Improving the climbing gears on my Roberts

The long cage 105 derailleur will take a 34 no problem. If you’re set on sticking with the shorter cage Ultegra, however, I’d be looking to drop the smaller front ring from a 39 to a 34.

I’m also tempted to say if you don’t already have the new shifters and you’re thinking of getting another cassette anyway, to go straight to 10-speed. Wider range 9-speed are a bit gappy; 10-speed seems to be able to solve the gappiness.
 
I have a new 9 speed chain and a M739 long cage XT MTB mech in the spares box that takes up to 32, ill buy a 11-32 cassette and give it a try. I was hoping to leave the D/ace cranks as they are as they suit the bike.

This will be a small outlay so I can see if it suits the terrain/my knees :)
 
One other way is to by a tripleizer ring, which is an inner double ring with extra mounts to allow a granny on it. You can then keep your nice DA cranks and turn them intuo a triple. IIRC Spa Cycles carry them.
 
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