Eleven kilometres down the Wye Valley, from the limestone gorge at Symonds Yat to the castle at Monmouth — starting in England and finishing in Wales.

The first seven kilometres are as gentle as English road riding gets: a level gravel track beside the river, under the wooded cliffs of the gorge, past Goodrich and its Norman keep, never varying more than a few metres in height.

The sting is late and brief. Just past km 8 the road lifts away from the water — a hundred metres at nearly 8%, four percent for the half-kilometre around it. Over the top it drops just as quickly, and the finish comes at Monmouth Castle, birthplace of Henry V.