MAES-Y-DELYN

CRFFYLLIOG, DENBIGHSHIRE

You have to be careful which roads you choose to ride around here as you can end up on some real stinkers, as I did. Potholes the size of small cars, giant Mohicans of grass protruding from the crown of the road together with a liberal smothering of dirt and debris from farm vehicles makes for very slow going. This climb breaks the mould though; it’s clean, attractive, and well worth making the effort to find. On the way out of Cyffylliog you rise through a small clump of trees and rumble across a cattle grid. To your right the banks slope upwards, thick with bracken and gorse, and to your left they fall away, covered with grazing sheep. It’s not long before you’re on the first tough section of the slope, which touches about 15% at its worst. Continuing upwards it doesn’t relent a great deal, never straying far from its 12% average, which it maintains up to the brow where you finish by crossing a second cattle grid.