Bongo Fury

Forgot to tell you all this...see if you can decide on the moral of the story !

We went away back in July and stayed in Blue Anchor, Somerset, camping for a couple of nights before heading off down the coast and staying in Croyde for the week.

We'd had a good couple of night in Blue Anchor, and having reviewed the map, I'd decided we'd drive down the A39 for the scenic route. Now, anyone who know this area will, about now, be laughing their heads off...reasons been, this road takes you round the top of Exmoor which I did realise beforehand but didn't really consider from a practical perspective.

Anyway...not far down the coast, the A39 arrives at a place called Porlock...and then Porlock Hill ...a place named after the hill ! And boy, is it a hill....a 1 in 4 and it was only about two mins after we passed this sign...



...that wifey said, 'didn't that sign say caravans should use the toll road?'...and I said, 'didn't see that sign' . Now we weren't towing, but we did have the four of us and all our camping gear with us...and we're a Bongo (heavy)...so to say I started getting the squits would be an understatement.

Anyway...the reason for telling you the tale?...as you'd expect...Bongo just slowly kept on driving up the hill, my foot flat to the floor and we were moving at about 5mph, until we eventually came out on the top of Exmoor...and I took a huge sigh of relief.

Brilliant Bongo!! (won't do it again though!)

Cycled it, you can get a liitle breathless. Old Bongy should be ok though.

Bob wrote:Cycled it, you can get a liitle breathless. Old Bongy should be ok though.

If I were to cycle it, I would start from the top.

[quote="brorabongo
If I were to cycle it, I would start from the top. [/quote]

My thought precisely...mind you, your hands would hurt...they'd be on the breake half the time!

It must be over 50 years since I went up Porlock hill in my father's old Vauxhall Victor. I would not mind doing it in my Bongo. It would be a good test on how well it functioned when locked in the "S" gear. I have only used this gear once when traversing Carter bar on the A68 between England and Scotland. The Bongo took it with nae Bother.

We drove up there in our citroen saxo a couple of years back behind a Shearings coach which started to struggle and smoke a bit at the back! Thought is was going to start rolling back down Watch out for Countisbury Hill as well which is a bit further on and heads down into Lynmouth. Didn't change down to a low gear quick enough and warped the brake discs

Wouldn't do Porlock Hill in my Bongo, but then I'm still assessing its abilities!

Anyone done Vale Street, in Totterdown, Bristol? No chance you'd get a Bongo up that...

We've done Porlock Hill several times in the bongo, both laden (3 kids, 4 big dogs, camping gear etc.) and unladen didn't expect any problems and didn't get any. If anything, it was better to take up there than my 2.0L estate car as don't have to worry about choosing a gear!