M&S Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Hi all, thought I'd do a quick write up of yesterdays outing. We met for breakfast and a briefing at the Dukes Pantry. It was pretty cold and misty so no views to be had as the day started. There were 14 cars in all I think, led by a Forestry Commision Ford Ranger and backed up by one of the Mountain Rescue teams own (personal) G4 Disco 3. There was also a Mountain Rescue 110 Ambulance, and a mixture of vehicles from Disco 3's to 90's, 110's to Jimny's. Even a new Toyota Land Cruiser. One thing they all had in common was a minium of AT's B) After the briefing we headed out onto Forestry roads. Eventually we reached teh first off-road section of the day. Rutted, a bit sloppy, a bit scratchy, and a few rocks thrown in for good measure. The best part of this trail was a pretty deep water section which we had to step down to the left, before driving around the rock to the right, and back out the other side. SCRAPE! I said AROUND the rock I thought that we would have a cut right down the left side of the vehicle but on inspection it turned out to be a scratch. A deep one, but just a scratch. My turn to drive for a bit. We were allowed to head off and loop back around to do the section again so I gave it ago. I clipped the back wheel on the same rock and so was happy with that. A couple of people have side steps not quite as straight as they once were! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&S Posted March 22, 2009 Author Share Posted March 22, 2009 From here we headed back onto Forestry roads. The mist was starting to clear and open up the views across Kielder Water. Another off-road track, again bumpy, covered in branches, and a bit sloppy led us to lunch at the quarry. Some of us went for a play in the quarry, tackling a couple of steep climbs/descents and making for some good photo's whilst others ate packed lunches The climbs never look that steep in the pics do they? But these were and I ended up at full throttle near the top scrabling to get grip on the dust. It was pretty lumpy as well, a few holes had been dug, a few rocks placed, I wasn't reversing back down . No, didn't fancy that in the slightest . Give it some more gas!!! The descent was fun too, the back end following us round near the bottom but corrected with a bit of left lock and a blip of the throttle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&S Posted March 22, 2009 Author Share Posted March 22, 2009 After lunch we headed back on Forest roads. A lot of the day (well most of it) was spent on these actually. We would have liked more off the off-road stuff because the bits that we did do were great. Heading through the forest in convoy felt a bit "Camel Trophy", especially on one track where it was completely overgrown with pine trees. Branches scraped the bonnet and the vehicle in front was never in site for more than a few metres before the greenary sprung back and hid it from view. The last off-piste section turned out to be very boggy. The G4D3 headed through first and I followed. The sound of the V8 getting thrashed at full throttle whilst the vehicle bounced and slid from lock to lock brought a smile to my face Think I know what my "family car" might be... Next it was my turn, and despite the D3 getting through I wasn't having any of it. I powered in, slid around, tried to drive out a bit, but no. Came to a dead stop. Second Low, throttle, clutch out, engine nearly stalling. Try to go back. Nope, stuck on something. Turns out I'd picked up a rather large branch A tug back and some guidance from the leader, LOTS of gas, LOTS of lock-to lock, LOTS of trying to correct and overcorrect, and finally I plowed a way through in a shower of peat! Not very elegant but I was happy to be through The rest of the group followed using a similar tactic. A long run up, loads of throttle, and cling on for dear life trying to avoid bouncing out and into the trees. Cool B) My advice to anyone who fancies a step-up from Green Laning is to check out what their local forestry commision has to offer. Yes it costs money (£50 in this case) but it's for a good cause. We met some great people, everyoine was friendly and it was fun. That's what it's all about isn't it?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy_neutron Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 How dya find out about these events though ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 How dya find out about these events though ?? Grand Tour of Northumberland Wouldn't describe this as a step up from greenlaning though. Mainly a nice run on cinder paths/fire roads through the forest with 3 or 4 bits of minor slippery stuff in between. A good day nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smo Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Looks like an amazing day, great scenery and some good tracks offroad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Loved the look of the forrest tracks, not outragous but fun and interesting. When I used to comp safari these were my favourite courses. Thanks for the link I will have to look into these. Marc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GToN Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Thanks for the nice comments... would be great to have more Land Rovers along on the next one. If anyone wants more information about the events feel free to have a look around the website as linked above and would be great to get a PM or email from you too! Thanks again. Julian PS - I'm the one in the Orange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&S Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks for the comments all, glad you enjoyed reading about it. I found out about it by word of mouth to be honest. I was thinking about asking Julian if we could arrange a Land Rover day if we could get enough forum members together? And we could perhaps arrange our own camping/bbq/green laning for the next day - make a weekend of it? Cheers, Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I looked at the Forestry Commission website to see if any forests nearer me offered the same deal. The website listed all the forests and some including Kileder showed that they had a "Forest Drive" unfortunately the website did not explain what that was. Is this what you are offering or is a Forest Drive something completely different?? Cheers, Marc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.