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stu531 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 21:16
That Priests Leap looks great. Are there any hairpins on it though?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Priest's Leap (Gaelic Léim an tSagairt) is a steep and nearly straight single-lane mountain pass between Coomhola Bridge and the village of Bonane
I first drove Hardknot/Wrynose Passes in about 1985 in my 950cc Peugeot 104 - following the university climbing club minibus - and certainly parts were a bit of a challenge.
Did them again many years later in a rather more powerful Saab 900 and found it no problem at all.
That's nothing! In 1987, my dad drove the family over the Passo de Tremalzo overlooking Lake Garda in Northern Italy. Nowadays, it's marked cycles only (which is why the Google StreetView car can't go any further), but back then there were no signs so we promptly went plodding along this gravel track with everyone (except Dad) saying "OMG we're going to die!!!!"
And even that is small fry compared to this:
Last edited by Ritchie333 on Thu Jan 06, 2022 12:50, edited 1 time in total.
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I've done it a few times, but most recently in 2019 on my way to climb Scafell Pike.
It was the subject of one of the first pages on my Rural Roads site, which is still on line and is still, sadly, very neglected. Some big American firm went and captured all these roads on their Street View system. http://www.rural-roads.co.uk/lakes/wrynose.shtml takes you through Wrynose and Hardknott.
Simon
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Last drove Hardknott years ago in a rwd minibus, which was interesting as on the sharpest bends, the rear wheel on the steeper inside of the bend started to lose traction. After a day of very heavy rain in Eskdale, we decided to go back to Grasmere by a very much longer but less hilly route!
I drove it in May 2018. I was able to stop and got a few nice photographs of Hardknot Fort (built by the Romans). My biggest problem with taking the photographs was that I had a dog with me who wanted to chase some silly white animals, so I had to make sure that the dog lead was firmly secured.
That looks incredible. As much as I'd love to do it in my own car, it sits too low to the road so I think I'd rather take a hire along it.
I've done it in my Opel Astra, its not too bad really, just the lack of views and the agony as you see a tractor coming the other way!! Priests Leap is actually popular because Co Corks county top (for hillwalking) is Knockaboy, which is at the top of the pass and a 3km walk from there.
As for hairpins - nope, but the well signposted route up to Barley Lake not too far away has some of the best in the area.
That looks incredible. As much as I'd love to do it in my own car, it sits too low to the road so I think I'd rather take a hire along it.
I've done it in my Opel Astra, its not too bad really, just the lack of views and the agony as you see a tractor coming the other way!! Priests Leap is actually popular because Co Corks county top (for hillwalking) is Knockaboy, which is at the top of the pass and a 3km walk from there.
As for hairpins - nope, but the well signposted route up to Barley Lake not too far away has some of the best in the area.
I went up Priest's Leap from the Kerry side in 2020. The main issue was at the start on the Kerry side where there are hedges and visibility is very poor, on the open mountain you can see something coming from quite a distance and you could pull in.
"I intend to always travel a different road"
Ibn Battuta 1304-1368
Been over every other (road) pass in the Lakes apart from Hardknott and Wyrnose, most of them several time. Guess that's a result of always being based in the north Lakes (family).
The road from Lecco to Bellagio then on to Como on the southern banks of Lake Como are pretty hairy despite being tarmacked and being (at least nominally) two lanes for a fair bit. Of course it doesn't help when Vespas are overtaking you on blind corners with one side being a solid cliff face and the other side is a 30 metre drop into the lake itself.
Keeping it to UK roads though so I don't have to post in the other section of the forum (!), my dad once hired a VW Camper Van as we toured around the Highlands and missed his turning for the Spean Bridge campsite and we ended up driving (what seemed like) half-way up Ben Nevis before he realised he's went wrong somewhere. It wasn't that bad a road but doing a nineteen-point turn in a camper fan wasn't fun.
A303Chris wrote: ↑Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:26
I did it in September 2020, day before climbing Scafell. Had five in my Mokka, two of the passengers were more scared then me, did not find it that bad.
My Mum always says that, when it comes to roads next to big drops in particular, she is happier to be the driver than a passenger. I think the issues with the Lake District passes are perhaps more to do with general steepness, some sharp bends and the narrowness of the road though.
Makes me think of film in which a bus that missed the edge of the road while going over one of the Italian mountain passes. With the bus poised precariously on the of the road, one of the passengers had a plan whereby he would be given the job of crawling along the floor of the bus to retrieve some valuable luggage that was at the far end of the bus.
Vierwielen wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 12:04
Makes me think of film in which a bus that missed the edge of the road while going over one of the Italian mountain passes. With the bus poised precariously on the of the road, one of the passengers had a plan whereby he would be given the job of crawling along the floor of the bus to retrieve some valuable luggage that was at the far end of the bus.
The Italian Job with Michael Caine was the original and it wasn't luggage - it was loot !
The last time I was on Hardknott, I was following a land rover towing a large trailer! The driver was obviously very familiar with the road and was zipping round the corners. I had trouble keeping up
Hardknott Pass is about half an hour's drive from me and a few months after passing my test, one of my friends asked me to drive his elderly Austin Metro City up the pass. Obviously for a car with a sub 1 litre engine in its last days, this was a challenge and I wondered if the old Metro could do it, but despite screaming with pain up the pass in first and occasionally second, the car did it and the temperature gauge managed to stay out of the red. Rather a scary drive for old school cars and the AA and RAC were kept busy on Hardknott in the past.
Vierwielen wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 12:04
Makes me think of film in which a bus that missed the edge of the road while going over one of the Italian mountain passes. With the bus poised precariously on the of the road, one of the passengers had a plan whereby he would be given the job of crawling along the floor of the bus to retrieve some valuable luggage that was at the far end of the bus.
The Italian Job with Michael Caine was the original and it wasn't luggage - it was loot !
Some of the scenes with the coach towards the end weren't filmed in Italy but in North Wales! I've tried to work out which, because Alpine scenery is so distinctive - there is an aerial shot of the bus on a ridiculously twisty and narrow road passing through what looks like a quarry, and I reckon that might be one of the Welsh bits.
The famous scene with the Minis racing through a sewer was filmed near Coventry.
And the one where they load the Minis into the back of the coach while it's moving was filmed in Italy, but on a stretch of newly built autostrada that hadn't yet opened. There's a discontinuity error in which the road is completely unpainted in one shot, but has a yellow line on it in another. Italian roads don't have yellow lines, except during roadworks.
It is quite rare for Italian roads with sheer drops to have no kind of protection at all. There might be a low wall from the Fascist era, or small concrete bollards which to me look post-war, and in the Alps there will often be snow poles, but to have absolutely nothing at all is unusual - inevitably such roads will be very minor routes.