Cycling the seven hills
This route does exactly what it says on the tin! It’s a route that either goes up or down all of the roads that go up Goodwood Hill. Being right on the edge of Chichester makes this one of my regular “long routes home”. The great thing about this ride is that you can tackle the climbs in any order – and each has its own character:
- Kennel Hill is a wide open road; it’s quite a steady climb (maxing out at 7.6%) which makes this ride hard from the start. Its open nature also makes the descent fun and very quick!
- Town Lane (from Singleton) is the steepest climb rearing up to around 11%. It’s a killer if you set off too fast, as it rears up after the first bend! The good news is it’s only 2.3Km long!
- Knights Hill from Charlton is famous amongst local bike riders for the annual Hill Climb event. It’s a short-ish hill averaging 8%. The record currently stands at 4:00 minutes in case you want a challenge!
- My favourite climb is New Barn Hill. This route goes past the main entrance to the Goodwood Estate and the Goodwood Sculpture Park. It’s not that steep at 6.7%, but it does go on for nearly 5Km.
- The shortest climb is from East Dean a mere 1.3Km at 7.5%.
- The longest climb is the A285 through Halnaker at 5.5Km. It is also the shallowest climb, averaging out at 6%, although there are a few downs on the way up!
- The final climb is the A285 from Upwaltham – it’s not the toughest climb at only 6.3%, but it’s there to be climbed!!!
As mentioned this route can be ridden in any number of ways, from an all-out slog of all 7 hills in one go, to tackling each hill individually, or taking a much slower day-long ride around Goodwood. The nearby Fox Goes Free in Charlton village is a cycle friendly pub, which sells good food to help.
All of these hills have Strava segment times to pitch yourself against! You can view mine here.
(There is an eighth commonly ridden route up Goodwood – known as “The Trundle”, but this is a bridle path so you may need to change bikes!!)
Download a PDF of my route.
