Highest Tarmac

"Mike Sales" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Every Christmas the club I ride with rides to the highest local road. This is the private road
to the surge pool of the Marchlyn Mawr Pump Storage Scheme on Elidir Fawr in Gwynedd. It is a
bit over 2000 feet. I have been trying to track down the highest tarmac in Britain. My
candidate is the

road

Quoted message said:

to the radar mast on Great Dunn Fell. I cannot find out how high the

tarmac

Quoted message said:

goes on this road. Can anyone help? If it goes to the top it must be at about 2780 feet. (848
metres) Mike Sales

Pro-Cycling had an article on the road to Applecross in Scotland, the writer said it was the
highest road in the UK. The following week a reader wrote in and said he was wrong and I think
it was stated that the road up to "The Lecht" in the Grampians was the highest. Can anyone
confirm this ?

Graham

"Graham" wrote in message > Pro-Cycling had an article on the road to Applecross in Scotland, the

Quoted message said:

writer said it was the highest road in the UK. The following week a reader wrote in and said he
was wrong and I think it was stated that the road up

to

Quoted message said:

"The Lecht" in the Grampians was the highest. Can anyone confirm this ?

I was distinguishing between highest public road and highest road. I think that the Marchlyn Mawr
road is higher than the Applecross road. Is the Lecht road a private road? Mike Sales

In the Guinness Book of Records (1997) it says the highest road is a private lane leading to the
summit of Great Dun Fell, Cumbria, at 847m. The highest classified road is the A93 at the
Cairnwell Pass.

--
Pauline

"Alan" wrote in message "Mike Sales" wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Every Christmas the club I ride with rides to the highest local road.

This

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

is the private road to the surge pool of the Marchlyn Mawr Pump Storage Scheme on Elidir Fawr in
Gwynedd. It is a bit over 2000 feet. I have

been

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

trying to track down the highest tarmac in Britain. My candidate is the

road

Quoted message said:

to the radar mast on Great Dunn Fell. I cannot find out how high the

tarmac

Quoted message said:

goes on this road. Can anyone help? If it goes to the top it must be at about 2780 feet. (848
metres) Mike Sales

Having consulted my Memory Map software and the relevant OS maps within it
( Iknew there was a reason I bought it!) here's some information to throw into the debate, along
with relevant grid references.

Lecht Ski Centre NJ 25190 11920 2117ft

Elidir Fawr SH 61330 61965 2100ft

Great Dunn NY 68535 28805 992 ft (where road changes from

"C"

Quoted message said:

to track) NY 71030 32160 2768ft (track ends at mast)

Bwlch Y Groes SH 91310 23260 1786ft ( A tiddler)

I been past the Lecht Ski centre on the main road in June and it was

pretty

Quoted message said:

remote even then - I would hate to try it on a bike in January!

Cheers

Alan

Thanks for your help. Your GR for Elidir Fawr seems to be for the road by the dam of the top lake.
This christmas we went to the surge pond instead, as it seems to be a bit higher, GR SH 601 609. It
seems that if the Great Dunn Fell road is tarmaced, it is the highest. But is it tarmaced? If not,
probably there are other very high unmetalled roads. To make the quest easier and the definition
clearer, I am sticking to tarmac as a qualification for roadhood. The annual ride up to Elidir Fawr
is not always successful. One year we had to walk up hard icy snow to reach the gate onto the
private road. Since we did not have axes and crampons we went no further. Mike Sales

The message <[email hidden]> from "Mike Sales"
<[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

"Graham" wrote in message > Pro-Cycling had an article on the road to Applecross in Scotland, the

Quoted message said:

writer said it was the highest road in the UK. The following week a reader wrote in and said he
was wrong and I think it was stated that the road up

to

Quoted message said:

"The Lecht" in the Grampians was the highest. Can anyone confirm this ?

I was distinguishing between highest public road and highest road. I think that the Marchlyn Mawr
road is higher than the Applecross road. Is the Lecht road a private road?

The Lecht (Cockbridge - Tomintoul) is very much a public road (the A939 no less).

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden] Edgware.

I did three high roads on my summer tour of Scotland this year.

The first was the Bealach Na Ba on Applecross, which goes above 620m. I've heard that it is the
highest pass in the UK . I went east from Applecross village, which meant going down the steepest
side. It was a hot day and I got a flat coming down when my front rim-tape melted.

The second was as far up Cairngorm as the road went. This is about 640m, but you have to come down
the same way so it doesn't count as a pass. There is a track marked on the map going higher up, but
I couldn't access it.

The last was the Lecht, which comes down from the Cairngorms into the Don valley. This goes to
around 620m (as far as I can tell from the map). At the top I went for a trip on the chairlift. It's
very steep going down to [censored] Bridge, and the cafe and woolmill shop at the bottom sells nice cakes
and cold beers.

Applecross was by far the hardest climb because I started around sea level. The Bealach Na Ba isn't
particularly pretty, and there was quite a lot of traffic. The road round the North of the peninsula
is fantastic, though. It's a quiet singletrack with amazing views and beaches and it's so hilly that
I hardly used my middle chainring. Watch out for the big cows on the road though.

None of these are near 800m though.

Happy climbing, Bruce

Applecross: multimap.combrowse.cgiOpen ↗
blic&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&scale=100000&advanced=&multimap.x=62-
9&multimap.y=286

Cairngorm: multimap.combrowse.cgiOpen ↗
lic&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&scale=100000&advanced=&multimap.x=116-
&multimap.y=166

The Lecht: multimap.combrowse.cgiOpen ↗
lic&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&scale=100000&advanced=&multimap.x=335-
&multimap.y=71

"Mike Sales" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Every Christmas the club I ride with rides to the highest local road. This is the private road to
the surge pool of the Marchlyn Mawr Pump Storage Scheme on Elidir Fawr in Gwynedd. It is a bit
over 2000 feet. I have been trying to track down the highest tarmac in Britain. My candidate is
the road to the radar mast on Great Dunn Fell. I cannot find out how high the tarmac goes on this
road. Can anyone help? If it goes to the top it must be at about 2780 feet. (848 metres)

"Mike Sales" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Every Christmas the club I ride with rides to the highest local road. This is the private road
to the surge pool of the Marchlyn Mawr Pump Storage Scheme on Elidir Fawr in Gwynedd. It is a
bit over 2000 feet. I have been trying to track down the highest tarmac in Britain. My
candidate is the

road

Quoted message said:

to the radar mast on Great Dunn Fell. I cannot find out how high the

tarmac

Quoted message said:

goes on this road. Can anyone help? If it goes to the top it must be at about 2780 feet. (848
metres) Mike Sales

Having consulted my Memory Map software and the relevant OS maps within it
( Iknew there was a reason I bought it!) here's some information to throw into the debate, along
with relevant grid references.

Lecht Ski Centre NJ 25190 11920 2117ft

Elidir Fawr SH 61330 61965 2100ft

Great Dunn NY 68535 28805 992 ft (where road changes from "C" to track) NY 71030 32160 2768ft (track
ends at mast)

Bwlch Y Groes SH 91310 23260 1786ft ( A tiddler)

I been past the Lecht Ski centre on the main road in June and it was pretty remote even then - I
would hate to try it on a bike in January!

Cheers

Alan

"Bruce McAdam" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I did three high roads on my summer tour of Scotland this year.

The first was the Bealach Na Ba on Applecross, which goes above 620m. I've heard that it is the
highest pass in the UK . I went east from Applecross village, which meant going down the steepest
side. It was a hot day and I got a flat coming down when my front rim-tape melted.

Rim tape melted !!!! You mean you were not using "Velox" cloth tape ?

Graham

Quoted message said:

The second was as far up Cairngorm as the road went. This is about 640m, but you have to come down
the same way so it doesn't count as a pass. There is a track marked on the map going higher up,
but I couldn't access it.

The last was the Lecht, which comes down from the Cairngorms into the Don valley. This goes to
around 620m (as far as I can tell from the map). At the top I went for a trip on the chairlift.
It's very steep going down to [censored] Bridge, and the cafe and woolmill shop at the bottom sells nice
cakes and cold beers.

Applecross was by far the hardest climb because I started around sea level. The Bealach Na Ba
isn't particularly pretty, and there was quite a lot of traffic. The road round the North of the
peninsula is fantastic, though. It's a quiet singletrack with amazing views and beaches and it's
so hilly that I hardly used my middle chainring. Watch out for the big cows on the road though.

None of these are near 800m though.

Happy climbing, Bruce

Applecross:

multimap.combrowse.cgiOpen ↗
&client=public&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&sc
ale=100000&advanced=&multimap.x=629&multimap.y=286

Quoted message said:

Cairngorm:

multimap.combrowse.cgiOpen ↗
&client=public&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&sc
ale=100000&advanced=&multimap.x=116&multimap.y=166

Quoted message said:

The Lecht:

multimap.combrowse.cgiOpen ↗
&client=public&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&sc
ale=100000&advanced=&multimap.x=335&multimap.y=71

Quoted message said:

"Mike Sales" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Every Christmas the club I ride with rides to the highest local road.

This

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

is the private road to the surge pool of the Marchlyn Mawr Pump Storage Scheme on Elidir Fawr in
Gwynedd. It is a bit over 2000 feet. I have

been

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

trying to track down the highest tarmac in Britain. My candidate is the

road

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

to the radar mast on Great Dunn Fell. I cannot find out how high the

tarmac

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

goes on this road. Can anyone help? If it goes to the top it must be at about 2780 feet. (848
metres)

"Just zis Guy, you know?"wrote in message

Quoted message said:

is the private road to the surge pool of the Marchlyn Mawr Pump Storage

Quoted message said:

Scheme on Elidir Fawr in Gwynedd.

I didn't know you could ride up there - I've only been up there on the tour with the family. Have
you been inside the power station itself? Incredible! But I am an electrical engineer, so maybe
slightly biased
:-)

Guy

You can, but you may not. You have to lift your bike over a locked gate. Mike Sales.

"Pauline Dennis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In the Guinness Book of Records (1997) it says the highest road is a

private

Quoted message said:

lane leading to the summit of Great Dun Fell, Cumbria, at 847m. The highest classified road is the
A93 at the Cairnwell Pass.

Cairnwell Pass (if Devil's elbow) shows at 2237 ft here NO 14100 77490

Alan

You can view a pro-shot, quicktime movie of the Hill Climb organised by Energy Cycles, Llanberis on
29th June 2002. The course was from the shores of Llyn Padarn to the Surge Pond via the steep minor
road through Fachwen.

The event was won by the Clwb Rasio Mona boys in something like 29 min, i think i crawled up at
arround 39 min. Look for a yellow bike getting passed - thats me:-) Other highlights include good
views of the whole route and nice scenery. It will give you a good idea of what this rather nice
piece of tarmac is like (in summer)

The event was filmed by Local adventure cameraman Alun Hughes, and can be viewed on his site
snowdoniatv.comsnowdoniatv.comOpen ↗ (look in the 'events' section) lots of other goodies there, mostly hard
rock climbing, paragliding but also a short bit about Mountain Biking. A Broadband connection is
usefull to view these, it took about 30 mins to download the clip on my poor modem.

Also, the Surge Pond has its very own web cam. You can see what the weather is like anytime by
looking at fhc.co.ukliveOpen ↗ The views of Snowdon and Moel Eilio from Elidir Fach
are taken from the Surge Pond which is where the road terminates.

I have also ridden the Lecht, clocked 100kph coming down towards Tomintoul thanks to a fully laden
tandem and baby smooth tarmac. My favourite is the Bealach Na Ba. It was quiet and spectacular and
we had a close up view of a Golden Eagle as he flew alongside for a few magic moments,
unforgettable. This was about halfway along the northern road out of Applecross.

Not been to Great Dunn Fell, but its on my list. Where would the group suggest as a base for
ridding the GDF?

You can view a pro-shot, quicktime movie of the Hill Climb organised by Energy Cycles, Llanberis on
29th June 2002. The course was from the shores of Llyn Padarn to the Surge Pond via the steep minor
road through Fachwen.

The event was won by the Clwb Rasio Mona boys in something like 29 min, i think i crawled up at
arround 39 min. Look for a yellow bike getting passed - thats me:-) Other highlights include good
views of the whole route and nice scenery. It will give you a good idea of what this rather nice
piece of tarmac is like (in summer)

The event was filmed by Local adventure cameraman Alun Hughes, and can be viewed on his site
snowdoniatv.comsnowdoniatv.comOpen ↗ (look in the 'events' section) lots of other goodies there, mostly hard
rock climbing, paragliding but also a short bit about Mountain Biking. A Broadband connection is
usefull to view these, it took about 30 mins to download the clip on my poor modem.

Also, the Surge Pond has its very own web cam. You can see what the weather is like anytime by
looking at fhc.co.ukliveOpen ↗ The views of Snowdon and Moel Eilio from Elidir Fach
are taken from the Surge Pond which is where the road terminates.

I have also ridden the Lecht, clocked 100kph coming down towards Tomintoul thanks to a fully laden
tandem and baby smooth tarmac. My favourite is the Bealach Na Ba. It was quiet and spectacular and
we had a close up view of a Golden Eagle as he flew alongside for a few magic moments,
unforgettable. This was about halfway along the northern road out of Applecross.

Not been to Great Dunn Fell, but its on my list. Where would the group suggest as a base for
ridding the GDF?

On 27 Jan 2003 02:23:45 -0800, [email hidden] (Gwyn) blathered:

Quoted message said:

Not been to Great Dunn Fell, but its on my list. Where would the group suggest as a base for
ridding the GDF?

The tarmac goes pretty much to the top on GDF; the offroad downhill the other side to Garrigill is
also good if it's dry/frozen. Possible loops include back over Cross Fell / Hartside to the north,
or via High Cup Nick to the south. A there-and-back would not be very satisfying, but much of the
GDF access road is straight so you'd be able to hit warp speed on a descent.

Appleby has a good Thai restaurant/inn on the slip road that enters the town from the A66 (heading
north/west).

Pete
----
btinternet.com~peteajonesOpen ↗

On 27 Jan 2003 02:23:45 -0800, [email hidden] (Gwyn) blathered:

Quoted message said:

Not been to Great Dunn Fell, but its on my list. Where would the group suggest as a base for
ridding the GDF?

The tarmac goes pretty much to the top on GDF; the offroad downhill the other side to Garrigill is
also good if it's dry/frozen. Possible loops include back over Cross Fell / Hartside to the north,
or via High Cup Nick to the south. A there-and-back would not be very satisfying, but much of the
GDF access road is straight so you'd be able to hit warp speed on a descent.

Appleby has a good Thai restaurant/inn on the slip road that enters the town from the A66 (heading
north/west).

Pete
----
btinternet.com~peteajonesOpen ↗

Gwyn said:

snowdoniatv.comsnowdoniatv.comOpen ↗ (look in the 'events' section)

Cool!

Quoted message said:

fhc.co.ukliveOpen ↗

Even cooler! It's what WAP is for, surely - check the weather, and if it's good get the
boots out :-D

--
Guy
===
I wonder if you wouldn't mind piecing out our imperfections with your thoughts; and while you're
about it perhaps you could think when we talk of bicycles, that you see them printing their proud
wheels i' the receiving earth; thanks awfully.

highwaycode.gov.uk09.shtmlOpen ↗ highwaycode.gov.uk09.shtmlOpen ↗

Gwyn said:

snowdoniatv.comsnowdoniatv.comOpen ↗ (look in the 'events' section)

Cool!

Quoted message said:

fhc.co.ukliveOpen ↗

Even cooler! It's what WAP is for, surely - check the weather, and if it's good get the
boots out :-D

--
Guy
===
I wonder if you wouldn't mind piecing out our imperfections with your thoughts; and while you're
about it perhaps you could think when we talk of bicycles, that you see them printing their proud
wheels i' the receiving earth; thanks awfully.

highwaycode.gov.uk09.shtmlOpen ↗ highwaycode.gov.uk09.shtmlOpen ↗

Just zis Guy said:

Quoted message said:

fhc.co.ukliveOpen ↗

Even cooler! It's what WAP is for, surely - check the weather, and if it's good get the
boots out :-D

Looks pretty black up there now (22:05) 😉

Andrew Templeman said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

fhc.co.ukliveOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Looks pretty black up there now (22:05)

Can't see any rain, though, so it's on with the boots :-D

--
Guy
===
I wonder if you wouldn't mind piecing out our imperfections with your thoughts; and while you're
about it perhaps you could think when we talk of bicycles, that you see them printing their proud
wheels i' the receiving earth; thanks awfully.

highwaycode.gov.uk09.shtmlOpen ↗ highwaycode.gov.uk09.shtmlOpen ↗