Well, we had a great time trolling round The Plain for a few days even if my compatriots were in three LR’s, a 90, a Defender and a Disco
they wanted to put me in the middle of the group but I said no
Landcruiser, last of many but second to none.
The Disco managed it with no trouble but both the 90 and Defender had failures, not really breakdowns just minor stuff, the 90 had a recurring cooling problem, (two electric fans) an intermittent indicator that worked when it wanted to, a horn that didn’t honk and a jammed drivers window, the horn and cooling probs were dirty contacts on relays, we never found the indicator fault.
The Defender had strange noises coming from below that required listening to, a failed winch that got fixed eventually, with a 'little' assistance
there was another problem but I can’t remember now what that was.
I didn’t get off scot free either, no breakages, but I managed to lock the keys in the car,
we finally got the doors open by sticking a wire coat hanger down ‘through’ the rubber seal on the top of the upper tailgate window (must remember to put some sealer in there to fix the hole) and pulling up the rear door release button and climbing through to the front.
I also had a rumbling sound coming from below but I think it was the exhaust vibrating somewhere.
I also got stuck in the mud while on foot,
when someone said “Put your foot down and you’ll get through”
I took it the wrong way, trod on what looked like solid ground and went knee deep into mud that was so sticky we thought I would have to be winched out I got free in the end by pulling my leg up and using both hands to pull as well, but it took about 5 minutes of pulling to free, it felt like I had been glued in.
Both the 90 and Defender got stuck there. The 90 was winched out by the Defender, but the Defender needed both me and the 90 to free it when he tried to get through,
I thought discretion was the better part of valour and decided not to attempt it myself.
Most of the Plain was dry (Click for video)
but we did manage to find some mud holes (click for video)
and a ford
(click for video)
and some very scratchy lanes (click for video)
but a bit of face powder hid the wrinkles.
We also did a very steep descent where I couldn't get into low range so had to do it in high, checking speed a bit with the brakes leaving plenty of room in front, and in the excitement forgot to switch on the camera
