Unfortunately my camera battery died on Saturday evening.
So the rest of my pics were taken with an old camera i found in my glove box.
Apologies for the terrible quality of them.
But fortunately Steven managed to get some good ones with his phone.
So ive included them as well.
So Saturday morning i was up at 6.30AM again.
excellent facilities at the camp site!
And a great view from the toilet!
After having breakfast and packing up camp, Steven needed to tie his inner wheel arch out of the way as it kept catching the tyre.
Damage to Mog's disco, after a wall jumped out behind him while he was reversing.
By 9AM we were back on the lane and carried on heading North.
The next lane we were heading for, is the byway that snakes its way around the Claerwen Reservoir.
I saw and failed to photograph another red kite.
And finally we were off the never ending lane around the reservoir, and dropped down past the dam below.
And through the ford across the river.
And onto what is a great lane.
Start of next lane.
And after that we were in New Bridge On Wye, to drive the huge ford across the river!
Definitely deeper than the last few times ive seen it.
Next we headed to the steepest, muddiest hill climb that I know of in Wales. This lane beat me the first 3 times i tried to drive it.
I only eventually conquered it with a winch, and then the last time i managed it with decent tyres and lockers.
As we got to the gate, I saw 2 horse riders coming down. So I told the other guys to pull over and switch off their engines.
I then opened the gate and called them through. We had a chat with them for 10mins and they were both really nice ladies, having a great day out.
The one was also pretty hot!
Soon i got to the first challenging bit.
I tried hard to get up but i failed.
If id had a working rear locker, id have made it.
While i was trying 3 motorcyclist's stopped for a chat.
The motorcyclist's were really friendly chaps and had come from Derby. We talked for a while and all shared a bit of knowledge on a few of the lanes, both around Wales and also in the Peak district.
We said good bye.
And got on with the challenge!
With my tyres now full of clay.
And as there was nothing to winch off, I let Giles past and he had a go at getting up in his fully locked Defender.
With plenty of gas and a couple of attempts Giles flew up.
I then used his truck as an anchor, and winched my self up.
Once i was up, i attached a kinetic rope to Steven's cruiser and pulled him up.
Mog was then able to winch his disco up, using Steven's cruiser as an anchor.
While this was happening Steven cut his hand on a barbed wire fence.
So out came the first aid kit, and Giles patched Steven up.
Once Steven's hand had been bandaged up, we had a cup of tea and slice of cake, and then carried on.
Giles said to me as he walked back to get in his truck "I will go first as im in the most capable truck"!
My reply to that cannot be written here!
So i followed him up and as we got to a particularly rough bit, Giles's truck had had enough and decided it needed a lie down!
So i got my snatch block and strops out, and we rigged them up to winch his truck back on to its wheels.
And slowly pulled it back onto its wheels.
Giles then got back in and attempted to drive forwards, which resulted in this crazy angle!
We then decided we needed to run his winch line out, so he could winch forwards, while at the same time i would slowly let my winch line out.
Unfortunately while winching there was an almighty bang from underneath Giles's landy as one of his rear shock absorbers failed.
With Giles through it was my turn. rather than trying toavoid the bomb hole i drove straight though it, and almost made it through, before needing to winch off the back of Gile's landy to get up the last bit.
I then turned around and re-positioned ready to winch Steven up.
But Steven's front bumper kept just hitting the bank.
We then tried with the waffles, but it was still no good.
So out with the shovel, and i dug down a bit to create a ledge for the top of the waffle to sit on, and this time Steven was able to get his front bumper up and over the bank.
And finally Mog's turn.
He almost made it, but ended up having to use Steven's cruiser as an anchor and winch him self up.
We got to the end of the lane and pulled in to check the vehicles and clean some of the mud off the lights and windows.
And Giles removed his broken shock.
So what a cracking lane!
We met the friendly horse riders and motorcyclist's, Steven nearly cut his hand off, and we pulled together as a team and winched, snatched, dug and waffle'd our way up the hill!
3.5 hours to drive 1/4 of a mile along a lane.
So we carried onto the next lanes, and were now heading North West.
At the start of the next lane a motorcyclist was just going through the gate, and he stopped and said hed open all the gates, if we closed them!
Perfect!
A mile or so of tarmac and were onto the next lane.
The view at the start of the next lane was spectacular!
It was so amazing that a viewing platform had been built, and thats what the silver car was doing blocking access to the lane.
car moved and were off.
A few more road miles, and after a quick stop for supplies we were at another of my favourite lanes.
We stopped and i informed everyone they may wish to secure anything in there truck that was loose, as this next lane is a little bit challenging!
Very very washed out in places, and certainly worse than my last visit a few months ago.
some one had placed a railway sleeper here to try and aid getting up and down this badly washed out section.
We made a decision not to drive back up, but to head for camp.
Steven found us an amazing camp spot.
nice and sheltered and private, but with an awesome view off the top of the mountain.
At this point Giles had to go as he needed to be home that night.
So we arranged the trucks and set up camp.
The pig tends to smoke a bit when first lit, so we stuck it outside till it got going.
toasted my muffin's.
And then added sausage, egg, cheese and ketchup! mmm..............
and of course an ice cold beer.
We then spent the night drinking beer, looking at the maps, plotting the route for the next day, and listening to music on Steven's ipad.
So another fantastic day in Wales!
Will hopefully get Day 3's trip report up tomorrow night.
:character-beavisbutthead: 
:character-spongebobdance: 
