Kildale to Gribdale

Distance 0.52 miles

Max Gradient 15 to 20% at the turns

Where do you find it?

Heading from Great Ayton towards Commondale to find this little known climb you need to turn left in Kildale just after you’ve passed the Post Office on your left. Then you turn right and follow the road for about a third of a mile, it is here that the climb starts.

Description

The road kicks up quite steeply to start with and continues in this vein until you reach a sharp turn to the left. Here the slope eases a little and you go over a ‘difficult’ cattle grid – if there is such a thing – you’ll know what I mean when you bounce over it. After this the road steepens again revealing a false top, don’t get you hopes up as it goes on for a fair bit after this at an annoying gradient, not steep but not shallow enough to allow you to recover.

At the top I was greeted by someone who had lost some people who were doing a Duke of Edinburgh award. I felt the need to explain myself as I wrote some brief notes on the climb ‘there’s three of us doing this, we’re writing it for a website’ I explained. There then followed an awkward silence as John and Dave failed to materialise, the lack of a compact chainset having got the better of John and Dave having stopped to take some photos. I was somewhat relieved when they got to the top.

A word of warning, the surface of the climb is abysmal and has got much worse since the last time I’d been here two years ago and it continues on the steep twisty descent afterwards so care is needed ‘mountain bike required’ said Dave, which is about right. If the climb has a name I’m not aware of it, suggestions on a postcard. (this was written in 2010 and the surface has deteriorated even further on the section between the top of the climb and the car park , probably not advisable on your best bike!)