100 Climbs Route: Day 5, Lynton to Bath

In August 2018, three Cycling UK members - Dominic Millar, Graham Salisbury and James Findlater – cycled a 3,300-mile, 29-day route around Britain to take on all 100 hills featured in Simon Warren’s book ‘100 Greatest Cycling Climbs’. This route plots day five of the journey, 113 miles from Lynton to Bath, taking in the climbs of Exmoor Forest, Porlock, Dunkery Beacon, Crowcombe Combe and Cheddar Gorge.

Day five is a hill hunter’s paradise as the route zigs and zags along the northern parts of Devon and Somerset looking for challenges. Thankfully, they’re fairly evenly spread out during a good day of climbing.

Things start in earnest almost from the kick-off, with the long road up and out of Lynton to the top of Hoar Tor in Exmoor Forest. Then it's an eastward blast across the moor to Exford and north to Porlock. Porlock is home to the second and third tests: the fearsome 1-in-4 climb to the west of Porlock requiring a little loop back; and the beastly challenge south to Dunkery Beacon. This at least has the benefit of sending you in the right direction for the rest of the journey.

Eventually the ‘right direction’ brings you to Crowcombe, where you may want to refuel before taking on the Quantock Hills beyond. This means facing the awesome Crowcombe Combe – a treat for true climbing specialists.

A section towards and then through Bridgewater sends you on the way to the Mendip Hills and the final challenge on today’s route: the atmospheric Cheddar Gorge. It’s not easy, but at least it gets easier as the climb continues and, compared to what else you've done today, it's eminently do-able.

Then it’s a case of making your way through a succession of evocative village names such as Chewton Mendip and Farrington Gurney, before finishing in the equally historic surroundings of Bath.