[PMG]

Originally Posted by Pete Collins

Several years ago, I drove over those passes on the way to go walking somewhere. I had almost finished going down the Hardknott Pass into Eskdale when I met two old cars coming the other way, just starting the ascent. They were both really old open-top sports cars, 1930's vintage I should guess, the sort with running-boards along the sides. Both had Dutch registration numbers.

In the first car, the passenger was standing up in his seat, holding a video camera, obviously filming their ascent of this famously difficult pass. Then I saw the second car. There was no passenger in this one. Instead, the driver was holding a video camera, filming himself as he tried to ascend the pass! He was filming with his left hand, just holding the wheel with his right hand! It's bad enough going over those passes with two hands on the wheel, doing it one-handed is just asking for trouble.

But then, as we passed, I saw he had a lit cigarette in his right hand ...

Oh Pete! Now they're just the sort you don't want to meet - particularly at the 1 in 3 zeds on the way up............. OMG It doesn't bear thinking about ........... and wouldn't that constitute a new danger associated with smoking? heh! heh! heh!

Pauline