Does Wales have the steepest street?

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meic
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by meic »

ibbo68 wrote:
meic wrote:Ffordd Pen Llech is a one way street.
The link which I posted upthread even shows the no entry sign.
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.8613797 ... 312!8i6656

The chap in the car that passed us was either:-
a.Oblivious to this
b.A local going home who thinks it doesn't apply to him
c.Just didn't care
:|


At the top the road markings are there for cars exiting the road, so the one way may be just for the lower/middle section of the road. Which I think is where the really steep bit is?
Yma o Hyd
100%JR
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by 100%JR »

This Cyclist clearly doesn't care about the no entry sign at the bottom and the two pedestrians and on coming pick-up don't seem bothered he's going the wrong way either!

https://youtu.be/WqnpWnGt-RI
There's quite a few cycling videos of Fford Pen Llech on Youtube.Doesn't make it right I know.

I tried telephoning and emailing Harlech TI earlier but neither the numbers or email address I found worked.I asked the question on Harlech Community page on Facebook and they said it is one way.The road markings are for vehicles leaving the castle Car park.The Castle road meets the top of Fford Pen Llech.
thirdcrank
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by thirdcrank »

It's not necessarily a one-way street and the absence of any other signs plus the "give way" for drivers leaving at the top suggests to me the NO ENTRY sign is to prevent traffic from the bottom part passing it. This use of a NO ENTRY sign is sometimes seen at cycling farcilities when it's referred to as a false one-way street. In the absence of any exception signs, it does apply to all vehicles including pedal cycles, but IMO, anybody able to ride a pedal cycle up there should benefit from a Royal Pardon (with brass knobs on.)
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

ibbo68 wrote:We were there in Harlech a couple of weeks ago and my son and I had a walk down it.

Image

Image

Odd that it states unsuitable for motors but there are houses with cars on both sides of the road for the last couple of hundred feet!?

Nothing odd about that at all. "Unsuitable for motors" is commonly used where a road is very steep, very narrow or unsurfaced.
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meic
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by meic »

and the absence of any other signs

There is at least one blue "one way" arrow sign (in a rectangle not a circle) visible on the way down the road.
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100%JR
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by 100%JR »

meic wrote:
and the absence of any other signs

There is at least one blue "one way" arrow sign (in a rectangle not a circle) visible on the way down the road.

I must admit we didn't notice that.
I can't see it on this photo.Surely the one way sign should be there at the start of the road?
Image
Last edited by 100%JR on 10 Sep 2018, 2:10pm, edited 1 time in total.
thirdcrank
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by thirdcrank »

meic wrote:
and the absence of any other signs

There is at least one blue "one way" arrow sign (in a rectangle not a circle) visible on the way down the road.


Obviously, the nearest I've come to riding up has been courtesy of streetview, so I'm wrong about the false one-way street. If they don't want cyclists to treat it as a challenge they should tell the likes of the Beeb to keep quiet about it. As well as an exception plate for cycles (beics?) they should have an electronic detector which greets cyclists on the climb with a recording of a rythmic chant of "Up, up, up" or the Welsh equivalent.
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by 100%JR »

It seems it was quite famous amongst cyclists well before the BBC did that article.A quick Google and there's a list of various websites referring to "the climb",loads of videos of people riding up it.Here's a quote from one website "The unhinged cyclist" in 2016

To climb FFordd Penlech, you have to tackle a 40% hairpin and ride the wrong way up a one way street. What could be more Unhinged than that?


It seems one way or not it's quite a popular climb?!
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meic
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by meic »

I can't see it on this photo.Surely the one way sign shouls be there at the start of the road?

Do "repeaters" exist for one way signs?
It is consistent with it only being one way for the lower/middle section and it becomes one way at the point where the sign is, allowing people in the town to drive directly into town rather than descending Pen Llech and climbing back up Twtil.
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100%JR
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by 100%JR »

meic wrote:Do "repeaters" exist for one way signs?
It is consistent with it only being one way for the lower/middle section and it becomes one way at the point where the sign is, allowing people in the town to drive directly into town rather than descending Pen Llech and climbing back up Twtil.

I think you're correct.
The street is a single-track road for the majority of its length. To avoid problems with vehicles meeting on the slope and being unable to restart, the northern half has been made a one-way street for the main descent

I presume this means after the houses?
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Mick F
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by Mick F »

meic wrote:
I can't see it on this photo.Surely the one way sign shouls be there at the start of the road?

Do "repeaters" exist for one way signs?
Generally not - or never?

There's many a No Entry sign on roads and streets, but if you walk through, then get on your bike after passing through, there's nothing to tell you that you're going the wrong way or even if your'e going the wrong way. Just "No Entry".
Mick F. Cornwall
thirdcrank
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by thirdcrank »

There are two separate elements with a one-way street. There will be a NO ENTRY sign and passing that the wrong way is "failing to comply with a traffic sign" Then there will be a TRO, specific to the location, which will spell out in some detail the extent of the one way bit including where it finishes. There will be advisory signs (rectangular) and there may be mandatory signs (round) the latter being at junctions to direct traffic to turn the right way. There's chapter and verse in the relevant bit of the Traffic Signs Manual which I have linked to before.

In short: a NO ENTRY sign may or may not indicate the start of a one-way street, but a one-way street won't start without one (often two, of course.)

=========================================================================================
Chapter and verse here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... ter-03.pdf

see p 16 COMPULSORY AND PROHIBITED MOVEMENTS

The signs in this section generally give instructions regarding manoeuvres that must or must not be made. Positive signs tell drivers what must be done; prohibitory signs indicate a forbidden manoeuvre. They cover both junctions and the sections of road between junctions.
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Mick F
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by Mick F »

No Entry means just that, but a One Way Street needs to be signed as such but only at junctions?
What happens if there isn't a junction?
There will be a sign saying One Way at the entrance, but only repeaters to reinforce that along the length of the street.

Come the wrong way, and didn't see and walked past the No Entry, there is nothing to tell you that you are going the wrong way.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

thirdcrank wrote:
meic wrote:
and the absence of any other signs

There is at least one blue "one way" arrow sign (in a rectangle not a circle) visible on the way down the road.


Obviously, the nearest I've come to riding up has been courtesy of streetview, so I'm wrong about the false one-way street. If they don't want cyclists to treat it as a challenge they should tell the likes of the Beeb to keep quiet about it. As well as an exception plate for cycles (beics?) they should have an electronic detector which greets cyclists on the climb with a recording of a rythmic chant of "Up, up, up" or the Welsh equivalent.

Google tells me this would be "hetiau!" but I don't suppose that's the appropriate word for the context. Welsh cyclists, help please!
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meic
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Re: Does Wales have the steepest street?

Post by meic »

A reverse google search would show (correctly for once) that hetiau means hats.
I would be somewhat confused at people yelling hats, hats as I cycled in Harlech but it would be a welcome change from "she's not pedaling on the back".
Yma o Hyd
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