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 f*ck.....
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
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