Dunterly Fell – Simon Warren Cycling Climbs of the North East
- SW Rating: 6/10
- Wheelygood Rating: Easy
- Length: 0.86 miles
- Avg. gradient: 7%
- Category: 4
- Parking: Best off parking in Bellingham…
- Strava Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/19601863
This is a climb which I feel has something of an unfair reputation, mainly due to its location. See, the problem is that it’s close to Bellingham, which is a regular café stop for a lot of cyclists as it’s a small village which, at the time of writing, boasts three separate cafeterias. Choice indeed! Since it’s uphill whichever way you want to go out of the place, the usual approach is to either pick the drag up the main road to Wark (‘Mile Bank’) because it’s not steep or head for the A68 via The Vomit where you get a warm-up before hitting that 20% slope at the bottom. Dunterly Fell, on the other hand, is both steep and close by, thus failing entirely to endear it to any rider who’s just stopped and eaten1.
So, let’s pretend that you haven’t just eaten and the idea of hauling yourself up to the top of Wark Common won’t cause an evacuation of stomach contents.
It begins, as many things do, with quite a gentle beginning. The road pulls away from the junction at the bottom with barely a murmur and lets you have the time to lift your head and see most of what’s to come. If you’re having a bad day2 then I’d recommend a continuation of handlebar chewing. It’s by far the safest option at this point.
There’s a little lump which is just sufficient to remove whatever momentum you might have hoped to bring to the main body of the climb before handing just a soupçon of it back – assuming you don’t have any sheep, farmers or locals hooning around in their cars to dodge. Either way, this is, invariably, the point for a lower gear before…
…the road tips upwards quite mercilessly to a sort-of hairpin. This is where the work begins. It’s a matter of keeping going around the bend as you will get some respite on the other side by a relaxation of the slope. It’s not masses, but it’s enough and lets you concentrate on the pull which now lies directly ahead of you. I’d keep a watch for animals, their excreta and the assorted holes in the road up here. It’s never pretty. The ramp itself isn’t so bad as it varies in slope (up to the 13-14% range), but it does require something of a force of will to keep moving without feeling like the road has sucked all the life out of you. Yes, it’s one of those surfaces. I did try to think of some sagely advice for this, but could only come up with ‘deal with it’ as there’s not really a lot you can do apart from simply trying to keep the pedals turning around!
And then there’s another bend.
It’s not a hairpin, but it does swing the road around by a considerable number of degrees. It is steep, however – steeper than the ramp you’ve just hauled yourself up. It is also the gateway to the prevailing headwind. Ah … I didn’t mention this, did I? The direction and exposed nature of Dunterly Fell mean that the top section is almost invariably straight into the day’s screaming headwind. My sagely advice, once again, is simply to keep pedalling and ‘deal with it’. Sorry!
At least the gradient drops off to single digits once you’re clear of the bend and pedalling will get easier.
You’ll have a straight run to the finish now so keep cranking out the Watts and you will get there. Eventually. That said, you might not be able to tell this, because the headwind might make the gentle downhill which follows the crest one of those where you need to continue pedalling.
Ah, but it’s all good from here – you’ve made it to the top and that’s what counts! Chapeau!
If there are any other road climbs you’d like me to take on, the more ridiculous the better, then please send me a message on my FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/wheelygoodcycling/ or email me on wheelygoodmail@gmail.com and let me know…
