Uphill struggle pays off with the thrill of swooping down

Become knowledgeable about animal signs, especially trails. Badgers and roe deer create distinctive paths through woods, and gaps under fences are often used by animals.

Never place a camera pointing perpendicularly across an animal trail – have it directed along it, so it can pick up the creature as it approaches, giving more opportunity for a longer piece of film.

Many cameras allow you to see a preview image so that you can be sure the camera is pointing in the right position. This is important, as there is nothing more annoying when you only get a partial film of an animal. You can also use a straight stick and line it up with the lens as an indicator to make sure the camera is pointing in the right direction.

Trail cameras have both video and still photo options, or both can be used at the same time. I prefer just to use the video option.

Use bait. Peanuts placed on a tree trunk are a great way of attracting squirrels, jays and other creatures.

Road cycling has an obsession with pedalling up mountains. For me personally, that joy is greatly enhanced by the anticipation of a fast and swooping descent. But for many the joy of burning legs, sweat dripping in their eyes and lungs about to burst is enough of a lure.

Perhaps the challenge is part of the attraction; being able to push yourself to the limit on a climb that, for many, might seem like an impossible hurdle.

For those masochistic souls, it is the gradients of mountains of continental Europe that exert their magnetic pull.

They look to emulate the professional warriors of the road by following their pedal strokes up the climbs in the Alps, the Picos, the Dolomites and the Pyrenees made famous by races such as the Tour de France and the Giro d’italia.

Each of these climbs is graded as to its difficulty from Category 4 (easy, in relative terms) to Category 1 (difficult) to Hors Catégorie (HC – beyond categorisation – ouch!)

The categories are defined by the steepness and length of the climb. But how is this decided? Strava, for example, decides on the category of the climb based on the calculation of the length of the climb in metres multiplied by the average gradient of the climb.

This causes some problems as very few climbs have a consistent gradient, some have flat sections and some may even have short descents, all of which can mislead in determining the overall gradient of a climb.

An apocryphal story in the cycling world is that categorisation of climbs was first decided for the Tour de France using a Citroën 2CV. The lowest gear that the car had to change down to on the ascent would be the categorisation of that climb.

The climb would be awarded HC status if the 2CV failed to get up, or only managed it in reverse gear. It is a lovely story, but one that I have never been able to verify. I’ve spoken to locals in the French Alps and they shrug their shoulders and grunt “peut-être” – maybe. Perhaps the timeline offers a more reliable witness.

It was not until 1948 that the 2CV first went into production, falling in between the official designation of Category 2 climbs in 1947 and Category 3 climbs in 1949. As usual, however, the myth and legend is far more attractive than the possible reality, so I won’t probe any further with that one.

It was 1905 when the first “official” climb, the Ballon d’alsace, was introduced to the Tour de France, although the Col de la Republique had been used in the Tours in 1903 and 1904.

Since then the mountains have become shrouded in legendary stories, places where warriors battle. Races have been won and lost in them and riders have lost their lives racing on them. We have given them names like The Circle of Death, that fearsome stage that includes ascents of the Tourmalet, the Peyresourde and the Aubisque. The fiercer they sound, the more fabulous the battles that are fought on their slopes the more cyclists want to go.

They may be a place of pain and suffering, but for road cyclists they are also a place of pilgrimage and joy. 376 399

Distance: Where to ride:

Tealing

OS Landranger

Craigowl–

Map 54 NO

1.17miles starting from Hillside of Prieston. Average Gradient 11%. Category 3 climb

Details: It may not have the grandeur of larger climbs, but the Ventoux of Angus, Craigowl offers a steep challenge for cyclists. With a surfaced road leading to the masts at the summit and a height of 1,493ft, the views from the top are worth the effort

The gradients of mountains exert their magnetic pull.