Arthurs Seat
Length: 3.0km
Average gradient: 8.1%
Elevation gain: 208m
Introduction
Rising sharply from the seaside town of Dromana, Arthurs Seat is the highest point on the relatively flat Mornington Peninsula. The road to Arthurs Seat winds painfully upward at a touch under 10% but, like all the great climbs, the amazing views make it all worthwhile.
The start
The climb begins at the entrance to Arthurs Seat Park as designated by the brick signpost on the left-hand side of the road.
The finish
The climb to Arthurs Seat ends at the highest point of the road, in line with the old lookout tower on the right-hand side of the road.
At a glance
- Apart from a couple of short, flatter sections, this is a consistently steep climb.
- The steepest section is a tight left-hand bend 1.5km into the climb.
- The easiest part is the final 600m, a long sweeping left-hander that straightens into the finish.
Climb details
Much like Inverness Road in the Dandenong Ranges National Park, the climb to Arthurs Seat is short but painfully steep. The first corner at the 250m mark bends the road around to the right at a rather painful gradient that is maintained for most of the climb’s 3km length. A couple hundred metres later the road bends back around to the left all the while climbing at around 10%.
At Bowens Point, 1km from the start of the climb, the road heads left again, seemingly steeper than any of the previous corners, but 500m up the road at Franklin Point the climb reaches it steepest and sharpest bend, turning left to begin the second half of the climb. While the temptation is to swing toward the centre of the road here, avoiding the inside of the turn (which is inclined at about 20%), this corner is extremely narrow and you put yourself at risk from vehicles in both directions if you do so.
Predictably, the right-hand bend 1.9km into the climb is also very steep, and it continues this way until Murrays Lookout 200m later. A further 200m into the climb the road flattens off for 100m or so, before continuing at a comparatively moderate gradient for the last 600m to the summit.
The descent from Arthurs Seat should be taken quite carefully as the many sharp corners have a habit of coming up quite quickly when descending at 50km/h. Recommended speed signs of 15km/h should not be ignored around these corners and while the temptation is to take advantage of the road’s steepness, you are better off enjoying the amazing views while descending conservatively.
Profile
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Location
Arthurs Seat is located on the Mornington Peninsula, some 80km south of Melbourne. If you are looking for a long day in the saddle, the 160km return trip from Melbourne via Beach Road and Nepean Highway is a picturesque and enjoyable one — assuming there isn’t a headwind on the way back.
The climb begins just out of the seaside township of Dromana and can be accessed by turning onto McCulloch St off Point Nepean Road (B110). After heading under the Mornington Peninsula Freeway overpass and turning right just before the scarily-steep road ahead, you’ll reach the entrance to Arthurs Seat Park and the start of the climb.
Times
Like most of the great Victorian cycling climbs, Arthurs Seat has a dedicated following over at Cycle2Max. Head over there to post your time or to read the comments of those legendary enough to have broken the 10 minute mark up this challenging climb. Click here to see the Strava segment for the Arthurs Seat climb.
Great little climb, very steep but nice and short.
I don’t know if you have ever climbed Mt Baw Baw but i am interested in climbing it soon and was hoping you had an article on it? I heard it is amongst the toughest in the country.
Hi Andrew. Thanks for stopping by and for your question . I’ve sent you an email in response
Great climb, gets super steep if you hug the corners.
I used to do repeats on it back in the day, but the last time i rode it (tailing my wife) it nearly killed me.
If you are doing this climb for the first time make sure you have a base, maybe put Twobays rd under your belt half a dozen times first. Enjoy
Repeats of this climb would be nasty. It’s not long, but it packs a punch. Particularly if you hug the corners, as you mentioned.
I climbed this on Saturday.
Stings after 80kms in your legs, but the return leg to the city becomes easy after climbing this.
The headwinds the whole way back were nasty though.
Highly recommend it.
new record is 7.57 from that Russian pro from Team Katusha who won the stage in the 2011 Suntour. incredibly fast considering the times the VIS guys did were generally 8.40-8.50m. for a general amateur to get under 10.00m is doing very well. normally a 39×19,21 for the first section and possibly the big ring for the last 400 meters is possible depending on your form….
Did it today on my R1 in about 5 secs, what a great view from the top!
I kind of expected to find Cycle2Max segment for this in Strava but kind find it so far, does anyone know what the segment is called on Strava ?
Thank you for a great write-up. I rode it last Saturday in the rain. I’d say this is a very faithful description of the ride.
For anyone thinking of trying this… This is a great challenge. But make sure you do some easier ride such as 1 in 20, Kings Lake, Montrose to Olinda etc before attempting this one.
@Serge. the segment is called ‘wonga gate – tower’.
It’s a tuff climb the first time, it took me, a couple of attempts before i cracked it, but once you do it you just want to do it again.
Great climb. Did it for the first time on Saturday. Rode down from Melbourne to do it. Spent a lot of time out of the saddle trying to maintain momentum. Found it hard to keep my 39×25 turning while seated.
Awesome little climb used to do this 4 nights a week after school for training back in the day, i could cane it then now my fast twitch muscles just say ‘damb’ thats hard!
Great blog just found it after just doing GOORC at Torquay and looking for more training climbs
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