George Collings Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 To stop brakes getting so hot come down in one gear lower than you went up. If there is room stop once in a while and let the brakes cool down. Lift off the brakes and briefly allow some cooling air between pads and disc/drums. Do not accelerate between hairpins. There is no hurry you came for the view. We have not tried the continental passes mentioned but have been over the Col de Bonnet (spelling from memory ) and one or two others from France to Italy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kedavi Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 You'll go up Hardknot in first. There isn't a gear lower than that in my motorhome - I wish there was. Hardknot is so steep and the bends so tight that even if you come down in first the engine braking alone will not suffice in a heavy motorhome. The brakes will be very much required and will suffer very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertieburstner Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 when I were a lad in the 1960's on holidays with mum and dad we used to stop halfway up by the roman fort and watch the cars coming past and have bets on who would come back the same way having given up. Was great fun watching cars burn their clutches out. On honeymoon in 1980 attempted wrynose in a Renault 5 it would not get up the first hill as when the car was at an angle the fuel supply stopped! Best time over Hardknott was on a motorbike with a friend riding pillion. Don't think he had ever been so frightened! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred grant Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 yer a load of old wimps addicted to the age of health and safety my luvvers. apart from boy stothart, perhaps? where is yer sense of aventure. if white van man can get through then so can our old talbot. its only the wheellbase that counts, whats on the back of it don matter. U got'll be hard not to do the pass me ansums. fearnotbuggerallfred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Eh-up Fred ... our motorhome was based on a Talbot and it, apart from the hot brakes/smelly clutch, the upward inclines didn't bother it, it fair sailed up them (1.9TD). Lovely motorhome, around 18ft long ... we changed it for a Swift 590RS on a Fiat ... what a bl**dy mistake that was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everhopeful Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Ok Fred. You lend me your van and we'll see who is a wimp! Fling it round a few hairpins. Smoke the clutch a bit. Lose some tread. Bounce it round the rough bits at the side to squeeze past the idiots who dare to come the other way. I've been over many times in company vehicles and it is great fun. Understeer, smoke, screaming tyres! Great games of chicken with tourists coming the other way! You provide the van and I'll guarantee that you'll want to get out before we reach the top :D In my own van? No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 everhopeful see my previous post we have been over hardnot 15 times addmitted in panel van conversions but all much loved and cared for moterhomes for careful good drivers this should be possible for poor drivers and wimps stay at home please fred 4 times as bad as porlock. Regards Alf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred grant Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 dun porlock about twenty times on me velocette me ansums! cum with fred on a tour of is farm in is landrover my luvvers an hardnot would seem like the m25 on a sunny sunday afternoon (although i as to amit to never havin dun the m25 in me landrover). perhaps mmm could include hardnot in every roadtest, that wood sort the men our from the girls - eh boys? futzyfred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 fred I thought all cornish farmers were still on steam,or is a steam landrover !!! ansums !!! all the ansums are yorkshire men fred, the lancashire lot dare not go up hardnot, !!!!!!!! Alf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred grant Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 proper job alf! tis steam up today - bootiful weather for it my luvvers. fryintonitefred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Fred Cod and Chips twice it is then Alf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 1300 hrs at Jessie's Dairy in Moushole then Fred. easter day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 We've done the Hardknot and the Wrynose passes lots of times in all sorts of vehicles in all sorts of weather, and as a reasonably experienced driver, (I'm being unbelievably modest here - trust me) I think it is extremely foolish to take even a panel van conversion over roads such as these. It isn't that I don't think I could make it, although the overhang on our Rimor Salor would be a bit challenging, it's because I think it would be irresponsible and not fair to other road users who would have to help sort out the problems. As I keep trying to explain to my 21 year old son, just because it is possible to do something, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good idea to actually do it. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 AGD If I thought I would be irresponsible and unfair to other road users I would never venture over Hardnot althougth I think Wrynose the worst with the walls near to the road, when we first went over there were few other vehicles on the road. If drivers are daunted by such a journey perhaps they are irresponsible to be on the road at all. Most of the Mountain Goat mini buses are bigger than most panel vans, or were the last time we were there, large cars are only a similar size to panel vans, our VW and Sherpa were ideal with the narrow width. Remember the Austin 7 that drove up Ben Nevis. Totally rresponsible would you say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoHomer Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Are you sitting comfortably? Well, it was a dark and moonlit night. After a less than exciting day working in West Cumbria I decided to return via Eskdale and The Passes, well known to me over 30-odd years, just to liven things up in my little Mondeo. Oh, it was also Winter. And it was rather late. Scaling the Eskdale side of Hard Knott went OK although I noticed that the outside temperature display had dipped several degrees below zero by the time I reached the top. A few hundred yards down the Cockley Beck side I noticed something across the road, shining in the moonlight. Ice! I stopped, got out and had a look. It extended about 15 yards down the road, and I mean DOWN - this happened to be on a Bit Of A Gradient - and coverage was I suppose about 90%. What would have happened if I hadn't spotted it ...... you can guess. Continuing was out of the question - too dangerous. Back in the car I prepared to reverse. Due to the nose-down attitude of the car on the high gradient, which Mr Ford's reversing light designers had never envisaged, and the lack of a window in the floor, I could see very little to the rear. By getting out and physically checking the road behind the car and then reversing with my head stuck out of the door, I managed to get back to what passes for a Passing Place on this Pass, and managed to get the car turned round via a multi-point turn, accompanied, unsurprisingly, by aroma de clutch. Some rather positive clutching was needed, I recall. And then there was the time I slithered to a halt climbing Wrynose's high 1:4 stretch due to ice, unseen from below...... visible only when committed. Ever applied the handbrake and felt the car still slipping backwards on 1:4 ice? Not nice! The only way to hold the car still and then effect a controlled bale out was by carefully balancing the handbrake and footbrake - neither would hold by itself. Exciting. There is no Emoticon for this! All ended well in both cases, as it happens. Few of us would be likely to pitch our palaces on wheels at these hills in such circs but in case you're thinking it's easy in Summer, think again. The Passes get very very busy with general tourist traffic and can be a pretty awkward and frustrating drive even in a car. A general caveat is perhaps worth making - beware - the unexpected can happen. These are severe roads and extricating oneself from even summer difficulties can be challenging. You might enjoy the battle and have some stories for the pub afterwards, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred grant Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 it were a moonlit nite my biddies........................... applause for motorhomer, my luvvers, he deserves a clap. now stop knockin the hard nott. fearlessfred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 My dear Alf I am sure that none of us would accuse you of ever doing anything that you thought was irresponsible, but I do have concerns about your perception of irresponsible. It's like I said, just because you can doesn't mean it's a good idea, and I think it would be unwise to venture across there in any large vehicle. I have made the trip many times, in a prewar Austin Big 7, through the range of cars and small vans and motorcycles that someone who has been driving for the past 50 years would have owned, right up to my 320 horsepower Jaguar. I have driven over it by day and night, in summer and winter. I have rallied over it in an Mini Cooper S, in the dark, in the winter, that was fun. Until my 70th birthday my driving licence covered everything except tracklaying vehicles, including HGV and PSV, I wear my IAM badge with the pride that comes from having passed first time with no faults even though I have never had a single driving lesson in my life. My wife long ago packed all the trophies that I had won for rallying and racing, and production car trials, and autotests, into a couple of large cardboard boxes and hidden them in the loft, and I still drive over 50,000miles per year for business, plus of course the driving I do for social, domestic and pleasure purposes. Thats why I back my judgement, and why I like to be modest about my driving aility. And yes, I do think it would be irresponsible to drive anything up Ben Nevis, just as it was irresponsible of the bloke who landed his aeroplane on top of Helvellyn. To sum up, I think it would be irresponsible to drive a panel van conversion over the Hardknot and Wrynose passes. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Fearless Fred Farrowing the Frigin Fields of Flax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Bill I bet your a member of the caravan club as well Alf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 As well as? Yes but only for the sites. Have done lots of field work though. Do limericks too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 AGD Yes we all have or thoughts I too have been driving over 50years I learnt on a 2 cylinder Jowett van my first car was a Morris 8 my second a Standard flying 8 I still hold a full license and have my first linen backed one. when we first toured the north and west coast os scotland in the early 70s our friends were mortified they thought we were never going to come back ?? we met John Hunt and stopped in the middle of the road talking such was the volume of the traffic then. Alf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 RAC Seven Wonders of Britan. This is the wording of the RAC entry for the North West. I take it all the voters and the RAC were at fault, alas I will never go again. The Hardknott Pass road, is a steep, narrow and winding switchback road. At the peak of the pass lies a memorable and stunning view of the striking, wild and lonely landscape across Cumbria to the might Sca Fell. From the west, within one mile of leaving the pastoral valley of Eskdale, the road rises to 1291 feet. As difficult as the drive to the pass is, the views from it are unforgettable. Regards. Alf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Dear Alf, It seems to me that The RAC and the voters were spot on "steep - narrow - winding - difficult", I thought that was what we were saying. Incidentally, I think the best views are from the top of Scafell itself,, the more satisfying if you have achieved the summit via the climb up Central Buttress , but , of course, that would not be a suitable route for most people. I still think it would be iresponsible to drive over there in a large vehicle. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Where's fearlessfred, forsaking farming perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred grant Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Fearless Fred is out grockle-hunting - tiz easter you know. Libby, you dunno how close you is with that cartoon, bit less hair an a bit more belly. alice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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