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Monday, April 25, 2005
Right, let's offroad (for the first time)
We got up at 9am (early for a Sunday) and drove up to Windermere for my off-roading trip that Corrie got me for my birthday. It was a lovely sunny day.
We introduced ourselves to the rest of the group, had a quick play on the 2-way radios and then headed off: Nick, the guide, in front in his brand new Defender, a couple from Scotland in their almost brand new Jeep, a couple with their little baby on board in their almost brand new Mitsubishi Shogun, and us in my 14 year old old Defender. (We were at the back because ours was "the most competent vehicle!").
We drove round the top of the lake and down the other side to Tarn How where we left the road... and started off-roading! To start with I had to put my Defender into low range and put the diff-lock on: it was very exciting as I'd never used the little gearstick before! Driving in low range takes some getting used to, but it's also very slow, and the track was just a bit rocky, so I had a chance to get used to it. As we got further along the track, the rocks became bigger and the incline more steep. At one point our guide got out of his Defender to direct us over some particularly rough sections and it really started to feel pretty serious.
We spent about 2 hours being led over all sorts of rough terrain, over the tops of hills, through narrow walled lanes, along forest tracks, until we came back out onto the road. It was totally lush!
We drove along the road for a little while and then turned off again. Low range and diff-lock engaged and away we went. The 2 modern 4x4s managed the rough stuff well, but their ground clearance wasn't anywhere near as high as our Defenders, so they struggled over some sections. Some bits were a bit worrying, but they made it. At one point we had to ford a stream and the water came almost halfway up the doors! We carried on bumping along the tracks, through Grizedale forest and round to the south of Conniston. So far we'd been off-road for about 4 hours and it was brilliant!
So we'd done the warm-up. It was ace: there had been some seriously scary moments that were so steep and rough I would never have dared attempt them on my own. But we made it and it was fun. But now we were going to do the big one: Walna Scar, the highest off-road track in England. It starts at the base of the Old Man of Conniston and winds its way up and over and then back down to Seathwaite. It sounded big.
As we rounded the first bend we saw the track: it was very steep and looked impossible. As we climbed, it turned out to be much worse than it first appeared! There's no way to describe how rough and scary it was, suffice to say we took to describing it as 'gnarly'. Luckily for us we were in a Defender: the others had real trouble getting over some of the rocks, but we just powered up over them. I did get stuck at one point as I'd over-compensated on one of the sections, but I just rolled back and tried again. Vroom!!!
We stopped at the top and walked up a little peak to look at the view. After that it was all downhill, back to the road and a little pub for a drink.
We headed back home and arrived at 7pm: we'd been out for 10 hours, most of that time being spent off-road. Thanks Corrie, it was absolutely awesome!
.....posted at 8:13 am permalink
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