It seems incredible now that only 30 years ago it was quite normal to take a run at even an ordinary hill like Swanscombe Cut on the A2, at 75 mph but be down to 13 mph by the time we were parallel with the electricity station, especially if driving Merc 1619s or anything with a 180 Gardner: same scenario approaching Leicester Forest East from the north. Now we can sail over in top gear, with the right kit.
Given a particularly savage descent, nowadays, the cruise-control backs off, the automated gearbox gives a soft-shoe shuffle, the engine-brake kicks in and you simply glide down the slope making a reasonably controlled descent at twice or thrice the speed we used to; and those big disc brakes are coolly waiting in the wings if we need them â at least, on a clear, dry day.
Not so long ago, we would block-change down a fistful of gears as we crested the summit, hit the exhaust-brake and descend on tip-toe. Before that, we simply slowed to walking pace, engaged a very low gear and crept down the mountain to prevent those drum-brakes from fading.
Call me old-fashioned, but even with disc-brakes I used to play safe with the worst hills. One particularly nasty descent I remember was the hill from Belen Pass in southern Turkey, down to the turn-off for Reyhanli and the Syrian border at Cilvegozu (itâs been in the news a lot recently because that border has been in the wars). The village at the top had a shack that served truckers with some of the cheapest and best food in Turkey â the village is called Kici. I remember hitting the summit one trip and looking down on the clouds as if I were in an aeroplane! It wasnât a hugely dramatic descent but it was vicious and unrelentingly steep. I was fully-freighted that particular trip and as I tipped over the summit, I engaged 1st gear in the Twin-splitter and sailed all the way to the bottom on the exhaust-brake without having to touch the brakes. As I had disc brakes, that probably wasnât completely necessary, but it was safe. I do remember having to do the same thing with a drum-braked Scania without a working exhauster fully-freighted going down the mountain at Amfissa in Greece: on that occasion it WAS strictly necessary. In the old days, all driving was done this way.
Another nasty hill was the motorway descent from Pozanti in the Toros mountains of Turkey, 30 unremitting KMs down to where the road divides to Tarsus or Adana. Those of you who remember the much worse old road that the motorway replaced may like to tell us what that was like.
We mustnât forget that the UK has some of the worst short climbs in Europe, and a lot of those are in busy urban settings! Others that spring to mind in Europe include the climb out of Koblenz in Germany, Cluj in Romania, Sunbilla in Spain (before the tunnel was built), Santa Lucia in Spain, Malaga in Spain, the old N1 to Alsasua in Spain (where Miguels and Alaska truck stops were), Aosta in Italy. I drove over the High Atlas south of Marrakesh and those were nasty climbs. And what was that horrible hill in Portugal called â IP5?
There are thousands more. Who can remember the really tricky climbs and descents? Your thoughts, drivers, please! Robert 
(we didnât know something else),but had more time to stop in Bande as today what do you want.
