is 1.6 miles and the average gradient is 5.1% but don't let that deceive you, the first part is around 8% for a mile and the final kick to the top must be close to 11%.