WINNATS PASS

CASTLETON, HOPE VALLEY

For sheer drama, nothing matches Winnats Pass – a winding road twisting through a natural cleft, surrounded by towering, grass-covered limestone pinnacles. Leaving the village of Castleton on the A6187, take a left and begin. The sign says 1-in-5 and so it is, all the way to the top, passing car parks and tourist sites and over what may be the steepest cattle grid in England, where you enter the amazing gorge. The grassy banks either side are perfectly pruned and form a natural ‘V’, with you pedalling right in the centre. The silky-smooth surface sweeps gently right before winding slightly and turning left to the summit. The banks fade with every grinding pedal stroke and the sky opens up, but the slope never eases, not for a moment. For many years, this climb was the cornerstone of the now defunct Tour of the Peak cycle race. To think it was climbed after almost 145 kilometres of hard racing defies belief.