What a fantastic day we had today. With a good group of regulars having booked in for the day we decided to try and do something a little bit different. We didn’t go to the usual Warm Up woods to start off but headed straight across to Warrens Hill. The Hill proved a little bit too much for one or two who struggled to make one of the climbs the descents they had no trouble with! Following on from there, for the first time in approximately 12 months, we headed into Warrens Quarry. The ground there is really forgiving at the moment without the rain of a typical January. We made good progress in the quarry been able to tackle 90% of what it has to offer. Some very testing tricky climbs and you need to be on your toes to make sure you get those failed hill climbs right, don’t you Scott?!

Breaking with tradition again we headed across to Priestlands. Now the back-end of Priestlands always used to be a good hunting round for our competitions which we ran a few years back. We’ve not been in there for a little while now and despite the odd fallen tree the tracks there usually very testing, too testing in fact for a Drive Round Route. But having had a particularly dry December and January and post a recce, we decided that we could have a go and try something new. The aim being to open up some of the old tracks. Only two of the team out with us had actually been over this ground before, probably about six years ago. We pushed through opening up some sections before stopping for lunch just above the Log Bridge. Following lunch we then had the hardest struggle of the lot; the Deep rutted and clay sunken Lane that usually takes us down and across to the bridge proved particularly challenging when transiting going Up Hill! The wet clay power sapping the engines (including the V8s!) and with this taking its toll, no one managed to drive the section! Winches were out! A big thank you to Scott for gently helping Russell negotiate the obstacle.

With Priestlands completed we then headed across to Middle Wood via the bomb holes and axle twists. It was as testing as ever with some particularly interesting tracks which had been created by the water over previous years and made for some particularly challenging terrain ~ not for the light-hearted where there is a real risk of panel damage (don’t worry there are bypass route which the majority of people took on this occasion) Paul meanwhile decided to head on straight on through and even took a turn to take in the Old Sunken River. A good twisting section that follows the course of an old stream bed with great washes/erosion leading to fantastic side slopes and cross axles as you transit the route.

From here we headed across to Tim’s Lost Route where you have to negotiated a steep climb up after the fence before taking your time to meander on up the bank and through the wood. With little time still in hand we took the route on past Wet Corner and headed to First Drop. The Drop is very testing and for the first car down with leaf mulch on it, can be quite an exhilarating ride ~ again not for the faint hearted as they say. Following the descent we found that the little water that had fallen in December had made a bit of Water Splash creating an extra obstacle. Believe it or not before you blink a day is complete! A fantastic time had by all and having seen the back end of Preistlands looking so inviting, we will soon be running a working weekend across there to open up the back end of the woods give even more options for those that are returning regularly. For those looking for a little something more, with perhaps some slightly more capable trucks than in your average daily driver we have plenty of other options. For any information on this and more look at our driving days, competition training days, Sole Drive Round Day, if in doubt drop us a line.