THE DEAD END CLUB

Who needs cols when you've got cul-de-sacss? Simon Warren rides the roads to nowhere

You see a dead end, I see an opportunity, you see a cul-de-sac, I see a potential summit finish. Don’t let that blue square with it’s bold red and white ‘T’ turn you away, see it as an advert to adventure, an invitation to explore. It may not be a through route but it will lead somewhere; and that somewhere may just be a magnificent, secluded part of Britain that most people would have simply passed by.

Our island is littered with such roads. Climbs to transmission masts, isolated farms, radar stations. One-way streets to high-altitude adventure and best of all, due to their nature they are almost all free of traffic. You may well have heard of such legendary climbs as the Cowlyd in Snowdonia, Abdon Burf in the Shropshire Hills and of course the mighty Great Dun Fell, the celebrated mountain top finish in the Pennines, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more such wonders out there to discover and on this ride I introduce you to three absolute beauties.

To bag these climbs I have come to the North West, home to some of the best roads to nowhere, set in some of England’s most beautiful scenery. With so much to choose from dead-end wise the temptation to plot a massive 160km ride was strong but I had to show restraint and from our long list of candidates picked three classics, Whinfell, Bullpot Lane and Leck Fell. These fit nicely into a loop but it does mean climbs such as Caton Moor, and one of my all-time favourites, the sublime Adamthwaite Bank, didn’t make the cut, but please go search these roads out at your leisure.