{"id":607,"date":"2020-05-27T16:16:28","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T15:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/?p=607"},"modified":"2020-07-09T07:54:15","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T06:54:15","slug":"chapel-fell-simon-warren-62","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/?p=607","title":{"rendered":"Chapel Fell &#8211; Simon Warren #62"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul><li>SW Rating: 9\/10<\/li><li>Wheelygood Rating: Medium \/ Hard<sup id=\"rf1-607\"><a href=\"#fn1-607\" title=\"It is critically dependent on the weather &#8211; the wind in particular\u2026\" rel=\"footnote\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/li><li>Length: 2.45 miles<\/li><li>Avg. gradient: 8%<\/li><li>Category: 2<\/li><li>Strava Segment: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strava.com\/segments\/6678141\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.strava.com\/segments\/6678141<\/a><\/li><li>Route: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.plotaroute.com\/route\/1128047\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.plotaroute.com\/route\/1128047<\/a><\/li><li>Parking: There&#8217;s a public car park <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/maps\/place\/St+John's+Chapel,+Bishop+Auckland+DL13+1QB\/@54.735998,-2.1790558,18.25z\/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x487c4aec12b6d795:0xa0fd139f78d66b0!8m2!3d54.736586!4d-2.180901\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a> at St John&#8217;s Chapel<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"width:100%;height:600px;\" src=\"https:\/\/veloviewer.com\/segments\/6678141\/embed2?units=i\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;ve never cycled in the North Pennines before, you really should. Despite the unforgiving terrain and reputation for treacherous weather, on a good day, you&#8217;ll struggle to find many better places to ride &#8211; especially if you like climbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chapel Fell is, in some ways, one of the cornerstones of the area. It&#8217;s a proper climb and one which deserves real respect. It isn&#8217;t the highest point around &#8211; that honour goes to Great Dun Fell, which is in a whole different league, but it&#8217;s an up-and-down whereas this is a pass which allows you to go <em>somewhere else<\/em> from the top<sup id=\"rf2-607\"><a href=\"#fn2-607\" title=\"Not that you have a huge amount of choice &#8211; when you get to the end of the road you&#8217;re really looking at heading East to Middleton-in-Teesdale or West to Alston, but, still, it&#8217;s better than having to come straight back down again!\" rel=\"footnote\">2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assuming you&#8217;ve picked a reasonable day<sup id=\"rf3-607\"><a href=\"#fn3-607\" title=\"I&#8217;ve ridden up here on some unreasonable days and really, &lt;em&gt;really&lt;\/em&gt;, cannot recommend it.\" rel=\"footnote\">3<\/a><\/sup>, you&#8217;ll start in the small village of St John&#8217;s Chapel. Almost as soon as you&#8217;re past the final house, the road kicks upwards, as if to say &#8216;welcome, now get used to it.&#8217; The fortunate thing about this part is that it&#8217;s very short and serves, mainly, to act as a warm up for the main event. You even get some downhill to recover, which will give you a nice chance to look up and see the remainder of the task in front of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Down you go, around the bend and down some more until, Bang!, you come to an unceremonious almost-halt on the steepest part of the entire climb. If you&#8217;ve been paying attention, you&#8217;ll be in a low-ish gear <em>before<\/em> you get to this point. If not, then you&#8217;re either hugely strong (and chapeau!) or you&#8217;re about to perform the Walk of Shame. That momentum from the descent will carry you about 1\/3 of the way up the ramp, but not really any further and there&#8217;s not much choice other than to muscle your way over the top. Feel free to curse if you have to. You&#8217;ll not be the first and you certainly won&#8217;t be the last\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once over this small hurdle, you can relax for a few metres before you hit the first part of the main body of the climb. I say first part, because it&#8217;s broken up by some flat\/slightly downhill sections further up. This ramp, however, is the single longest of the climb and, although it&#8217;s not particularly steep, it <em>is<\/em> sufficient to expose any poor selection of pace, or effort level. It doesn&#8217;t help that this entire section of the climb is into the prevailing wind direction and, as you&#8217;re quite high up (for the UK), then it is often pretty breezy up here. So, there&#8217;s not much option but to go one pedal stroke at a time and break the whole thing down into small chunks. There are some landmarks to help with this: there&#8217;s a gate on the left hand side where I threw a strop the first time I ever rode up here as well as the cattle grid and road which comes in from the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the time you&#8217;ve ticked all of these off, you&#8217;ll pretty much be at the first point of respite. It&#8217;s not much more than a false flat, but it&#8217;s something and will allow you to build up a little bit of momentum, which is useful as the road is about to get steeper again. This next ramp isn&#8217;t long, but it is steeper than the section you&#8217;ve just ridden. Best take it steady, though, because there&#8217;s still a reasonable amount of climb to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another small respite, then a steep kick in the teeth as you head up towards the left hander. If you&#8217;ve got clear road, keep out towards the middle around here as the left hand edge is definitely steeper; if there&#8217;s traffic then all bets are off. As you get around the bend, you should get a little push from the wind<sup id=\"rf4-607\"><a href=\"#fn4-607\" title=\"Or, at least, not have it work against you &lt;em&gt;quite&lt;\/em&gt; as much\u2026\" rel=\"footnote\">4<\/a><\/sup> which will help you make it to the right hander. As you get round <em>this<\/em> one, the headwind will likely reappear &#8211; and all the worse for being closer to the summit &#8211; and the road steepens up, one last time. You&#8217;re not far away now, although it could feel like it &#8211; just keep going!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the crest \u2026 isn&#8217;t the top. And nor is the next one, but the gradient won&#8217;t get any worse now. Best keep your head down until you see the cattle grid in front of you. Unlike the false summits that you&#8217;ve just had, this really <em>does<\/em> mark the top. You can do this!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Job done! Time to give yourself a big pat on the back for a fantastic effort &#8211; well done, this is no easy ascent!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If there are any other road climbs you&#8217;d like me to take on, the more ridiculous the better, then please send me a message on my FaceBook page <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wheelygoodcycling\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wheelygoodcycling\/<\/a> or email me on <a href=\"mailto:wheelygoodmail@gmail.com\">wheelygoodmail@gmail.com<\/a> and let me know\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube\"><div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" title=\"Chapel Fell - Simon Warren #62\" style=\"width:640px;max-width:100%;margin:5px auto;\"><div class=\"lyMe hidef\" id=\"WYL_1jhcAbUSWnE\" itemprop=\"video\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"><div><meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/1jhcAbUSWnE\/maxresdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedURL\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1jhcAbUSWnE\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT26M39S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2020-05-24T17:00:01Z\" \/><\/div><div id=\"lyte_1jhcAbUSWnE\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/1jhcAbUSWnE\/maxresdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\" itemprop=\"name\">Chapel Fell - Simon Warren #62<\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/1jhcAbUSWnE\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/1jhcAbUSWnE\/0.jpg?resize=640%2C340&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Chapel Fell - Simon Warren #62\" width=\"640\" height=\"340\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"The highest paved pass in England... - more information here: https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/?p=607 Strava Segment: https:\/\/www.strava.com\/segments\/6678141 Route: https:\/\/www.plotaroute.com\/route\/1128047 SW Rating: 9\/10 Wheelygood Rating: Medium \/ Hard (It is critically dependent on the weather, and the wind in particular...) Length: 2.45 miles Avg. gradient: 8% Category: 2 Parking: There&#039;s a public car park at St John&#039;s Chapel\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:640px;margin:5px auto;\"><\/div><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure><div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/?p=607\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"social\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground:  !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 100% !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  <hr class=\"footnotes\"><ol class=\"footnotes\" style=\"list-style-type:decimal\"><li id=\"fn1-607\"><p >It is critically dependent on the weather &#8211; the wind in particular\u2026&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf1-607\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 1.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><li id=\"fn2-607\"><p >Not that you have a huge amount of choice &#8211; when you get to the end of the road you&#8217;re really looking at heading East to Middleton-in-Teesdale or West to Alston, but, still, it&#8217;s better than having to come straight back down again!&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf2-607\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 2.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><li id=\"fn3-607\"><p >I&#8217;ve ridden up here on some unreasonable days and really, <em>really<\/em>, cannot recommend it.&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf3-607\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 3.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><li id=\"fn4-607\"><p >Or, at least, not have it work against you <em>quite<\/em> as much\u2026&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf4-607\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 4.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The highest paved pass in England&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,19,18,9],"tags":[3,2,12,10,6,5],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wheelygood.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Chapel-Fell-1.png?fit=760%2C283&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":666,"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions\/666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelygood.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}