I used to go up and down Clow Tops in my D series, when we were loading Wells drinks from Tanbury Wells.
Jeff…
How about Al Ta-if…on the way to Riyadh from Jeddah it was a tester for the F89 ,s range change cables…a SARAMAT 89 can be seen in the distance with a 20 ft box on all circa 1977 sorry about the quality
An ERF at play in the Ta’if mountains. Robert 
Cross Hills Hemsworth during the 80s 90s early 00 s between the hours of 7pm to 12pm every weekend even more so on a bank hoilday and xmas 
Pillys road Ellendale Southern Tasmania 1:5 gravel
Holmes road Ellendale 1: 5 gravel Starts out bad then gets worse
It’s so bad that even the trees have left
Looking back the other way.
Jeff…
Great thread this,some good logging pics Jeff. I went out to do a job in the bush a while back and was told to go up ‘Everest Road’ and yep she was steep!
There are some good pulls here in NZ and the roads are only single carriage way,with the odd passing lane. Auto boxes have really started to take hold in the last few years,but the 18 speed fuller is still the box of choice. Here’s my mate Pete in his Octopus last month,we went to the South Island to pick up a load. He’s climbing the Karamea Bluff,which is the only road into Karamea on the west coast.
Here’s another good climb,Otira Viaduct on Arthur’s Pass,this is the main road between the east and west coast in the South Island. If you run out of brakes coming down here it’s not pretty,no arrester bed at the bottom of this one. This is the new road that was built about ten years ago,the old one had quite a few switch backs.
ANDREWDAX:
Archie Paice:
Really Nasty Hills, Now this does’nt mean you have to have driven a Lorry up, or Down them. Most of them mentioned either here or abroad most of us have tried at some time or another. But not far from where I live is I believe, either the joint or the steepest hill in Britain. This is known locally as Rosedale Chimney Bank it is 1 in 2 1/2. When we first moved there it was a challenge, but now with modern cars, just about anybody can master it.Is that the road from Whitby to York, I used to load from Whitby to Swansea many years ago and remember a steep hill not far from Whitby.
Clive.
No it’s not, it’s called Blue Bank out of Sleights towards Fylingdales.
Jim
JFC999:
ANDREWDAX:
Archie Paice:
Really Nasty Hills, Now this does’nt mean you have to have driven a Lorry up, or Down them. Most of them mentioned either here or abroad most of us have tried at some time or another. But not far from where I live is I believe, either the joint or the steepest hill in Britain. This is known locally as Rosedale Chimney Bank it is 1 in 2 1/2. When we first moved there it was a challenge, but now with modern cars, just about anybody can master it.Is that the road from Whitby to York, I used to load from Whitby to Swansea many years ago and remember a steep hill not far from Whitby.
Clive.
No it’s not, it’s called Blue Bank out of Sleights towards Fylingdales.
Jim
Yes you’re right Jim the hill just south of Whitby at Sleights is as you say Blue Bank. There is another bad one just past Fylingdales on the same road A169 called Saltersgate Bank, this is a bugger because there is a hairpin bend half way up.
The one I was referring to originally is not for large vehicles, although I did do it once in a TH Bedford. It’s just out of Rosedale going to Hutton le Hole, that is I in 2 1/2.
If I’d have read your reply to the poster who asked I wouldn’t have bothered with mine !
Case of not reading the whole answer and yours was much better than mine .
I know blue bank and salter gate well but only in my car going to Whitby for hols, I would say that bend on Saltergate is worse than Sutton bank and I’ve done that in a wagon several times.never done the Rosedale though.
Jim
ahhh Clows Top that brings back some fun times , used to deliver to farm in Bayton and several times i had to stop halfway up cos some numpty had thought it was a good idea to drive straight out from the farm , or someone decided to pull into the garage right on the summit , also coming from Tenbury wells up to Clee hill is another good hill and coming from Ludlow to Clee hill up Angel bank ,
I seem to remember that in the 60,s I had reason to try Sutton Bank ( now that was a beauty !!) in an AEC Mercury 4 wheeler while with Allisons Freightlines (Transport at the time) …I had a private drop up there somewhere … isn’t it out from Thirsk ■■? I 'm sure there was a load limit on it too !! anyway them was the days !!!1
backsplice:
I seem to remember that in the 60,s I had reason to try Sutton Bank ( now that was a beauty !!) in an AEC Mercury 4 wheeler while with Allisons Freightlines (Transport at the time) …I had a private drop up there somewhere … isn’t it out from Thirsk ■■? I 'm sure there was a load limit on it too !! anyway them was the days !!!1
Yes it’s out of Thirsk and there’s actually no weight limit on it, but no caravans.
Lots of signs about hgv’s inconveniencing motorists but no limit.
The Lh bend at the bottom of the last slope is the killer , easy to lose traction.
Jim
JFC999:
backsplice:
I seem to remember that in the 60,s I had reason to try Sutton Bank ( now that was a beauty !!) in an AEC Mercury 4 wheeler while with Allisons Freightlines (Transport at the time) …I had a private drop up there somewhere … isn’t it out from Thirsk ■■? I 'm sure there was a load limit on it too !! anyway them was the days !!!1Yes it’s out of Thirsk and there’s actually no weight limit on it, but no caravans.
Lots of signs about hgv’s inconveniencing motorists but no limit.
The Lh bend at the bottom of the last slope is the killer , easy to lose traction.
Jim
Hullo,
Yes dear old Sutton Bank, the location of many people getting stuck including myself. In the Winter of 1979 I was coming home from loading Groupage in Scootland. In those days with no Mobile Phones I had to walk down to the bottom of the hill to the AA Box that was there, to call for assistance. The road was closed while we had to wait for old Maurice Milestone to arrive from his Garage at Marton with his Thornycroft Antar, to winch me up onto the level bit before the hairpin. Then he had to go up and turn round, reverse down, and pull me up the rest of the Bank. The worst point of the climb is just at the top of the initial climb, that where everybody gets caught out… If you can get past that you know you’re OK.
Mind you in those days of two axle units it was sometimes not possible to have quite enough weight over the pin, now with tri axle units, and more powerful engines you never hear of anybody getting stuck there. All good fun though.
few bad ones comlng out santander before improvements/ andgoing up old s.siera . the old ip5 after villa formoso especially after a night in elvis/bar the coqhuila can be hard work with tridem on and thirty ton bottled water thru b.c. canada
stevejones:
few bad ones comlng out santander before improvements/ andgoing up old s.siera . the old ip5 after villa formoso especially after a night in elvis/bar the coqhuila can be hard work with tridem on and thirty ton bottled water thru b.c. canada
Talking of Somma Sierra (long, Spanish and steep), as I became more educated I began to learn important stuff like where flies go in winter, and how long a piece of string is; however, I was already approaching middle-age when I discovered how snow-plough drivers get to work. They sit there on Somma Sierra, near the top, with their engines running and their orange beacons flashing lazily in the flurries of flakes WAITING FOR IT TO SNOW. I kid you not. Maybe they should try that on the M62… Robert
i recognise that place robert sank a few in there over the years .remember when u used to come over the top and just 2 lane ran right outside used to pull in let everything cool down b4 heading down /maybe wind em on a bit
It is interesting that I called this thread ‘Really nasty hills’. Of course hills are only ‘really nasty’ if they threaten to defeat you. Most of the hills on this thread I would contentedly plod up, changing progressively down through the gears, provided that the gearbox was good and the engine up to the task. Only one hill ever defeated me. Before I took my GBH licence, I once had a little ‘threepenny-bit’ lorry (BMC FG) with a 2.2 diesel in it. I picked up a large quantity of cement and sand in it for a friend who was building a garage at the top of his very steep and winding drive. I had grossly overloaded the little lorry, so I dropped into first at the bottom of the drive and took a run at it. Halfway up it became clear that the engine couldn’t cope and as I ground to a halt and applied the ratchet handbrake it became apparent that THAT couldn’t cope either, and I couldn’t hold it. Result: the loss of several newly-planted leylandii trees and a very sweaty morning barrowing the supplies up the drive. That’s what I call a nasty hill. Robert 
l.o.l i drove one of them ol girls age 14 my dad had one ex coop 14 yrs old thought i was the kiddy l.o.l can imagine what u felt like
