The author of the much talked about 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs, Simon Warren has now produced a book just for us in Wales —Cycling Climbs of Wales.
You probably know how much we love a good climb. We’ve produced a number of posts already, talking about how to climb; where to climb around Cardiff and; where to go if you really want to push yourself with some epic climbs. However, Cycling Climbs of Wales is packed full of these.
This jersey-pocket-sized book is of a similar thickness to the 100 Greatest Climbs that came before it, but features some excellent challenges from right around Wales. Many of these will be familiar to a great number of you already –the Bwlch; the Tumble; Llangynidr; Devil’s Elbow; Devil’s Staircase and even Caerphilly Mountain.
However, it also includes a number of lesser known inclines. For example, the Tumble is well known around South Wales, but there’s another way up the same hill that is even more brutal. In the book it is called the Blorenge (which is the name of the mountain the Tumble is on), but it can be accessed from near Monmouthshire Golf Club (grid ref SO 263 107). It’s apparently steeper than the Tumble, covers 5.2km and climbs 448m. We are going to have to try that one!
As with the 100 Greatest Climbs there is a section at the back to check these climbs off and record the date you did them, but what would be really useful is a printable version so that you don’t have to write all over your book!
Books like this are really useful for providing inspiration for routes. Climbs provide a focal point for any route and having them all laid out in a book, with their map locations and vital statistics is indespensible. For under £8 it is hard not to recommend it.
You can pick up Cycling Climbs of Wales from Amazon here, or Waterstones here.
Cardiff By Bike 