How many steep streets are there? How many have I visited? Where's the nearest?
Answers
I am starting to make a list of the steepest streets. Which is the steepest? It's the sort of record that the Guinness Book Of Records likes to list.
Stories:
Clovelly, England
I visited Clovelly in England as a child. It was an old-fashioned cobbled cliffside street with souvenir shops. Very tiring for short legs. I was not impressed. Nothing to do except tire yourself walking down and then back up. Nothing to buy except postcards and over-priced souvenirs of the place. My parents were careful with money, after the war. They had not yet inherited from grandparents, and my father was not yet self-employed and doing better. I'm sure if I visited it again, this time with a photographer's eye, I'd find it interesting.
Nowadays in the UK many steep hills have a runaway ditch at the bottom. Moving traffic going up or down is directed either side of the ditch. That ensures a runaway truck would land at the ditch and not hit anything at the bottom, not a single vehicle, nor a whole traffic jam.
San Francisco
I grew more interested in record-breaking and unusual places when I went to the USA. I visited San Francisco where every souvenir shop rack has pictures of the zig-zagging's steepest street. I lived in the USA and took several trips to San francisco from East coast USA and from England.
Eventually I got to see the steepest street. I saw plaques, but no great souvenir opportunities. Either side are houses, not shops.
The cars went zigzagging up and down the road, slowly. Not often. If you weren't living there, nor taking a picture, you would not venture up it. It goes nowhere.
Parked cars, if I remember rightly, were anchored with extra bricks or wheel wedges. Very sensible.
If I remember rightly, pedestrians could take a quicker straight staircase up the middle - or was it the sides?
I liked the zig-zag construction. Probably necessity for getting up the hill, rather than a move by an insurance company. Again, very sensible. Less chance of anything falling from top to bottom. Runaway cars. Parked cars with failing brakes. Moving cars with failing brakes - you don't need much imagination.
San Francisco is full of steep streets. And hurtling trams, clanking up and down. At least you get some warning. Climb in for a ride. Hold on tight.
If you want to see something street, you don't need to see a residential street. The trams going up and down San Francisco's streets are already sufficiently hair-raising. At least the watching by-stander has the reassuring illusion that the trams are anchored to the ground.
San Francisco is not the only city in the USA with steep streets. I remember driving into Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, over the brow of the hill. City below. A city in a deep pit. We were on our way to see architect Frank Lloyd Wright's cliffside Fallingwater, built above a waterfall. The street sank straight down the cliff, in seemed.
The rest of the world also has some surprising streets. I remember the one in New Zealand.
New Zealand
For years we had had skiing holidays in New Zealand. I looked at pictures of the steepest street in Dunedin.
At last we reached Dunedin on a drive along the coast. I saw the sign. My driver said, "We won't bother with that. Nothing much to see - and we've seen similar elsewhere."
"YES - WE MUST STOP! I WANT A PHOTO!" I said. I insisted on taking a detour, making time for a stop.
I took a photo from the bottom of the hill, looking up. They even had a handy plaque for me to photograph.
After we turned into the road, of course, the driver had to take the challenge of driving to the top. Up a bit. Stop. Brake. Foot of brake and slide back a bit before we accelerate noisily again. 'Of course, this hire car doesn't have such a good engine as our car at home. If I'd known we were going to do this ... I don't know if this car will make it ..."
It was terrifying. Driving up was bad enough, revving and revving, getting the engine power to keep going up. Stop for a photo at the top.
Coming back down, we had to drive very slowly. The driver said, "Sorry to keep stopping. But I have to be very careful." At one point I was so scared that I opened the car door and jumped out. I walked down the hill. I refused to listen to the pleasing, and threats! I pretended to be busy taking more photos. Of course, I did want more photos. Including the car and family - just in case. You know, last photos.
Gradients never meant much to me before. They mean a lot more now.
Tips
For steep hills, wear flat shoes.
Lovely article on steep streets with pictures from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38568893
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Street (Dunedin, New Zealand)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=steepest+hill
Steep Street List
UK
Clovelly, Devon, England
Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, Dorset, England
Steep Hill, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England
USA
Filbert Street, (Russian Hill, San Francisco, USA
NEW ZEALAND
Baldwin Street, Dunedin, New Zealand
Author
Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. If you like my posts, please share.
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