The triumphant Return

Well... Someone had to have the idea.... lets go back and look at that lane again... you know the one, its where we spent hours stuck last night.

Saturday morning, we arrive at the top of the downs and find a couple of vehicles waiting for us there. One landie driven by Simon, who we had met briefly the day before, and a strange looking VW 4wd transporter. Looked strange but boy does that thing perform.

So Brett arrived in his defender and we all trotted off to do the starting lane at Tom's Hill. This turned out to be a very short, though mildly interesting uphill trundle that was really only a quick starter. To improve things a little we suggested heading over to Steppingly in Bedfordshire. A longer lane that should be quite clear and pleasant. Thus we trundled on... our little convoy. I had brought a few walkie talkies with me, in case they turned out to be needed. It was a good move, sometimes we could actually hear wahat someone else was saying. Most of the time though, the person doing the speaking could not be sure whether his message had been heard or not. CB Next time!

So we headed up this lane: you can seel below that it was a really great day... good weather two insane dogs running around (Simon's companions for the day!) and even a few kids on occasion. The signs were good... this was going to be a great and relaxing occasion.

Our friends suggested that we go over to Biggleswade/Ashwell direction where a great many lanes remain open all year round. Thus we saddled up and rode on out.

You may be forgiven for thiking that perhaps... under the circumstances, having got stuck the night before, we should have thought this through a little bit. Maybe walked the route first. But no... we go heading off down there. And this is where the fun really kicked off.

This part of the country has a very specific type of earth. It is very sticky, seems to be clay based, and almost gravitates toward any passing metalic object. Once attached it doesn't want to come off... in fact I snapped a few branches trying to remove a clump of mud from the outside of the wheel. Some say this substance is the product of thousands of years of evolution and nature developing the ideal environment for the area. Personally I think it's a bi-product of Satan's arsehole mixed with a liberal helping of superglue.

With all the crap on this tyre... there's no way he's got any traction to pull anyone else out of the muck! It' not easy to make out here, but this mud is protruding about 12 to 16 inched out from the tyre! Luckily the ground seems quite firm....

Wait a minute...

What's going on up there...?

This would be our super hero VW, giving a helping hand to the poor landie stuck in the mud

We tried everything to get the motor to move... I mean I am only a beginner... and the others kept telling me :

"Oh no we've had much nastier stickiness than this, once we even had to airlift the buggers out!"

well maybe a slight exaggeration going on there but you get the idea! It wasn't that it looked bad... it didn't look bad at all... it was just...stuck.

Even trying to move the landie backwards had no effect. Bugger... what next then?

Eventually, of course, the landie came free and thanks to the experience of the others it made headway.

Now its my turn... Brett gives me advice on driving through mud like this.. the others try to find a good route through.

Rose looks and decides wherther she is staying in the car for this part of the trip ot whether some else's car looks more promising! And they said there's no family loyalty left in the world!

Its time...

"Once you're moving just don't stop for anything!", came some really good advice.

Yo know what? I got through.. I really did. No one was more surprised than I was I can tell ya!

We made it through this lane but on route met a bunch of local guys running the other way. We told them what lay ahead and they decided to turn around and go back the way they had come... which was, by all accounts, a lot easier. We decided to hook up with them and do a few local lanes together. This seemed like a good idea, but may not have been - they like to drive quite quickly - unlike our sedate preferred 50 mph. And, it turns out, they had another lane in mind that could turn out to be... interesting.

Rose actually got out of the car and walked with Luke as I tried to get out of this one. I had to be towed out of course... but this was only my second failure of the day!

Of course the day ended well, and the car certainly needed a slight clean when we got home. But this was a successful and fun day with some really good people.

And so we continue our journey... onward and upward toward the tarmac of life... but remember ... getting out of the sh1t once doesn't mean there ain't a whole lot more in front!

More Later