I was driving around the Caterham area today and the sat-nav took me up a hill so steep I felt like I the car was going to fall off the side of the earth. This got me wondering what the steepest section of road was in the UK.
Does anybody know?
|
|
would Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire be a contender? - there is a Caravan ban on it AFAIK
|
|
It might not be the steepest but the road out of Grasmere leading towards Elterwater/Loughrigg Tarn is pretty steep. Had to stop on that fully loaded once due to traffic... clutch didn't smell to good after that!
|
|
|
Constitution Hill in Swansea. When my Gran was a young girl she made the mistake of cycling down it and almost broke every bone in her body.
It was used in a professional cycling race and it simply staggered the pro cyclists. I have turned into it from side-streets heading downwards and you fear the car will tilt over. It was featured in a car stunt in Twin Town.
It is cobbled.
|
|
Porlock hill makes a car cough too.
|
|
Anyone remember the old Dunlop Guide for motorists? That had a list of steep hills (on major roads I suppose) and I seem to recall Porlock being near the top, and the old Applecross road (2000 feet at summit) in west Scotland, now bypassed - shame.
|
|
|
|
|
I remember watching the cycle race that used it. Not only steep but as you point out cobbled! Many just got off at one point. And they had to do more than one circuit.... but who thought using a hilly cobbled street for racing bikes was a good idea?
|
.... but who thought using a hilly cobbled street for racing bikeswas a good idea?
Anyone who's had to dodge the idiots on their "time trials" when they're paying more attention to the race than they do to their safety of anyone else's.
Personally I think cobbles should be mandatory for cycle races. ;-)
Note; this post is not aimed at normal sensible cyclists who have as much right as anyone else (but no more) to use the roads.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hardknott pass in the Lake District I think is one of the steepest. especially if you come from the Gosforth end towards Ambleside. No caravans or trailers will attemp this pass.
The full road to use is callled the Hardknott and Wrynose pass its truly awsome.
|
Section of both passes are 1 in 3. The fell road out the back of Ulpha towards Corney in the Lakes seems even steeper in short sections on the bends.
A summer dawn around there and over towards the top end of Eskdale is something to expereince
|
RJ. Beat me to it by 2 minutes! I have been there and I can believe the 1 in 2.5 claimed. I have only ever been down it in a car, nto up. I want a clutch at the end
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 12/02/2009 at 17:52
|
Chimney Bank on the North York moors is "in excess of 1 in 3"
www.geograph.org.uk/photo/373541
It has cyclists dismount signs at the top and has bad hairpins
|
|
Yup, Rosedale Chimney - especially the sharp corners - can be tricky on a motorbike keeping enough speed going not to fall off!.
|
For a good steep inner city road, try Junction Street, Manchester. I think it's about 1 in 3 and still cobbled. There's no lead in slope, you come off the level like going over the edge of a cliff, you can't see the road ahead until your bonnet drops down a few feet. It's only short, about 75 yards.
Ted
|
|
I remember a road in deepest Snowdonia, my dads Lada was doing 15mph in full revs trying to climb it.
|
|
|
|
Hardknott pass in the Lake District I think is one of the steepest. especially if you come from the Gosforth end towards Ambleside.
Not sure I understand. Is it less steep in the other direction?
|
|
|
|
|
Montrose street in Glasgow city centre and 1 or 2 parallel streets.
|
|
The road through Egton Bridge in the North Yorks Moors is 1 in 3 as is the main street in Robin Hoods Bay.
|
|
I'd second Porlock Hill in Somerset too. I remember driving up that in a FIAT UNO 45 as a kid going to be a camp leader at Lee Abbey at Lynton. Didn't think I'd get up!
|
On holiday two years ago, I drove up Porlock with a twin-axle caravan! SWMBO was navigating down the M5 heading for north Devon site; I had looked at the map, but not knowing the area had chosen the 'red' road along the coast, rather than keeping on the M5! Also hadn't noticed the first 'unsuitable for caravans' sign, and by the time I saw the next one there was no where to turn! SWMBO commented after the climb that she knew it was a very steep hill, as she'd holidayed in this area before!
Good advert for Shogun Sport 2.5TD, as we went up in normal gear ratio, 1st gear, with only slight wheel scrabble on the awsome hairpins! Underclothing change later.
|
|
|
|
I'll second Daveyjp on the Egton Bridge road though the A(hah!)39 out of Lynmouth towards Watersmeet is steep and has some "interesting" hairpins. It's not often you have to look out of the rear nearside window to see where you're going next!
JH
Edited by JH on 13/02/2009 at 16:41
|
|
Yup I know that one as well!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Can't remember the gradient, but there are some pretty steep climbs in Wester Ross near Applecross.
Failing that, try the off road driving test centre at the Land Rover Experience Centre within the Solihull plant. It is 1 in 1.
|
Google and wikipedia reckon that the Hardknott pass is the steepest in England and somewhere in Harlech is the steepest in the UK.
|
I've done Hardknott on a M/bike several times and it's a right pain trying just to stay on the seat on some of the bends. I wouldn't like to do it on the Silverwing with it's centrifugal clutch which lets go at about 1200 revs and drops you into neutral.
Ted
|
|
|
|
Failing that try the off road driving test centre at the Land Rover Experience Centre within the Solihull plant. It is 1 in 1.
Would that be geographical 1 in 1, ie distance along the surface:height gained,
or mathematical, ie horizontal:vertical?
(Difference between sine and tangent only negligible at small angles)
|
Would that be geographical 1 in 1, ie distance along the surface:height gained,.. >>
You mean such as climbing Beachy Head?
or mathematical, ie horizontal:vertical?
You mean such as the normal definition of gradient :
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(slope)
" The grade (or gradient or pitch or slope) of any physical feature such as a hill, stream, roof, railroad, or road, refers to the amount of inclination of that surface where zero indicates level (with respect to gravity) and larger numbers indicate higher degrees of "tilt". Often slope is calculated as a ratio of "rise over run" in which run is the horizontal distance and rise is the vertical distance. .... ...
There is a fourth method in which slope may be expressed: the rise is divided by the hypotenuse (the slope length). This is not a usual way to measure slope but it is useful when one only knows the slope length and not the horizontal run. "
|
|
|
|
Don't know about the mathematical aspect. However if you approach it from the top in a Land Rover vehicle, the road literally disappears in fron of the bonnet! Try it some day because once you go over the top, there is no turning back!
|
|
|
|
|
Not the steepest I'm sure, but there is a steep hill on the approach to Lincoln Cathedral called.....
"Steep Hill"
Always raises a smile :-)
|
|
Hardnott and Wrynose passes come to mind having traversed these several times in the sixties. Also a back street in Harlech and the road between Downe and Cudham in Kent is very steep in one part just as Cudham is reached.
|
|
|
Not the steepest I'm sure but there is a steep hill on the approach to Lincoln Cathedral called..... "Steep Hill" Always raises a smile :-)
Yes i do know that one, it has a lovely view across the city from the top IIRC.
|
>> Lincoln Cathedral called..... >> >> "Steep Hill" >>
"Not suitable for wheelchairs"... and it means it too, if you got half way up and ran out of puff you'd be in trouble!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Theres a small road near Luddendenfoot in Yorkshire which is the steepest I have ever been on. Add to that it is narrow with hairpins and you have to keep stopping and repositioning to make headway. Suppose there is a limit laid down somewhere for the maximum gradient allowable.
|
|
I'd have thought we would have had more suggestions from our Scottish correspondents.
|
"I'd have thought we would have had more suggestions from our Scottish correspondents."
Having had many holidays in the far Northwest, my first thought was of the B869 around the Stoer Peninsula, east of Nedd. I was once stuck on one of the steepest gradients there, facing a magnificent Highland bull, who was as disinclined to move as I was to attempt to persuade him.
|
As mentioned, a few in Glasgow are pretty steep, by the standards of urban streets, including Scott Street:
www.flickr.com/photos/30102233@N08/2835937141/
And Gardner Street in the city's west end:
www.flickr.com/photos/owen-b/105357074/
Seem to recall a particularly steep section of the Lecht road too, although it's been a fair few years since I was there, so time may have exaggerated the memory!
Oh, and Hayley Brae in Largs, it has an enormously elongated hairpin that never seems to end as you birl down it!
|
Yeah Glasgow has some serious steep hills, the one leading from Sauchiehall St at the old ABC up to Garnerthill was another. Used to have to walk up it every day and the pavement was studded for grip.
Re Gardner St above, IIRC this is the street that features, or featured in the opening sequence in Taggart?
|
And not sure how steep it is but the road leading to Pennan that featured in the film Local Hero? I remember my dad driving down it years ago and thinking it very steep?
And finally the first part of the road on Loch Lomond side from Balmaha up towards Rowardennan. Maybe it just feels worse due to lack of tarmac on it!
|
>>>"I'd have thought we would have had more suggestions from our Scottish correspondents."
>>Having had many holidays in the far Northwest, my first thought was of the B869 around the Stoer Peninsula, east of Nedd.
Sorry to let the side down, however . . .
I do most of my driving in the Highlands, and I've driven the B869 round Stoer many times (managing to get airborne on one occasion!), but I found it child's play compared with the Wrynose and Hardknott Pass.
|
>>.............. Stoer many times (managing to get airborne on one occasion!) but I found it child's play compared with the Wrynose and Hardknott Pass.
What can it be like crossing the Hardnott and Wrynose passes today, with the volume of holiday traffic about. Are there any restrictions as to who and what can enter the roads that ultimately lead to these two killers.
It was bad enough forty years ago, if one come across vehicles coming in the opposite direction.
I have driven across several times in an Austin A40 (Pinin Farina model), a Morris Minor and various Austin Healey Sprites.
|
|
|
|
