Now that’s a PROPER bum clencher!
Dan Punchard:
Robert have you done the Col de Cabre on the D93 from Die to serres ,at the top there’s a restaurant with large parking area opersite or if you carry on in the bottom nr serres there’s a les routiers .very nice scenery going up from the Die end but not much to look at once you start going down the other side .
I’m pretty certain I did go across there when I was pulling Anglo Overseas trailers, but I can’t remember where I was going! Robert
Jelliot:
OK starting in the north and heading south. A list of my favorites…
Berridale Braes on the top end of the A 9
The short cut over by the Altnaman pub, it used to take a good half hour of going round by Spinning dale, but it was single track with grass growing down the center of the road, I only just managed to fit my draw bar round some of the corners. To my surprise I met one of Kinlockbervies Dafs up there one night, but later on I asked him about it and he told me he only took the 40 footer up that way.
The climb up over Glen Fiddick and Glen Annan,
The decent to Elgol harbour on Skye.
The west side of Skye.
The A 949 from Grantown on Spay to Banckory
The A 93 from Ballater through Breamar to Blairgowrie.
The Carter bar south of Jedburgh.
Most of the the south end of the A 68 including Killin pit hill on the south side of Hexham
The old road down into Stickelpath.
Telegraph hill ( short but sweet )
The drop into Honiton.
Jubilee drive.
The climb up Lawyers eastern Belguim on the way to Luxemburg, ( actually there are a few climbed and descents in that area )
Cutting through from Rimermount to Thann
in the same area from St Die to Mulhouse
The climbs from Bourg to Nantua, ( tunnel bridge section )
The drop on the Italian side of the Blonk, St Bernard, and Brenner.
Mont Cenis
Canna in southern ItalyRunning north east out of Italy towards Hungary and Slovakia there were a few climbs but I wouldn’t know their names.
Robert has already mentioned most of Spain Portugal and Greece, and north Africa.
A couple more for Turkey are; Tahir still as high as it used to be but it’s now Autoyola most of the way, Kizeldag as well.
Kirikkate to Samsun, pretty wild both directions.
Getting from the UAE to Muscat is a bit vertically challenged.
There are some nasty ones round Almaty in south east Kazakhstan. hard to read the topography so they come up quick and unexpected.The Moombie ranges near Armadale NSW.
The Blue Mountains Especially Mount Victoria, in NSW
The south end of the Putty road from Windsor to Singleton NSW.
Mount Arrowsmith Lylle highway west Tasmania.
Queenstown Lylle highway west Tasmania.
Tarralieaha, Lylle highway Tasmania.
The Sidings near Scotsdale Tasmania.
Kingston to Hounville Tasmania.
The Southern Outlet into Hobart, 1 in 9 ( the steepest main road descent into any capital city in the world )
Any climb with a road train.In Australia we have the most stupid law, which is no use of foot brakes on descents, everything must be on gears, backed up with an engine brake. No engine brakes after dark in built up areas. If your caught with your foot on the brake its 3 points and $150.
Jeff…
Hi Jeff I cannot remember the law about no brakes on down slopes in Aussie, Although I only drove up and down Western Australia and never ventured into other states. All of my work was ■■■■■■■ with the mining and oil industry.
Glad to see this thread back.
Was I the only one who used really hate going down big hills…?
Loved driving up them. But just seemed so unfair having to battle back down them…
Tubbysboy:
Glad to see this thread back.Was I the only one who used really hate going down big hills…?
Loved driving up them. But just seemed so unfair having to battle back down them…
Some of my worst fears were going up them too, especially in the old days of 150 hp and only 6 gears. Anything steeper than one in ten got the pulses racing and the rule was stop at the bottom and engage crawler. It was a long time to the top with no chance of changing up even when it eased a bit, and the right knee trembling like a jelly.
Spardo:
Tubbysboy:
Glad to see this thread back.Was I the only one who used really hate going down big hills…?
Loved driving up them. But just seemed so unfair having to battle back down them…
Some of my worst fears were going up them too, especially in the old days of 150 hp and only 6 gears. Anything steeper than one in ten got the pulses racing and the rule was stop at the bottom and engage crawler. It was a long time to the top with no chance of changing up even when it eased a bit, and the right knee trembling like a jelly.
I’m with you Spardo, my first lorry driving experiences were round timber from Scotland and North Wales. Sometimes the only way of getting the Mastiff up the forestry road hills was to open the cab door and reach round to pull the cold start!
Also loaded out of Gosforth in ■■■■■■■ and couldn’t get up the sharp (maybe 1 in 7) click with the right hand bend at Muncaster near Ravenglass. Had to back down, turn around and go all the way back to Cockermouth & Penrith to get to Wigan.
It was winter and slick - think it was more of a grip problem than power deficiency, should have got more weight on the drive wheels!
John
Talking about brakes ( or lack of ) before the advent of spring brakes, how many of us learnt the hard way to back up to a trailer when coupling up and before you went under the trailer stopped and put the red line on and blew the trailer tank up then took the red line off again to make sure the trailer brakes were on.
It didn’t take many attempts of trying to catch the trailer as it rolled backwards each time you hit the pin.Even if the trailer handbrake had been applied they weren’t much more than a decoration so it soon became 2nd nature to blow the tanks up and usually put a timber behind the wheels.
All tricks you learn through experience
Cheers Bassman
hiya used to go with a guy big j. pulling out of Ashbourne towards leek on the A52 as you pulled over pumphouse
(reservoir) you could count the pistons firing at 32 ton gross.(seriously) four years later on the same hill in a F88
28 mph not trying and maybe a ton overloaded.
John
Hi,
First week out as a driver I got a load for Halifax(before the M62 ), Asked another driver how to get there was told “you went to Dewsbury yesterday so go there and ask from there, that’s how you learn your way about”.
So at the bottom of Dewsbury Cutting I asked for directions and was sent up through Heckmondwyke and Cleckheaton. This was with an old Invincible with a 150 Gardner and DB 6speed pulling 22ton of wire, how far I went in 2nd gear I haven’t a clue but the next time I found the Elland way.
I still remember the fellows face who sent me that way, fortunately I never met him again!
Bassman
Those of you who have enjoyed this thread may like to explore this 
: blissfully unaware of this thread, bloggers on the UK Forum have started their own thread called, ‘Your most challenging hill climb / descent’. It is most entertaining and because quite a few young drivers have posted experiences that are still fresh in their minds 
, it brings a very nice dimension to the whole hill thing. One Simon1958 speaks of ‘clean laundry moments’ on nasty hills 
Robert
A couple more really nasty hill pics to get you kinching on your driving seats. Both are from Yemen. Robert
robert1952:
A couple more really nasty hill pics to get you kinching on your driving seats. Both are from Yemen. Robert10
Robert
Good picture. Great road markings on one - working or hols?
Ken
Kenb:
robert1952:
A couple more really nasty hill pics to get you kinching on your driving seats. Both are from Yemen. Robert10
Robert
Good picture. Great road markings on one - which area are they from?Ken
First one is on the Jalat al Hayat road; and the second on the road to Taiz: both in Yemen of course. I didn’t take them - I found them on the net! Robert
Spardo:
Tubbysboy:
Glad to see this thread back.Was I the only one who used really hate going down big hills…?
Loved driving up them. But just seemed so unfair having to battle back down them…
Some of my worst fears were going up them too, especially in the old days of 150 hp and only 6 gears. Anything steeper than one in ten got the pulses racing and the rule was stop at the bottom and engage crawler. It was a long time to the top with no chance of changing up even when it eased a bit, and the right knee trembling like a jelly.
I can relate to the right knee trembling like jelly. It was as if you didn’t push down with maximum force on the accelerator pedal then the engine would think you were not serious about climbing the hill and give up.
Ackward call to make to the boss
East Anglia is not known for its hills and compared to other places there aren’t any really bad ones but one can still get caught out. Before the days of the A12/A14 Ipswich by-pass, from the south of Ipswich the A12 went down a long descent to a roundabout. One day when I was driving a loaded Ford D-Series 16 ton tipper with a ■■■■■■■ V8, I came down the long descent very carefully. The lorry had no form of auxiliary braking, as was common in those days, and the ■■■■■■■ V8 gave poor engine braking in lower gears, on its own it would just over-rev and run away, so there was no option but to keep on the footbrake, which held me all the way down the hill. At the roundabout I was probably doing about 10 mph and there was a vehicle approaching from the right. I applied the footbrake harder and nothing much happened and I rolled onto the roundabout about 15 feet, but luckily there was no collision. I was aware of the danger of brake fade but it’s difficult to see how it could have been avoided in those circumstances.
Hardknott Pass,■■■■■■■
