We decided to do things a little differently today. Firstly Paul was allowed to go near the front of the convoy – for some reason he nearly always ends up in higher numbers?! Secondly we headed across to Slippery Side Slope woods to start the day off.

The first issue was immediately apparent, Scott driving the lead vehicle with Paul behind was a recipe for disaster! The two of them constantly egging each other on! The other issue – Slipper Side Slope woods turned out to be a complete non-issue despite the wet ground and snow/hail we had to endure!

The first few vehicles had a good crack at the tracks doing a marvellous job in making some of them much easier for those following and some of them much harder! Paul in his enthusiasm popped a tyre off its bead within the first 150m of the section, and then subsequently found his winch to be slowing under load and struggling to pull skin off rice pudding let alone pull his Discovery out of the ruts!

Kevin Williams meanwhile made full potential of the lovely V8 under the hood and showed us all how it could be done. Kevin Luxton has a slight belt issue with his steering pump, which he soon resolved whilst Paul Radford was working his way along the tracks, it should be noted with a less than keen Jack Radford who it seemed didn’t want to get too dirty! (and he’s the Codriver?!)

Slippery Side Slope woods turned out to be a great success. (less the PAS belt and the tyre!) a great deal of fun and some testing conditions for all to endure/get through. The most spectacular probably being Paul on the Ski run slope at the exit of the woods, how close was that fence?

The day continued with sleet and rain as we headed to First Long Drop, which again was particularly slippery with the conditions, slightly out of kilter but we then made a bee line for Warm Up woods to stop in some shelter for lunch whilst also giving the opportunity for those that wanted to explore and continue driving the chance to do so. Scott ably demonstrated the great flex on his rear axle, and promptly popped a spring, a simple fix but a point to note as somewhere there is something out of alignment.

Post lunch the convoy continued to Middle Wood via the older bomb holes at the end of the Sunken River course. This provided some great entertainment whilst a few of the ‘really good drivers’ showed us how not to do it! It also gave plenty of time for the proper drivers to show how easily it could be done! I will let everyone decide for themselves which category they come under!

Transiting Top Wood gave us some added bonuses where the loggers have cleared a few more tracks through. Its always interesting to watch the Defenders winch through where a series and Jeep just drives straight through!

We then had some interesting route Selection from Paul Radford in Middle Wood after one of the hard axle twists. To be fair I think he was looking at Scott’s lines and wondering why there were new tyres marks going off piste, what he didn’t know was Scott had got it wrong there too as well!

A great day, good fun for all, plenty to keep everyone busy over the five hours or so, and tailoring the ground to suit the with the group we had a little more winching than usual today. Good team and good fun, here’s to the next one.