180 degree bends

[Big L]

Not 180 but it’s tight; B4246 between Abergavenny and Blaenavon. I had a 2-year period a few years ago when I travelled this way at least once a month to work in Blaenavon, several times in heavy snow.

[belgarion]

https://www.google.com/maps/@57.4094924 ... &entry=ttu

Of course the Applecross Road has this beauty, my Vauxhall Belmont couldn't manage the turn in one go

[Ruperts Trooper]

https://www.google.com/maps/@57.4094924 ... &entry=ttu

Of course the Applecross Road has this beauty, my Vauxhall Belmont couldn't manage the turn in one go

These 180 bends are best taken in a RWD car, or 4WD even better, as long as it's got limited slip diffs, either mechanical or more likely electronic on modern cars - but you have to get enough power on to start the rear sliding outwards so not for the faint hearted. A few years back I enjoyed driving my Subaru Outback over the A686 and this spring I'm looking forward to taking my VW Touareg over the Bealach-na-Ba to Applecross, the plan is to time it just after first light so hopefully no-one else around!

[FleetlinePhil]

Seeing as we've already had some foreign examples, Chotkova in Prague has to be my favourite (near) 180 degree bend. Not the steepest, nor the tightest, but does any other hairpin have over seventy trams per hour passing through it?

Closer to home, there were a few near hairpin bends on the local minibus routes, but this one above Hebden Bridge heading up to the Long Causeway was the only one I can think of that full size buses also regularly used.

[Bryn666]

Seeing as we've already had some foreign examples, Chotkova in Prague has to be my favourite (near) 180 degree bend. Not the steepest, nor the tightest, but does any other hairpin have over seventy trams per hour passing through it?

Closer to home, there were a few near hairpin bends on the local minibus routes, but this one above Hebden Bridge heading up to the Long Causeway was the only one I can think of that full size buses also regularly used.

Without going back to check, the more direct Rawtenstall Bank is a much more fearsome contender (albeit not used by buses and subject to a 2m width restriction). You really feel like you're going to fall off the edge of the planet when it starts to curve down the first hill.

[FleetlinePhil]

Seeing as we've already had some foreign examples, Chotkova in Prague has to be my favourite (near) 180 degree bend. Not the steepest, nor the tightest, but does any other hairpin have over seventy trams per hour passing through it?

Closer to home, there were a few near hairpin bends on the local minibus routes, but this one above Hebden Bridge heading up to the Long Causeway was the only one I can think of that full size buses also regularly used.

Without going back to check, the more direct Rawtenstall Bank is a much more fearsome contender (albeit not used by buses and subject to a 2m width restriction). You really feel like you're going to fall off the edge of the planet when it starts to curve down the first hill.

Interesting, I'd either never realised or long forgotten the upper part of that road is called Rawtenstall Bank - it's usually referred to locally as Mytholm Steeps or just t'Steeps.

Yes it is daunting, but you are not quite correct in saying it's not used by buses. The last bus from Hebden Bridge up to Blackshaw Head (where the two roads in question meet) used to run back empty to the garage in Todmorden, and I certainly drove a Sherpa minibus down it a few times back in 1988. I think the residents at the bottom eventually complained and the company specifically banned its use.

[MotorwayGuy]

There's this double one on the A39 at Hillsford Bridge, the streetview car hasn't even been up there since 2010!

Not quite a 180, but the infamous A170 Sutton Bank deserves a mention, along with its unusal caravan ban. If this was a small local road it wouldn't be very remarkable, but the fact that like the A259 in Kent, this is a Primary A road is quite amazing.

[wallmeerkat]

There's this double one on the A39 at Hillsford Bridge, the streetview car hasn't even been up there since 2010!

Not quite a 180, but the infamous A170 Sutton Bank deserves a mention, along with its unusal caravan ban. If this was a small local road it wouldn't be very remarkable, but the fact that like the A259 in Kent, this is a Primary A road is quite amazing.

You'd better make sure to not miss the "Caravan route" sign on the minor road beforehand! https://www.google.com/maps/@54.2277643 ... ?entry=ttu

The police WILL turn you round

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.2362764 ... ?entry=ttu

[Summers-lad]

Seeing as we've already had some foreign examples, Chotkova in Prague has to be my favourite (near) 180 degree bend. Not the steepest, nor the tightest, but does any other hairpin have over seventy trams per hour passing through it?

Closer to home, there were a few near hairpin bends on the local minibus routes, but this one above Hebden Bridge heading up to the Long Causeway was the only one I can think of that full size buses also regularly used.

I should have remembered this one https://www.google.com/maps/@57.5906393 ... &entry=ttu on the A855 above Uig. Full size buses use it; they have to reverse, and the long-serving drivers are very skilled at judging it exactly.