Having ridden bikes with 3-speed Sturmey-Archer hubs until the age of 26, it has never hurt my pride too much when I have put my foot down while climbing a steep hill. But in my youth I still tried to pedal up as much as possible on my 49-inch bottom gear.
When you lived in Flitwick, you may have been familiar with the road that climbs out of Lidlington: it has a black chevron on the old 1-inch OS map (Bedford and Luton) which I still have, although the sign at the top said "I in 8", and the chevron is not there on modern OS maps. Anyway, I could get up that without putting my foot down. Obviously there was no hope of pedalling up the 1-in-5 out of Bow Brickhill.