Wales takes aim at Dunedin in battle for 'world's steepest street'

  • 10/09/2018

The Guinness World Record for the steepest street is currently held by Dunedin's Baldwin Street - but there's a new challenger taking aim at the title.

People in Harlech, northern Wales, say they have a steeper street and claim to have proof.

In their submission to Guinness World Records, residents say Ffordd Pen Llech has a muscle-busting one in 2.73 gradient at its steepest part, compared to Baldwin Street's calf-burning one in 2.86.

"At its maximum, the slope of Baldwin Street is about 1:2.86 (19 degrees or 35 percent). That is, for every 2.86 metres travelled horizontally, the elevation changes by one metre," local resident Gwen Headley told the Mirror.

"I looked up Llech, or Ffordd Pen Llech as I discovered it's also called, on Wikipedia. It says; 'Its descent of the rock spur to the north of the castle gives it a tangentially measured gradient at its steepest section of 1:2.73.'"

Sarah Badhan, who runs a Facebook Harlech community discussion page, hopes Guinness World Records will assess the street.

"It would be nice if they'd come and check it out," she told the BBC.

"I lived away for a number of years and I used to proudly tell people about living in the town with what I believed to be the steepest hill in Britain. It's something we're all pretty proud of."

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