Yalding-Ashford climbs

Yalding to Ashford

This group of hills span from Yalding to Ashford along the Greensand Way, ascending the Kent Downs from the South: Yalding Hill, Smith's Hill, Barn Hill, Hunton Hill, Westerhill Road, Vanity Lane, Linton Hill, Loddington Lane, Church Hill, Wierton Hill, East Hall Hill, Chart Hill, Liverton Hill, Elmshole Road, Church Road

Yalding Hill

Head over the ancient stone bridge, past the village cafe and Walnut Tree pub and Yalding Hill looms straight ahead before curving sharply left. The hill twists and turns with a mostly good surface so you can spin/grind in a straight line while a car passes every thirty seconds or so. Yalding tops out its it joins Smith’s Hill to descend towards Teston. Yalding Hill is a fast descent but as always the road surface flaws are more of a problem downhill - careful on the left/right turn approaching Yalding village at the bottom, especially the right which can catch you out with the gravelly edge of the bend.

Smith's Hill

Smith’s Hill - sadly not named after me - can be approached either from Teston (B2163 from the North West), or from East Farleigh (B2010 from the North East). Either way it’s a decent churn in the big ring. Not many surprises but some interesting scenery as you pass the Tickled Trout restaurant/pub overlooking the Medway and the old school building opposite. Tops out as Yalding Hill descent starts.

Barn Hill

  • Difficulty: 2/10
  • Character: 5/10
  • Traffic: good
  • Surface: good
  • Chevron? no

Between Hunton Hill to the East and Smith’s Hill to the West lies the peaceful Barn Hill, a decent climb through woodland with a couple of mildly-challenging bends in the middle and top. Well worth it if returning from the hills to the East. A great length of hill for racing up in the big ring, which will leave you heaving for the descent to either Yalding or Teston.

Hunton Hill

  • Difficulty: 5/10
  • Character: 5/10
  • Traffic: pretty frequent and can be tight
  • Surface: generally ok but bad at the crucial point
  • Chevron? yes

Hunton Hill starts after the main street with a narrow (albeit two-lane) slope up to a curve where the view opens up briefly as the hill bears left and ramps sharply. I usually switch to the small ring after this, and climb up to the twisting steep section. Unfortunately this is where traffic often catches up, and can struggle to overtake you because of the blind bends, but at least on the darkest, steepest section the lane widens enough that you can (carefully) stand on the pedals and let cars pass. Of course this is the section with the worst road surface but hey ho, after a minute you’re approaching the drag to the summit. I’ve found a convenient tree with a natural seat at the start of the public footpath here for a bite and a swig before heading towards the Linton hills. Descent: can be a bit tricky for the first third as you’re picking up a fair bit of speed at points where the road narrows and you’ll need to keep an eye out for a few potholes. Otherwise great fun!

Westerhill road

  • Difficulty: 5/10
  • Character: 6/10
  • Traffic: not frequent but very tight
  • Surface: rough at points
  • Chevron? yes

Westerhill road lies parallel to, and between, Hunton Hill and Vanity Lane. And it may be harder than both. Whereas Vanity is dead straight, Westerhill snakes viciously up to the same ridge, past hedgerow, houses, a gloomy woodland and a water tower before gradually easing to join the residential road. The curves are good fun though, and as long as you can get through the single-lane straight section - I did have to dismount, lift the bike and merge into the hedgerow Homer Simpson-style here once - then traffic should not be a big problem. Well worth a visit, especially if you combine it with Hunton and Vanity.

Vanity Lane

  • Difficulty: 5/10
  • Character: 7/10
  • Traffic: Worse than you’d think…
  • Surface: Atrocious
  • Chevron? yes

Vanity Lane makes it into Simon Warren’s ‘South East climbs’ and deservedly so. I always start up towards the Linton Hill turnoff as (1) you get a slope down to the climb’s start and (2) there’s a house with a flag flying outside to fill your legs with Agincourt-levels of pride, strength and hopefully balance. That’s because the supposedly helpful slope is smothered with mud and takes you around a narrow blind-curve, where any onrushing car will have you skittering to the road edge. Once you sweep right there’s a small rise to take you past the left turn to Westerhill, then a steady drag, slowly steepening to the houses. At which point you see the slope: ok, it’s not the same visual punch of Alpe D’Huez famous start ramp, but it’s enough to make you start questioning your gear choice. Make sure you downshift at this point, because once you’re standing on the steepest section you will wobble like crazy due to the surface - which is essentially a giant pothole with occasional bits of road. There’s no respite in the middle of the camber with its cocktail of mud, moss and gravel, so keep grinding and admire the elevated public footpath footbridge above where you occasionally get an ‘allez’ from a passing rambler. The climb ends after a shallower but still annoying drag towards the next farm. You *really* don’t want to meet traffic on Vanity - on one run I had to restart twice when a van cheerfully ignored the much-wider-and-really-close-by Linton Hill, making me dismount near the bridge, and then thwarted me again as it returned from its delivery! There’s probably only one safe-ish passing point by the last house on the left. Descent: anchors down pretty much the whole way, and be really careful if turning right at the bottom to Westerhill due to the big gravel chunks/broken roadstone.

Linton Hill

  • Difficulty: 1/10
  • Character: 2/10
  • Traffic: terrible
  • Surface: Pretty good - or at least the 6 inches the traffic allows you to stick to…
  • Chevron? no

Linton Hill is a very busy main road, not helped by the major fruit & veg distribution centre nearby. If the climb itself held the challenge of the similarly busy Riverhill or Westerham Hill I’d forgive it - but it doesn’t. Your grimaces won’t come from the gradient but the high-speed vehicles brushing past you even as you try not pedal into the kerb. Gets an extra character mark simply because the view around the church part is ok, but by then you’ll just be waiting to climb somewhere quieter. Such as…

Loddington Lane

  • Difficulty: 2/10
  • Character: 6/10
  • Traffic: good
  • Surface: good
  • Chevron? no

To the West of Linton Hill there are hills to connect you to the ridge along the Greensand Way that also runs across the Yalding-Vanity stretch. These are not as steep as those to the East but still good fun, and the first is Loddington Lane. Come off the Linton Hill road at Butts Green Lane, trying not to snigger, and pass the parkland on your left: then Loddington is the next left. It’s a big ring climb (albeit standing at points) on a good surface, a typically quiet road and some good views as you reach the fruit farms towards the top. And there’s a farm shop, brewery and skateboard shop which does coffee! Fun descent too.

Church Hill

  • Difficulty: 2/10
  • Character: 6/10
  • Traffic: good
  • Surface: good
  • Chevron? no

Next on the ‘Hills East of Linton’ is Church Hill. What makes this a must is the Church itself which you’ll pass about 2/3 of the way up the climb. It has a South-facing cemetery and benches well-positioned to take in the beautiful view over the adjoining deer park and it’s curious residents - so make sure you turn back at the top to check it out.

Wierton Hill

  • Difficulty: 3/10
  • Character: 8/10
  • Traffic: good- mostly
  • Surface: generally good
  • Chevron? yes

Wierton appears in Simon Warren’s ‘X-climbs’, and is a fun short climb with a terrific viewpoint. Parallel to Loddington Lane and Church Hill, it also merits a chevron at the narrow ramp into the pretty hamlet itself. A steep blind curve follows, which is inevitably where you will meet any traffic, then pass the wonderful view of the valley to your right. Then one more curve and you’re there. Then turn right at the top and descend East Hall Hill…

East Hall Hill

  • Difficulty: 4/10
  • Character: 6/10
  • Traffic: good- mostly
  • Surface: pretty sketchy
  • Chevron? yes

East Hall Hill is a near mirror image of Wierton Hill, joining it at the top. It’s harder though as the curves are less sweeping and more direct. But it’s a terrific ‘sprint hill’ as it’s short enough to let you really dig in even at the chevron section, even though the part leading up to that is probably mid-teens % gradient. A very fun hill, and when you finish turn left to catch that lovely Wierton valley view on the descent.

Chart Hill Road

  • Difficulty: 3/10
  • Character: 2/10
  • Traffic: Good
  • Surface: Pretty good
  • Chevron? yes

East of Wierton towards Sutton Valence is the hamlet of Chart Hill. Its titular road forks off the main road from Rabbit’s Cross at Chart Bottom farm. It has a chevron, but…it did nothing for me. Hard enough that you feel the gradient, but not so hard that you get any sense of challenge - it’s just a drag up an average road with little in the way of views as you don’t bend back to face South at any point. Probably didn’t help that I did it on a dull grey day.

Liverton Hill

  • Difficulty: 3/10
  • Character: 5/10
  • Traffic: good
  • Surface: can get busy
  • Chevron? no - but has a 20% sign?!

At Grafty Green, carry straight on as the road narrows, dips, and then rises sharply before taking a steep left hander and a steeper right-hander. A road sign at the top claims ’20%’ but I’m really not sure where that happens exactly. Maybe it was getting toward the end of the financial year, and the council needed to spend their '20% gradient' sign budget or lose it for next year... anyway, grind on and you soon reach the top at Liverton street. Traffic can be a problem, although the steepest section is wider, which helps, and traffic can pass you (a bit close) on the narrow part: but you may be held up if the uphill traffic meets the downhill. A fun hill as long as the traffic is good.

Elmshole Road

  • Difficulty: 3/10
  • Character: 3/10
  • Traffic: good
  • Surface: very poor
  • Chevron? yes

Turn left off Liverton Hill at Elmshole Road onto the rough track, which last saw a tarmac crew at some point in the Middle Ages. This is clearly so little used that I got into the Strava top 10 on my reconnaissance ride - not quite with notebook in hand, but certainly in a cautious low gear to be ready for any surprises. Which sadly don’t really arrive: the curved chevron section has you standing briefly, but your sense of dread won’t be the gradient but whether any farm vehicle is about to plummet your way down the single lane. The surface is littered with roadstone so you’ll be weaving frantically to avoid punctures. Not really worth it unless you’re in the area or want an easy way to get a Strava trophy.

Church Road

  • Difficulty: 1/10
  • Character: 8/10
  • Traffic: good

    • Church Rd is a short but very sweet climb taking you from the superbly-named Grafty Green to Boughton Malherbe. Starting at the small triangular green with the village sign, take the left turn to pass the tiny village hall on your right - which was promoting a pancake day feast when I passed - take a quick descent into farmland before a brief steepish section. This merits a chevron, apparently, but with the momentum from the descent it doesn’t feel like one, a fact that makes Church Road a good candidate for an all-out sprint hill. Then a right-hand curve gives you a magnificent view of the valley below - continue past the beautiful church to climb to the crossroads, then turn back, sit on the south-facing bench outside the church, have a bite and a swig and chat to the sheep. On the descent, see if you can get up enough speed to stop pedalling at the bottom of the dip and sail up the final slope to the green.

    Photo of Grafty Green