THWAITES BROW

KEIGHLEY

The best cobbled climb this side of Flanders? Maybe. This unforgiving, super-rugged road is a fantastic hill to ride and has humble beginnings in an industrial estate. In fact, there’s nothing picturesque about Thwaites Brow at all, but forget your surroundings, just focus on those stones. Hard from the get-go the cobbles come at you from every conceivable angle with an almost total lack of uniformity. The road bends round to the right and then left into a set of savage zigzag bends. Straight away there’s another set, these even more merciless than the first. On exiting the bends and their jarring surface you’ll come up to some houses. Bank left, steep right, then left again to leave the cobbles behind and continue on tarmac. Although don’t for one second think it’s going to get easier; the next stretch up to the Druid Arms is the steepest of all and you’re still left with a couple of lumps before you finally peak at the crossroads.