What a weekend.........................

[Ben]

Ive not long got home from what has been an awesome weekend!

Steven (SAE70) had got in touch with me a month ago asking if i could provide him with a green lane route for the Shrophire lanes we drove on the trip last year.

lots of pm's later, and Steven arrived in his LC90, with a load of his mates from Essex in a LR90, disco and shogun.

we soon hit the lanes with me as the guide.

first of many rivers we would cross over the course of the weekend.

i noticed my temp kept rising if i didnt keep the heater on. really need to get the fan wired up.

i forgot to keep the heater on and the temp gauge went into the red.

so we connected the fan up using some jump leeds, and within 5mins it was nice and cool again and we carried on.

one of my favourite shropshire lanes has finally got a new gate!

i must have bent the transfer box stick when i removed and refitted the box last week, because the stick was fouling on the transmission tunnel and kept jumping out of low range!
to solve this i ratchet strapped the stick in low range when required!

beautiful weather saturday afternoon/evening.

we arrived at the disused quarry, where we camped on the last trip, at about 4.30 and soon had camp set up.

wed all collected lots of firewood.

and soon had a roaring fire.

was a great night, with a great bunch of guys, some great food and plenty of cold beer!

but it was a bitterly cold night! joys of winter in the UK i guess.

i got up early, and after having breakfast.

i used a can of tyre weld kindly donated by Steven to fix my tyre which had gone flat.

Giles, the owner of the tricked up LR90 had said the previous day that he was interested in nipping off early in the morning and driving what is the most extreme and challenging lane ive found in the whole of Shropshire.

so we left every one else at camp and headed for the lane.

we didnt get very far down the lane, before the side slope and super slippery surface had me dangerously close to a tree.

with the help of Giles's hydro winch and a snatch block, my truck was soon safely away from the tree.

waffles proved invaluable to safely get the trucks down the hill without damage.

pics really dont do the lane justice. the side slope is quite severe in places and the ground so slippery that the trucks just keep slipping off the track, without the use of carefully placed waffles.

getting dangerously close to trees, AGAIN!

this is an 8ft almost sheer drop, not that the pics really show that.

i managed to get down that tricky section.

tyres were very clogged up by this point.

the next section is another steep drop off.

i ended up being hung up, and needed to use my winch to get me moving again.

flexed it up a bit at the bottom of the lane.

we both really enjoyed that lane. it was very slow technical driving.

we headed back to camp.

the others were almost ready to leave.

we were soon all on the road and heading South into Wales, to some great lanes id chosen for the day.

beautiful weather and scenery.

this lane soon developed quite an extreme side slope.

if the bank hadnt been there, the truck would have been on its side.

my snorkel had ploughed its way down most of the lane.

nice ford followed by a short but interesting byway.

on the last lane Steven had a branch jump out in front of him. it broke his snorkel grill and pushed the head of the snorkel back with such ferocity as to actually dent the A pillar taking the paint and primer off in the process.

it then jumped straight through the side window.

this was soon temporarily repaired with a black bag and duck tape.

one last ford.

we all said good bye and headed for home. the story should end there but it doesnt................

while driving back i noticed on the map i was passing a byway id never driven before and decided it would be rude not to!

turned off by a big swanky house and drove straight up the smart looking driveway and through a gate. there was no byway sign and if i hadnt got the map, id have been convinced i was driving up some ones private driveway. anyway...............after driving past the tennis courts and swimming pool the lane turned to grass and didnt look like it had been driven for a while. a few minutes later i was greeted by a lovely little ford.

through the ford, through another gate and i was climbing up through a field.

a lovely little byway to end the day with.

a truly great weekend with some great people! looking forward to the next trip already.

need to get the truck cleaned and few things fixed first. dont really want to keep ratcheting the transfer stick in place when i need low range.

 

[adrianr]

Great write up and pics!!
thanks for sharing.

 

[sae70]

Very Nice Ben

You've put a big smile on my face this weekend and the lads that came up with me

Thanks again m8

Now I really must go and empty that truck before some thieving scrot................

 

[karl webster]

Great write up and pics as per usual ben

Really going to have to get out again soon.

Karl

 

[Ben]

thanks guys.

Karl, we must get another trip organised for in a few months time maybe.

 

[Graham]

Great write up, and even better pictures, Thanks for sharing.

Looks like the bank, where your LC was hard up against on your drivers door, perhaps caused a little damage to the rear window frame?
Looks like some stone or rock has pulled out the fram. adn distorted it a bit.
On the verical section of the rear side window, nearest the back door.

Gra.

 

[munster]

Really enjoyed your write up Ben if your planing another weekend could i tag on please
need to get some more experience before our May trip to corsica
Martin

 

[sae70]

Here are some more photos of the weekend

 

[TonyP]

Looks like a great trip... not sure about camping when it's that cold though

Pity about the damage Steven , but I guess that comes with the territory....

 

[Ben]

great pics Steven.

looks like you took almost as many as me.

Great write up, and even better pictures, Thanks for sharing.

Looks like the bank, where your LC was hard up against on your drivers door, perhaps caused a little damage to the rear window frame?
Looks like some stone or rock has pulled out the fram. adn distorted it a bit.
On the verical section of the rear side window, nearest the back door.

great pics Steven.

it looks like you almost took as many as me!

Gra.

both sides are quite dented and have been for some time. i did think of repairing them when i did all the body work, but decided they would probably just get dented again so decided to leave them as they are.

i think they add character!

but my truck is first and foremost a toy, and damge is to be expected with the sort of terrain i enjoy driving over!

i think Steven's pic below clearly shows the crazy angle i was driving down the lane at.

Really enjoyed your write up Ben if your planing another weekend could i tag on please
need to get some more experience before our May trip to corsica
Martin

thanks Martin.

yes no problem, i will give you a shout.

ive got a few trips coming up with my suzuki mates, but they take it all very seriously and only like to lane in very small groups, so theres never any spare places.

 

[sae70]

Pity about the damage Steven , but I guess that comes with the territory....

Thanks Tony As you say it comes with the territory and to us all at some point. Luckily no one was hurt and all of the damage should be easily rectified. I'll certainly not lane in the future without turning my snorkel top to face backwards!!! Its now obvious that the branch entered the front of my snorkel top smashing the grill then pushed the main snorkel body back into my 'A' post causing the damage to the gutter edge before becoming so sprung loaded that it left my snorkel at great speed twatting and smashing my side glass!!!!

Note to self 'Don't be lazy Get out of truck and turn your snorkel top to face backwards when Green Laning'

It was still a cracking weekend though, with some great new lanes, thanks again Ben Still smiling

 

[sae70]

Stage one of the road to repair

When I got home from the trip I had a search for Safari snorkel grills Wow they not cheap

But then stumbled over this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110824573420? ... 1439.l2649

Bought it, and here it is;

All fitted and back to normal, almost

 

[Chas]

I got an ally grille for mine at a 4x4 show £8

 

[Ben]

I got an ally grille for mine at a 4x4 show £8

same here.

i dont think id ever fit a plastic one again.

Steven, have you checked the air box to see if theres broken bits of grill that need removing?

 

[Julian Voelcker]

Hi Ben,

Do you have any waypoints/co-ordinates of the route on the first day - always looking for some interesting local lanes that aren't too difficult to take the children on.

 

[Ben]

im afraid i dont use any GPS software, and i rarely even look at the map now wile laning in Shropshire.

Id be happy to guide you round the lanes some time. or if your going to Lincomb i could mark your map up for you. or if you send me an OS map i can mark the lanes for you.

i find with laning local knowledge is very useful. for example theres a fair few lanes around Shropshire which are no longer open, even thought there still marked on the latest OS maps as being byways and not restricted byways.

theres also a fair few which arnt worth bothering with. some times because theres hundreds of gates, and some times because they could be driven in an ordinary car and dont have any magnificent views.

i realised the other day that i havnt done much laning down your way, even though ive got a few maps that were marked up by the chaps at llanerchinda B&B, showing a few interesting lanes.

hoping to get down soon to do some exploring.

 

[Julian Voelcker]

Thanks Ben. Not sure I can make it to Lincomb, but will sort something.

Where are you in Shropshire?

I mainly look for lanes that can do as a family outing - aiming for scenery and wildlife and the odd bit of mud, but nothing too extreme.

 

[Ben]

im near Telford.

for scenic lanes id recommend the Long Mynd area above Church Stretton. If you look on an OS map theres loads of UCR's up that way.

 

[Julian Voelcker]

Ah, good old Telford - used to be at Harper Adams and used to live at Donnington - I suspect that Telford has grown a bit since then.

Yes, did bits of the Long Mynd last year thanks to tracks from Jon and Paul - very easy routes and excellent fish and chips at the end down in Church Stretton.

 

[Ecoman]

Church Stretton now thats a place I haven't been to for many many years. I used to hang out with my bast mate from school around there. I remember his name was Andrew Hitchman and his dad owned the Aquaroll factory. I'm gonna have to pop down that way sometime and see if i can relive my youth......oh and take in a few lanes too