Feb 11 - The World's Steepest Street

On the way back to the hotel, Linda took us to one more sight in Dunedin - Baldwin Street - the world's steepest street. Some little town in Wales is trying to wrestle the title away, but Dunedin is having nothing to do with their rather sketchy methods of measuring and is refusing to cede the title - see below.

A short straight street a little under 350 metres (1,150 ft) long, Baldwin Street runs east from the valley of the Lindsay Creek up the side of Signal Hill towards Opoho, rising from 30 m (98 ft) above sea level at its junction with North Road to 100 m (330 ft) above sea level at the top, an average slope of slightly more than 1:5. Its lower reaches are only moderately steep, and the surface is asphalt, but the upper reaches of this cul-de-sac are far steeper and surfaced in concrete (200 m or 660 ft long) for ease of maintenance (bitumen—in either chip seal or asphalt—would flow down the slope on a warm day) and for safety in Dunedin's frosty winters.

The 161.2-metre-long (529 ft) top section climbs 47.2 metres (155 ft) vertically, an average gradient of 1:3.41.[3] At its maximum, about 70 metres (230 ft) from the top,[3] the slope of Baldwin Street is about 1:2.86 (19° or 35%). That is, for every 2.86 metres (9.4 ft) travelled horizontally, the elevation changes by 1 metre (3.3 ft).

In 1987, Baldwin Street was officially recognized as the world's steepest street by the Guinness Book of Records following a two-year campaign by the broadcaster Jim Mora. At the time, Baldwin Street topped two competing streets in San Francisco, which hitherto had held the title of being the steepest streets in the world.

On 16 July 2019, Baldwin Street lost its title of World's Steepest Street to Ffordd Pen Llech, in Wales, with Baldwin Street being at a gradient of 35%, and Ffordd Pen Llech being at a gradient of 37.45%. Most definitely, Baldwin Street is the steepest street in the Southern Hemisphere.

Five of us - Bob, Carol, Jennifer, Gaynor and myself - gamely dug deep into our reserves and made it to the top. On the way down, we bypassed the shop where we could have bought "I climbed to the top of Baldwin Street" certificates. We've got the picture to prove it!

We have time to ourselves this afternoon - most of us are fitting in one more optional tour before we head back to Christchurch tomorrow.もっと詳しく