S
Si K
Guest
and the three landies that joined in had a fab time too!
Well, yesterday was the Charity Fundraiser on Salisbury Plain. The event
having been organised by Bill McLean of BOFA 4x4 (oh, and he's a Pajero
nutter - but we shant hold that against him)
We met up at the car park at Win Green at 1430, and at 1500, we set off.
The only iffy bit being that the advanced party that were supposed to be
clearing the way and checking it out - hadn't arrived. Ah well, we're
landies, we're used to blazing the trail.
Well, the weather started closing in, and Team 1 (Comprising me in the
disco, Dave in the 90, and Andy in another disco) headed into the first
byway. not too bad, little bit of water, and then, where did the solid
surface go?? oh and water, lots of it - FAB
well we tootled along nice and gently, and after a few minutes the two who
were supposed to be trailblazing caught us up and shot through.
Well it was a good job they did, cos there were trees down up the way, and
they met a nice couple of chaps out pheasant shooting in their rangie, and
cleared the tree.
My only major bogup occured here, cos in negotiating my way around the
rangie of the shooters, i misjudged it, and pull my indicator out. Whoops,
two ticks and the other driver had popped it back in, and we were off.
By now the light was starting to fade, and the sense of "wtf am I doing?"
was kicking in. Then my navigator (Hello Brendan) said "fun innit" - I had
to agree.
Map reading turned into map guessing, the puddles got deeper, but we seemed
to be doing ok.
Then an enlightened decision - at one iffy junction on the byway, it looked
like we should go left, but the reality was a slight right - thank goodness
Dave had satnav (That was a HUGE admission for me as I'm not a fan of
satnav). Dave offered to take the lead, and as he had the gizmos, it seemed
like a good plan to us.
Stopping for a comfy break (the joys of taking the 4 year old with me) a
load of pajero's came through - they were team 2!
we let them have a few minutes to get clear, and then set off.
As we approached Wilton, we found the pajero's all parked up having a brew.
So we carried on. Then, disaster - an RTA (not involving any of us) Hurrah
for Dave again. a quick 180 and we were headed back down the road, one of
the trailblazers was behind us (how????) "What you doing" she said. "Plan
B" said I. As I had other vehicles behind me, we switched over to the CB.
I exlained that Dave was going to navigate us round. Suddenly the Pajero
drivers mantra of "bloody useless landrovers" was out the window, and the
off-road camaraderie kicked in.
The next entrance to the byway was a bit of a sod, especially as the GPS
picked that moment to delay the update. another u-turn and we were back on
the byways. Time for a tea break.
We met the trailblazers, who were muttering something about deep water. Hah
not a problem.
Tea break over, and we're off, and yes, the water was deep. How deep? well
lets put it this way. I thought the electrics had shorted out. Then the
lights came out of the water - oh feck.....
Then mother nature did something truly awesome - a barn owl at hover
alongside the byway approaching the A303. it stayed there for ages, only
flying off as we got really close. Why is it you cannot get your camera out
at times like that????
a flit across the 303, and more deep water (ace) then one of the trickiest
parts "when you get onto the next road, drive for approx 1 mile, and enter
the next byway to the left. the mileage is crucial, cos if you miss
it....."
Again, the joy of satnav meant we were on it in short order, a narrow ravine
sort of thing with deep water, a couple of gentle ascents, and then a right
turn, and ruts. lots and lots of ruts. Dave made an inspired decision to
go high and left, i wanted to, but it was too late.
Then as we slid to a gentle angle, moving forard gingerly, horror of
horrors - we slipped to the right. a lot. all those that could clench
clenched. i thought we were going to tip over. Brendan though we were
going to tip over. we didnt tip over!
a few hundred yards more and we managed to get level again - phew.
then back out onto the road, down towards airmans cross, and we made our way
to the finish point. It was about 20:30.
It was 1/2 an hour before the first of the Pajero's turned up, and
apparantly, they'd had some casualties - a seized alternator being the most
major.
Well there you have it, the edited highlights.
I cannot express the fun of doing a night run like that, well organised and
great great fun.
For my part, I was a bit disappointed, as the day was also about raising
money for charity, and although we raised some, it wasn't really a lot (so
if anyone want to donate to the Littl'uns Equine Rescue Trust please visit
their website www.lert.org.uk - sponsor a pony - g'wan, its cheaper than
buying your daughter a horse)
However, I can promise you that this run will be on again, in both daytime
and nighttime form.
Oh, and for those of you that have been following Dave's posts about his 90,
you can spot him a mile off - his grin is a mile wide!
Si
Well, yesterday was the Charity Fundraiser on Salisbury Plain. The event
having been organised by Bill McLean of BOFA 4x4 (oh, and he's a Pajero
nutter - but we shant hold that against him)
We met up at the car park at Win Green at 1430, and at 1500, we set off.
The only iffy bit being that the advanced party that were supposed to be
clearing the way and checking it out - hadn't arrived. Ah well, we're
landies, we're used to blazing the trail.
Well, the weather started closing in, and Team 1 (Comprising me in the
disco, Dave in the 90, and Andy in another disco) headed into the first
byway. not too bad, little bit of water, and then, where did the solid
surface go?? oh and water, lots of it - FAB
well we tootled along nice and gently, and after a few minutes the two who
were supposed to be trailblazing caught us up and shot through.
Well it was a good job they did, cos there were trees down up the way, and
they met a nice couple of chaps out pheasant shooting in their rangie, and
cleared the tree.
My only major bogup occured here, cos in negotiating my way around the
rangie of the shooters, i misjudged it, and pull my indicator out. Whoops,
two ticks and the other driver had popped it back in, and we were off.
By now the light was starting to fade, and the sense of "wtf am I doing?"
was kicking in. Then my navigator (Hello Brendan) said "fun innit" - I had
to agree.
Map reading turned into map guessing, the puddles got deeper, but we seemed
to be doing ok.
Then an enlightened decision - at one iffy junction on the byway, it looked
like we should go left, but the reality was a slight right - thank goodness
Dave had satnav (That was a HUGE admission for me as I'm not a fan of
satnav). Dave offered to take the lead, and as he had the gizmos, it seemed
like a good plan to us.
Stopping for a comfy break (the joys of taking the 4 year old with me) a
load of pajero's came through - they were team 2!
we let them have a few minutes to get clear, and then set off.
As we approached Wilton, we found the pajero's all parked up having a brew.
So we carried on. Then, disaster - an RTA (not involving any of us) Hurrah
for Dave again. a quick 180 and we were headed back down the road, one of
the trailblazers was behind us (how????) "What you doing" she said. "Plan
B" said I. As I had other vehicles behind me, we switched over to the CB.
I exlained that Dave was going to navigate us round. Suddenly the Pajero
drivers mantra of "bloody useless landrovers" was out the window, and the
off-road camaraderie kicked in.
The next entrance to the byway was a bit of a sod, especially as the GPS
picked that moment to delay the update. another u-turn and we were back on
the byways. Time for a tea break.
We met the trailblazers, who were muttering something about deep water. Hah
not a problem.
Tea break over, and we're off, and yes, the water was deep. How deep? well
lets put it this way. I thought the electrics had shorted out. Then the
lights came out of the water - oh feck.....
Then mother nature did something truly awesome - a barn owl at hover
alongside the byway approaching the A303. it stayed there for ages, only
flying off as we got really close. Why is it you cannot get your camera out
at times like that????
a flit across the 303, and more deep water (ace) then one of the trickiest
parts "when you get onto the next road, drive for approx 1 mile, and enter
the next byway to the left. the mileage is crucial, cos if you miss
it....."
Again, the joy of satnav meant we were on it in short order, a narrow ravine
sort of thing with deep water, a couple of gentle ascents, and then a right
turn, and ruts. lots and lots of ruts. Dave made an inspired decision to
go high and left, i wanted to, but it was too late.
Then as we slid to a gentle angle, moving forard gingerly, horror of
horrors - we slipped to the right. a lot. all those that could clench
clenched. i thought we were going to tip over. Brendan though we were
going to tip over. we didnt tip over!
a few hundred yards more and we managed to get level again - phew.
then back out onto the road, down towards airmans cross, and we made our way
to the finish point. It was about 20:30.
It was 1/2 an hour before the first of the Pajero's turned up, and
apparantly, they'd had some casualties - a seized alternator being the most
major.
Well there you have it, the edited highlights.
I cannot express the fun of doing a night run like that, well organised and
great great fun.
For my part, I was a bit disappointed, as the day was also about raising
money for charity, and although we raised some, it wasn't really a lot (so
if anyone want to donate to the Littl'uns Equine Rescue Trust please visit
their website www.lert.org.uk - sponsor a pony - g'wan, its cheaper than
buying your daughter a horse)
However, I can promise you that this run will be on again, in both daytime
and nighttime form.
Oh, and for those of you that have been following Dave's posts about his 90,
you can spot him a mile off - his grin is a mile wide!
Si
