Very recently on our members chat page the subject of hill nights and what hills we have in the area came up, perfect time for a blog. If you have any suggestions please add and link us to them and we may put them on the list. By local we mean around 20 miles or less from Blaydon.

click the name of the climb to see it on strava. The Strava links are for reference only, some hills have many segments some considered part of the climbs, some the ‘official’ ones. 

 

Durham:

Busty Bank: Right on the Gateshead Border, this one takes you from Rowlands Gill right up into Burnopfield. 0.9 miles, 9% average, 448ft gain

Peth Bank: One in the 100 UK top climbs, just out of Lanchester with a steep first ramp this one will get your legs going. 1 mile long, 8% average and with a gain of 448ft

Ebchester Bank: Another one mile climb averaging 8% with a 445ft gain, takes you from Ebchester to Medomsley.

Gateshead:

Lady Park: Leading up from the team valley this one is 1 mile long, 7% average and climbs 354ft, there’s a few variations on this climb within strava depending on what road you enter the main climb from.

Chopwell: one of the longer climbs at 1.4 miles this one will test your legs, after the ramp down into Blackhall Mill it’s all uphill until you reach either the golf course or the turn off for Hedley on the Hill. 6% and 428ft greets you if you take the shorter (linked) route that ends at Clayton Terrace Road.

 

Newcastle:

Hospital Lane: Just up the road from our sponsors KB Cycles this is a short 0.6 mile climb which is perfect for trying repeats and it’s one of the closest climbs to Blaydon. it’s got a 6% average gradient and you’ll notch up 225ft of climbing which is one of the least on our list.

Station Road: Leading up from the Keelmans way, and the old Heddon On The Wall Railway Station the only accsses to this one is via the shared keelmans way and through a farm right of way, or to do the descent from Heddon and start at the bottom, you’ll take on a challenging 10% climb over 0.8 miles gaining 406ft making this possibly one of the big hitters on our list. Take care on the road as it’s part of access to a farm so the appropriate traffic may be using it.

Northumberland:

Aydon Road: Climbing out of Corbridge towards matfen this hill is one mile long, 6% and gains around 299ft.

Langley Castle: After leaving Haydon Bridge you can take in the Climb to Langley Castle, at 2.4 miles it’s possibly the longest one we’ve got on our featured list, you’ll take on an average gradient of 4% and climb 490ft mostly under trees and taking in a winding sweeping road.

Hedley on the hill: HOTH or MH11 as it’s known in some circles is right on the Northumberland border, and is a official national hill climb event. You’ll take in 1 mile, 8% average and 421ft on this hill, it’s got it’s share of ramps and twists and is a great climb.

Prospect Hill: Just as you leave corbridge heading on the A695 towards Stocksfield you’ll have a right turn up here, it’s twisty and quite long, once you get to the top you’ve a playground behind it with many more local climbs. It’s just under a mile coming in at 0.9 miles, with a 7% average and a 383ft gain.

Ryal: One of the ‘feared’ climbs you’ll have heard about, don’t let that put you off! after a steep first of two hills you get a great little run up the second ‘Ryal’ – The Ryals feature in the Cyclone Sportives as well as the Beaumont Trophy and Curlew cup. It’s another one that has multiple strava segments, right from ‘offical’ ryals, one’s named ‘Bin to Ryal’ (what bin it means, we’ll never know!) take your pick at a segment in the area, but we’ll pick just the one that’s linked. In the 1 mile climb featured you’ll have an average climb of 6% and add around 320ft of climbing on your legs.