The Rake, Ramsbottom
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We're back with ten more of the UK's steepest climbs (pic: Jake_Oulsnam, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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The White Down climb is one of the steepest in Surrey (pic: sarflondondunc, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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Bwlch-y-Groes is known in English as Hellfire Pass - with good reason (pic: SimonPix, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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Bealach na Ba is said to be the UK's toughest climb (pic: Englishpointers, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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The Rake hosts one of the longest-running hill climbs in the country (pic: Martin Hefner, Flickr Creative Commons)
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Long Mynd is a painful climb of Asterton Bank (pic: John Spooner, Flickr Creative Commons)
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Carlton Bank in Teesside offers stunning views and brutal pitches (pic: Natural England, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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Devil's Staircase in Powys is an aptly hellish climb (pic: John Spooner, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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Bushcombe Lane kicks up several times with fierce gradients (pic: Tejvan Pettinger, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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The Struggle is the toughest of three routes up the Kirkstone Pass (pic: Mark Kent, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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The Lecht is a stunning Scottish ascent to the ski station of the same name (pic: Dolk, via Flickr Creative Commons)
The Rake, Ramsbottom
An iconic British hill climb, thanks to regular appearances in the Tour of Britain and the national championships, The Rake is perhaps Lancashire’s most famous ascent.
The Rake may be short at less than a kilometre but it makes up for that in steepest.
Kicking up at a ten per cent gradient for the first section, a false flat is the only option for recovery before the climb pitches up painfully into Rawson’s Rake. With a gradient of more than 20 per cent, it is a brutal stretch, albeit recently resurfaced, before a final, short flat run to the finish.
Vital statistics
Length: 0.95km
Elevation: 101m
Average gradient: 12 per cent
Maximum gradient: 23 per cent
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