Wilton Lane – Simon Warren Cycling Climbs of the North East

• SW Rating: 5/10
• Wheelygood Rating: Medium
• Length: 0.91 miles
• Avg. gradient: 6%
• Category: 4
• Strava Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/19593481
• Route: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1122291
• Parking: Cat Nab car park in Saltburn

A tree lined boulevard isn’t quite what you’d expect at the beginning of any UK climb, let alone one in the North East of England, but, rather magnificently, that’s exactly what we get here.

The early stages of this one take you up a shallow drag into Wilton Village where things become a little more alpine, but still very manageable. With the green hedges all around, and even an old, red, telephone box, it feels most civilised and genteel. Even the road is nice and smooth. In fact, the greatest impediment to progress are the two speed bumps in the village. That is until…

…the road turns left on its way out of Wilton. At this point, the road surface now has the odd hole in it and you just get that feeling down your spine that you might be in for it.

Good news! It’s not that bad. A steady drag from here takes you to the next right-left pair of bends. And, all of a sudden, it is now that bad.

The road steepens, steepens again and then steepens some more all the way up to where my Garmin was reading 27%. That’s pretty … meaty. And so it stays for the next couple of hundred metres, all the way around the next slight right-left curve (there’s a theme here).

Once here, you’ll get your first glimpse of daylight dead ahead since the village at the bottom. And, on a nice day, it is somewhat akin to an epiphany.

Now that you’ve broken clear of the trees you are, essentially, done. The farmhouse on the right is just beyond the end of the climb; however, as it’s a working farm, you might need to keep your poker face on in case anyone was watching you ride up the climb – after all they might be thinking that you found it … difficult … and we can’t have that, can we? If you need some advice on this, then check out this GCN video…

Another one in the bag – excellent job!

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…

Wilton Lane - Simon Warren Cycling Climbs of the North East