Basford Bank, Edgton

Steep but undiscovered

Riding the Hill

Just past the Edgton climb is a hidden gem of a hill.  Basford Bank presents a real wall of road steeply rising through a set of houses and going under thick tree cover.  You'll have approached this from a good descent so the short flat and then immediate 15% gradient can be handled easily.  Unfortunately, it gets worse from here and once you are properly under the tree cover it's 18% and then probably 20% (Garmin doesn't give gradient under such thick trees) and this steepness goes on for a good distance, too.

After a while you come out of the woods, into the light and everything goes flatter - there's still loads of normal 12 to 10% climbing to do but you are slowly coming out on top.

Details:

Distance	0.6km
Ave. Gradient	11.4%
Max. Gradient	20%
Elevation Gained	75m
Conditions	Narrow, leaf strewn, rough surface
Strava Link	Link

Location

Drop down from Edgton going East.  There's a fork in the road and you need to take the left-hand one, going down.

Hill nearby
This hill starts up high so you have to climb just to get to it.  The big climb to do is coming from Bishop's Castle - Edgton.

Last word

A toughie.  And, looking at Strava, very few people seem to have a go at it.  The dense, over-hanging trees can mean there's a thin slime of leaf mold all over the road just waiting to slip your back tyre.