Bardon Hill
Punctuated by explosions
Punctuated by explosions
Bardon Hill is the highest point in the county. Its southern unquarried slopes give good bouldering, mostly in the f6s. The best problems are Batwoman f6C and Large Bardon Collider f7A. It is also home to the Bardon Squeeze, a route unlike any other in Leicestershire.
If you hear the siren sound it means they're about to detonate something in the adjacent quarry; you'll feel the vibration through the rock before you hear the explosion.
If you hear the siren sound it means they're about to detonate something in the adjacent quarry; you'll feel the vibration through the rock before you hear the explosion.
Mike Adams' topo can be downloaded below. Extra problems can be found on UKClimbing.com
| bardon_hill_mike_adams.pdf |
Parking: Park courteously on Romans Crescent, Bardon LE67 4QS.
Approach: Walk down Vercor Close and on to the footpath. Follow the path straight through two gates until you come to a warning sign about the quarry. Turn left here then turn right after the yellow painted boulder. Follow this path steeply up to the top of the hill and through another gate. The boulders are on the hillside south of the radio mast. Viewranger Map.
Approach: Walk down Vercor Close and on to the footpath. Follow the path straight through two gates until you come to a warning sign about the quarry. Turn left here then turn right after the yellow painted boulder. Follow this path steeply up to the top of the hill and through another gate. The boulders are on the hillside south of the radio mast. Viewranger Map.
[Bardon Hill] is the Olympus of Leicestershire, or the Jupiter of the county, and perhaps of this country; for it is seen in more directions, if not farther, than any other eminence in England. It fits among the mountain forms about it, with the most venerable aspect, bearded with the bramble, wild thorn and the oak; a cover for birds of the finest plumage and the most delicious taste; the woodcock and pheasant inhabit where, we are told, was the abode of the ancient Druids.
- Supplement to the Leicestershire Views, J. Frosby (1790)
Bardon Hill rises above the rest: and though far from an elevated situation, it probably commands a greater extent of surface than any other view in the island... The horizon appears to rise almost equally on every side: it is quite an ocean view, from a ship out of sight of land... It may be deemed one of the most extraordinary points of view in Nature.
- The Rural Economy of the Midlands Counties, W. Marshall (1790)
No lover of what is wild and wonderful in nature can visit this commanding eminence without feelings of mingled awe and admiration. The recollection that it was one of the High Places where the Bards (hence its name) hymned the praises of their Sun-god and their heroes, and where Druidical superstition received its votaries and offered its victims, is one of the many associations with Bardon.
- Illustrated Handbook to Charnwood Forest, R. Allen (1857)
