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Cycling Climb 6 FAULDS BROW from Red Dial 23/10/2022
Route: Brampton, Rickerby Park, Thursby, Red Dial, FAULDS BROW, Welton, Brampton
Climb 1189m, Distance 74.96km, Moving Time 4:51:22,
Link to Recorded activity on OS Maps
This Climb
Start: Red Dial Elev 64m NY 4604 2563
Finish: Faulds Brow Quarry Elev 321m NY 3041 4071
Climb: 278 (recorded) 274 (OS App) Distance: 9.6km Moving Time: 39:30
Gradient: Generally 0-6% Max 11% (about 50m) Effort: 25%.
Link to OS Maps
This climb was en-route to help out at an orienteering event on Faulds Brow (more about that next time I go up there but meanwhile there is some esoteric stuff on this link). The weather started poorly and got worse as the day went on and in my urgency to get there on time, I had the bike in tour mode (2nd out of 4 settings - here) for the whole journey there.
The climb from Red Dial rarely gets above 6% and is quite variable in gradient with a nice downhill bit giving plenty of rests, hence the low effort score.
Weather rolling in over the Skiddaw Range from the event car park
Points of Interest
Caldbeck Transmitter, visible on the map and closest point marked on the elevation chart, is an abiding memory from my childhood, a permanent feature day and night - with it’s red aircraft warning lights. Visible from most of North Cumbria and SW Scotland, the structure seems to easily dwarf the height of the land on which it stands. Indeed at 337m, the taller lattice work cable secured (guyed) mast is the 3rd tallest structure in Britain, and matches the elevation of the fell on which it stands.
Put into operation in 1961 it proved a boost for set rental companies in the area. For the privilege of choosing between 2 channels the rental cost of a TV set was comparable to that of a council house. Apart from the choice of BBC and ITV, and then the excitement of BBC2, who remembers the 4:45 to midnight viewing, 425 lines, the horizontal and vertical hold, and the not infrequent, but usually highly efficient visits of the repair man?
In modern times Caldbeck became the first transmitter to switch entirely to digital, and is now delivering approaching 200 channels of digital TV and the same in radio
Wiki Geeky stuff
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Cycling Climb 5 RAISE HOWE from Gt Asby 16/09/2022
Route: Bolton Bridge, Gt Asby RAISE HOWE, Maulds Meaburn, Bolton Bridge
Climb 600m, Distance 41.2km, Moving Time 2:36:44
Link to Recorded activity on OS Maps
Approach
Bolton Bridge, just off the A66 north of Appleby represented a convenient low starting point for the tour allowing me to claim the 200m climb requirement. There are a few parking places which were popular with fishermen when I arrived. The route via Kings Meaburn has a fair bit of up and down, and I made a wrong turn which added more.
This Climb
Start: Great Asby Elev 180m NY 6811 1326 Finish: Raise Howe Elev 321m NY 6368 1296 Total Climb 189m Length 5.8km, Moving Time 25 minutes Gradient: Typical 0 - 10%, Effort 40%.
Link to Route on OS Maps
The climb is on the easy side of moderate, with the 7-10% sections short enough for the bike to be kept in Eco Mode. There are two high points each at 322m elevation, the first is near Linglow Hill, but the climb really completes at the second one at Raise Howe, which is more interesting. The only photo I have is a timer one of me by the bike, which I won't bore you with (see below for link to third party photos)
Points of Interest
Great Asby has been settled since the Stone Age. You can read about its History here.
High to the south of the route is Great Asby Scar, (see map) a large area of limestone pavement that has been unspoiled by quarrying, and now preserved as an Site of Special Scientific Interest and Nature Reserve as it contains and attracts rare flora and fauna. Wikipedia Visit Cumbria
The “Tumulus” marked on the map at Raise Howe is a bronze age “cairn” earthworks. I will have a closer look if I go again from the other side, meanwhile you can see more here. The nearby quarry is more modern, and was most likely used to supply material for McAdaming of the road.
The road back passes through the picturesque village of Maulds Meaburn, you can read how it got its name here. The impressive Flass House was built in the 19th Century on the profits of the opium trade. To complete the circle, it was more recently purchased by some dodgy types for the purpose of growing and processing cannabis and allowed to run into disrepair, but has since been revived as a performing arts school. Read about it here.
New graphs
The graph of elevation and gradient is taken from some software I wrote to interpret the GPX / TCX files recorded on my phone / Watch and produce more detailed data than hitherto available. Unfortunately the phone’s GPS isn't that accurate when it comes to altitude, so some intervention and processing is required to get rid of errors that give rise to exaggerated climb and gradients. The software still needs upgrading to display other information and a bit of tweaking to improve presentation.
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The Whats and Wherefores of an Ebike
Before describing any more climbs a bit about the technicalities and practicalities of my Wisper Wanderer M9 Ebike a middle range hybrid.
Range
As a rough guide the 700WHr battery gives a range of 160km on the flat but subtract 6km for every 100m mixed gradient climb, provided you stay in Eco mode (See below).
Motor Assistance
The 250W motor offers assistance up to 25 kph. On a flat road once past 25 kph that you can easily cruise without the motor. Below the 25kph the motor power adapts to requirements, being computed from, speed, the rider’s, measured from a torque meter on the pedals, and the setting.
There are 4 settings. Eco, Tour, Turbo and Sport; and a boost mode operated off a thumb switch. This whacks the motor up to full. I only use this on very steep sections to get a bit of momentum going, or when setting off on a hill. It is also very useful for setting off at road junctions.
On the climbs, I try to stay in Eco mode but step up to Tour if I see a sustained hill of greater than say 10% approaching. In Eco mode the motor power rarely gets above about 100W.
Weight
The bike weighs in at 29 kg, so that's 15 - 20 kg more than a comparable standard bike for the same price. The average ecyclist plus gear plus bike weighs about 15-18% more than your standard cyclist.
Gears
The E Bike only offers rear wheel gears only. These are 11-34T Shimano Hyperglide 9 speed. I’m not an expert but these are far superior to any other bike gears I have had, but then again I never paid more that £200 for a bike before. They are quick, smooth and stable even under high torque gear changes.
Power and Work Comparisons
For a 10% hill at a typical 8 kph speed the rough calculation above gives a total, rider plus motor, of around 250W power usage. In eco mode I get about 100W from the motor so 150W from the rider. What I am getting is about 70% more power than a non motorised cyclist with an equal work rate.
The lowest gear ratio on my bike is 4:3 compared with say 5:6 for a typical standard hybrid so 60% higher, add in the extra weight gives an about 70% extra power requirement to climb at the same rate, which ties in well with the figure above.
Although the climbing power requirement between a standard bike and my ebike is roughly matched in Eco mode, of course with the ebike you have the following advantages:
The higher gear means you are spending less time in your endeavors, so doing the approx 40% less total work total for each climb.
You can always call upon a higher setting or use boost to get more power from your motor.
This means especially when my cycling fitness was very poor in the early days, I could tackle hills without having to get off and push, handy living in Cumbria.
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Live musical acts I hadn't heard of before my 65th Birthday!
The idea here is to see 70 musical acts that I hadn't heard of as of my 65th Birthday. These are mainly support bands, festivals and recommendations. These must be professional or well established semi-pro acts that I actually enjoyed, i.e. didn’t retire to the bar, another stage or leave early, and no pub bands and tribute acts, cover bands acceptable.
I have blogged the first 3 which were seen at Cropredy Festival 2022 and then listed the others in no particular order. A total of 24 so far, and probably more because they weren't good or distinct to be remembered.
The rest will be blogged when I get the proverbial round tuit.
1. Edward II. Cropredy Festival, 11/08/2022, personal rating ✶✶✶✶✫
A band that has been going, on and off and in various guises and forms since 1980, taking their musical roots from both Jamaican and English folk, producing an infectious blend of music that is prefect for a festival like Cropredy on a hot sunny day, and boy was 2022 hot and sunny in August. Sorry no photo of this lot so you’ll have to make do with this one borrowed from the web, and a selfie with my gigging colleagues Colin, Keith (Probably at the bar) Nick & Tim taken at about the time they were on stage. In hiatus again at the moment.
Edward II website
Turin Brakes. Cropredy Festival, 11/08/2022 Personal rating✶✶✶✫✫.
Another of those bands that has been going for yonks, in this case since 1999 very much under the radar for me but still with a decent enough following to keep them going. A friend later told me she had seen them at The Source, Carlisle's tiniest venue, many years ago. Standard self composed Rock and Pop, nothing special but good enough to hang around for in the Cropredy main arena.
turinbrakes.com
Holy Moly and the Crackers. Personal rating ✶✶✶✶✶.
One of those original bands that refuse to be bound by “genre”. I’ve heard a few of those, some initially intriguing but ultimately disappointing … but not this time: I think you need to have a definite identity and character, and the musicality to pull it off, and Holy Moly fit the bill on all counts with their excellent folk rock with jazz and other eclectic influences and a punk attitude mixed from a variety of instruments.
Ruth Patterson is the great female lead with a powerful rich voice who exudes personality from the confines of her mobility scooter. Link about her.
Another excellent festival band. Sadly they don't seem to perform live very much as they all seem to have other interests, next to be seen at Shrewsbury Folk Festival Sept 2025.
Bought the CD
holymolyandthecrackers.com
List of other acts yet to be blogged (In no particular order)
The Damned Truth ✶✶✶✶✶ Ashley Sherlock ✶✶✶ Erja Lyytinen ✶✶✶✶✶ Brave Rival ✶✶✶✶ Susan Santos ✶✶✶✶✶ Voodoo Radio ✶✶✶✶ Puzzled Panther ✶✶✶✶ Baskery ✶✶✶✶✶ Ranagri ✶✶✶✶ Regimental ✶✶✶✶ Amy Ray ✶✶✶✶ Dreadzone ✶✶✶✶✶ Dream in Colour ✶✶ Ellis Bailey ✶✶✶ Big Big Train ✶✶✶✶ Karnataka ✶✶✶✶ Reef ✶✶✶ Tyler Ramsay ✶✶✶✶ The Longest Johns ✶✶✶✶✶ Beaux Gris Gris ✶✶✶✶✶ Wicked Rivers ✶✶✶
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Cycling Climb 4 PLENMELLER COMMON from Haltwhistle. 12/9/2022
Route: Brampton, Haltwhistle, PLENMELLER COMMON, Lambley, Hallbankgate, Brampton. Climb 937m, Distance 57.2km. Link to route on OS site
This Climb
Start: Alt 110m Bellister Haugh, Haltwhistle NY 7082 6354 Finish: Alt 357m Plenmeller Common NY 7393 5884 Link to Climb on OS site
The road up Plenmeller Common is of a much higher quality than one would expect, as seen in this Google shot.
I am not quite sure why but this is often due to the need to service quarrying works, yet there is no evidence of this. There is a transmitter at the top but I have seen those services by far inferior roads. Furthermore the area is part of an SSSI for its extensive areas of blanket bog and dry heath, home to rare mosses and a large variety of moorland breeding birds Wikipedia page.
Another point of interest is a war memorial built by shepherds as a cairn. I am assuming this is at the peak marked Cairn End on the map above. Link There are 3 independent routes to the top here so there will be further opportunities to have a look at this.
The highest point on the climb is just a few meters short of where the road meets Clattering Causeway which runs for 2.3 km west from this point. Though popular on blogs, the internet has yielded no clues as to the origin of this name.
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Park Runs So Far
One of my 70 challenges is to complete 70 park runs by the time I am 70.
Park runs, even though they take place every Saturday at a variety of nearby venues, can be problematic as orienteering takes precedent, even if the latter is on Sunday as I am not yet fit enough to run consecutive days yet.
Here are the ones I have done so far, complete with bar chart. As well as the 70 runs I have targets to run at 17 venues, and get my official time down to 30 minutes. So far 12 runs, 2 venues (Talking Tarn and Carlisle) and a best time of 32:07.
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Cycling Climb 3: FAULDS BROW from the North East (Welton) 1/8/2022
Route: Rosehill, Scotby, Welton, FAULDS BROW, Caldbeck, Rosley, Dalston, Carlisle, Rosehill.
See the route on the OS Website here
The Climb
Start: Alt 18m Rosehill Estate, Carlisle NY 4261 5587
Finish: Alt 322m Faulds Brow, Caldbeck NY 3039 4055
Ascent: 304m. Climb: 482m. Distance 26.8km
See on OS website here
Initially I just intended to have a bit of a cycle round whilst my car was being serviced, hence the convoluted start, then realised I had time to get up to Faulds Brow and tick off a climb in my 70 list
Faulds Brow is the highest point on Caldbeck fell both on and off the road. The road summit is marked by a reservoir tank. There are 4 routes up to this point coming from the NE (this one) SE (Hesket Newmarket), the SW (Uldale) and NW (Red Dial) which I completed on 23/10/2022 starting from Brampton, This will be blogged when I get a “Round Tuit”, (or two) and I will include some more information on the area.
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Cycling Climb 2 HARTSIDE from Alston
Route: Brampton, Slaggyford, ALSTON, HARTSIDE, Castle Carrock, Brampton. OS Link (This also includes Climb 1 Brampton to Alston)
This Climb
Start: Alt 272m Alston South Tyne Bridge NY 7159 4613.
Finish: Alt 576m Hartside pass NY 6486 4189
Ascent 304m Total Climb 305m Distance 8.7km.
Link to OS Website (You can see the route in greater detail here)
This is a single relentless haul, but unusually for passes in the north more or less straight with just 1 false peak. Normally the climb is rewarded with stunning views but a low haze intervened on this day.
The route up the other side from Melmerby on the SW is popular with bikers and the odd (old) boy racer, presumably even more so since the cafe has reopened. There is also a route up from Renwick (CR7) to the West which I descended. This has a mountain bike section which makes this climb fully independent of the other 2, I will do maybe next year or later this year with appropriate tyres.
History
Hartside had always been a packhorse route but in the 1820s Alston Turnpike decided there was an advantage to upgrading the route to accommodate carts carrying large loads from local mines, and John Loudon McAdam was commissioned for the task thus making Hartside one of the first roads to employ McAdamisation. McAdam's basic road building technique is still in use worldwide today. It was far cheaper and easier than the use of massive foundation stones which had itself been used since being introduced by the Romans. Read all about McAdam and his method here.
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Cycle Climb 1. ALSTON from Brampton
Route: Brampton, Slaggyford, ALSTON, HARTSIDE, Castle Carrock, Brampton. Climb 998m, Distance 68.7km OS Link
Climb 2 Hartside is also on the route.
Climb 1 Details:
Start: Alt 86m Paving Brow, Brampton NY 5345 6065.
Finish: Alt 309m Fairhill CP Alston NY 7195 4637
Ascent 309m, Climb 494m, Distance 31.3 km
Link to OS Website Here
I’d done this quite a few times, before and since and decided that sticking to the A689 for the entire journey is the best bet. The off road sections of CR68 have a lot of gates, and the road section has a lot of unnecessary climb and does not seem any safer.
The route over (A689) approximately follows the Roman Road the Maiden Way. It passes through the village of Slaggyford. Wikipedia is reticent about the origin of the name but other research suggests it comes from the old English for muddy or dirty, the Slag may also be a reference to slag being washed down for numerous nearby mines, some of which are still active.
Due to some strange border drawing the route passes into Northumberland and then back into Cumbria as you go further east.
My first encounter with Alston was when I planned an Orienteering event there.
Alston is a nice little market town which shares the claim of “Highest in England” with Buxton. (Though I wonder how they define the actual altitude in such a hilly place, at the market place? - itself on a hillside). The area has been settled as long as 4000 years and after some Roman activity was once governed as part of the “Scottish Estates in England” by the Scottish Crown. However King John de Balliol got too big for his boots and invaded, leading Edward I to march up and reclaim the whole area for England.
Alston was included in the historic county of Cumberland before that was subsumed by Cumbria. Under the latest reorganisation it was deemed wise to place it not back in Cumberland but with Westmorland and Furness, which puts it out on an even longer limb.
Alston has an attractive town centre with lots of Grade I listed buildings and some nice cafés but you don't have to wander far to see its recent industrial past. Its isolation means it has most amenities often lost to similar sized towns nearer to large population centres.
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What's it all about?
This blog is to record a number of challenges to be completed within the period between my 65th and 70th Birthday. I have just passed my 68th Birthday so better get a shift on though have made a slow but steady start! I will update to the current status hopefully by the end of May. I might also add more challenges if time permits.
70 climbs on my Ebike . Either 200m Climb and if possible 300m high point, and/or appears in either of Simon Warren's 100 greatest climbs books ( may be extended back to low starting point). Or of historic or cultural significance. Can be abroad. (about 15 completed - will be updated soon)
Sample 70 Whiskies. Its not all hard work, but must be in A-Z order. about 12 so far I think, still on B.
70 Wainwrights. Done about 10 I think.
7000 Orienteering points, according to my formulae/software. Will be explained when I manage the first post on this.
70 Park Runs. Target time to get down to is 30mins. Also 17 different locations. On Saturdays so often clashes with Orienteering. Done 12 so far.
70 New Live Musical Acts that I hadn't heard of when I started this thing. Mainly support acts and festivals. Criterion: I must like them. Amateurs pub bands and tribute acts not included.
70k walk @ 70 degrees (or as near as practical) from my house. This handily runs close to Hadrian's wall and ends up in Morpeth
70 ???? I may think of more if I get bored.
A fund raiser will be launched as appropriate
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