Off road Action

Well, we have been laning a few times, we are enjoying ourselves tremendously! Now we decide to try the next level... pay and play!

More by accident than judgement, we were going out laning around Harlow on Saturday morning. Everyone early out of bed (7 am and hey thats really early on a Saturday!) we meet the spyderman and trundle off to Essex. Barely 10 miles out and we don't even make our first lane.

Call the AA and make our way home - My daughter and I in the truck and the rest of the family in the landy with spyderman.

The AA fella really knew how to talk... that famous Irish blarney! He told each story like it was a classic epic and every tale lasted like it was a feature film.

With the rest of the day spent finding new parts for the Shogun, it was decided that tomorrow(Sunday) would merit a trip to devils pit, an off road course near Luton.

Sunday: Got a pass from Rose to go out to play for a few hours and took Kai with me. Amazing how much a small boy likes to ride pillion!

Devils pit. Now what can I say, this is a great experience (especially from the vantage point alongside a more experienced driver.) BUT I gotta tell ya... it can get a little sticky!

This piccy is Kai alongside Spyderman's landy... he's learning as quickly as I am!

Now we all know that the best addition to a vehicle for off roading is tyres. Mikesababes decided to take his disco and new tyres to the party but only drove round the red circuit once!

He also took a couple of friends. Now I was told about a particular mud hole... drive in but no one drives out.

Here we see this friend being dragged out of the mire!

We've all been here right!

BUT no one should try this at home!

Now, the thing about devils pit is the sheer sticky grabbiness of the mud! you really do not want this in your engine, I mean, you really don't. Not just "would prefer not to" but real... oh shit get this off of me!

What can I say, this looney has decided to try the same hole again!

I'll let you know what happens!

You know what? I just found out... the motor is still running! cleaned it out and started it up... needs a new headset but hey! at least its not a throw away! Actually I am really pleased its not too badly damaged. The driver and his girlfriend see like really nice people so a little good luck should go their way.

Keep ya posted!

The Joys of Spring

Well I haven't posted anything new for a couple of weeks. This isn't because I haven't been out laning, its more that I don't want to publish reams and reams of the same old thing, so I might sometimes go a while between posts.


So here we are, looking at exploring some of the lanes south of Hatfield, but starting at our Bunyon's Chimney lane at Wheathamstead.


So called because this chimney once formed the centre of a cottage where Bunyon lived, this chimney, a listed building, marks the beginning of our first lane of the day.



We have visited this lane before, but it was a little drier then. This time saw the water gushing down the steeper bits like a small stream, and as you can see there was a little of the slippery stuff too. This picture doesn't really do justice to the lane, but hey I work with what I've got!






Spyderman was out with us today, in fact he ended up doing most of the navigating and the hard stuff which doesn't seem to be unusual. He knows his way around though and many of the lanes we visit are places he's visited often in the past.


He got a phone call just as we were about to start this lane, seems like Mike, the new guy from a couple of weeks ago, wanted to hook up with us at Hatfield. Arrangements made and its off to Hatfield!


Now you may think that we have these country runs out because we are hooligans hell bent on ruining the enjoyment of walkers everywhere.


That's not strictly true. Despite the filthy looks, and even the odd person flagging us down in the street to tell us how we shouldn't be here the children get to enjoy a lovely day in the countryside, the dog gets a good run out. Irritating walkers who decide to use a lane that allows cars, and then complain when one turns up... well that's just a bonus.


Of course there are occasionally parts of the lane that are difficult to traverse! This one doesn't look stuck but he's done something called "Cross Axelling". Now I've never heard of this but apparently 2 wheels off the ground make driving a little difficult (over simplified but to the point!)

Of course he needs a little tug... and we all like a little tug from time to time and thus he was liberated.

Now I could claim that I suffered no problems through all this, and I have to claim that I do think my driving technique is improving each time we go out. It's not perfect but hey.... I'm new at this!


Take this hill for example, not too steep and long but do you think I could get up it? not a bleedin chance, once again a tug to get up the hill! Bloody ell last time I had this many tugs in a day I was fifteen years old!

So its a short one this one... a few lanes, a country drive, lunch at the pub and a dirty, filthy, mud infested, scratched car.

Well what else would we do at the weekend?

One last thing, I actually went out a bought some tow strops and a few shackles. We live in the south of England so it was away to Skorpion Racing and a very respectable £30.00 on some 14 tonne Shackles and two bloody great strops. Anyway, how poetic, the first person I get to christen my new gear... spyderman, the same vehicle and driver who dragged me out of the shit that first night! Now I have to confess that he was not really stuck just a little inconvenienced, but the poetry of the situation appealed to me as I am sure it will you!

More next time