The full length video of Day One of our trip to Mid Wales (Day Two video to follow when it’s ready!):
Exploring Strata Florida & Mid Wales Lanes
A short video trailer for our trip to mid-wales – the weather was pretty bad but that just made it more of an adventure. We drove Strata Florida in the rain which was fantastic, camping along the route in the back of the Land Rovers. Here’s a taster, a full length video coming soon…
Late Winter Greenlanes
It’s almost over, the longest coldest winter for 30 years that is. Currently we are getting fantastic blue skies, bright sunshine but still with a bitterly cold wind and sub-zero temperatures at night. Spring is just around the corner now… surely. But this late winter has a character all of it’s own – I took a trip out in the sunshine around the Chew Valley and Mendips and did a couple of nice greenlanes, Nordrach and Dursdon Drove, here’s the video:
Winter Snow Trip in the Mendip Hills
We just spent 2 days out and about in the Somerset’s Mendip hills, in the deep snow that we were lucky enough to get this year (speaking as Landrover drivers of course, everyone else is fed up of it!). Day two featured a nice rescue job for us. On top of the Mendip plateau there’s a depression at Charterhouse, where the lane dips down into a small valley, where ancient Roman and older copper mines are found and the landscape is pitted and worked making it a real magical place – in the snow it looked even more wild and rugged. So traversing this fantastic landscape in very cold and fog-bound conditions when we came around the bend in the depression we found an astravan stuck in the snow, unable to make it up the climb. He’d gotten into the valley OK but couldn’t get out at either end – by the time we arrived he’d been there 2 hours, with no mobile signal and was resorting to try and dig out the snow ahead of his vehicle, using a dustpan and a screwdriver – he’d managed about 8 feet, so only another 400 or so to go. Anyway, lucky chap the LRE crew turned up well equipped with a TD5 defender and Hicap, and Simon “The Engineer” had his tow rope out again in no time for another rescue. He’s used it plenty in recent days, delivery vans, a milk float and even a forklift have been pulled out of the snow by his trusty TD5!
Here’s the video of the trip and the ‘rescue-event’
And here the ‘rescue’:
Australian Swag – a perfect 4×4 companion…
The Australian swag is a tough durable bedroll that can hold your sleeping bag and blankets and has a built in mattress. It can withstand heavy rain and simply rolls up to go – perfect for Landrover camping without the need for a full tent. although made for the Australian bush as demonstrated by Ray Mears here, it’s just as good in our climate and conditions, we just don’t need the scorpion-proofing as much, and thankfully so – one of the great delights about UK camping is the complete lack of dangerous insects and animals! No excuse not to Get Out & Stay Out as much as you can then. But the think canvas serves to keep out windy and rainy weather, and we have just as good a night sky as the southern hemisphere, and this is the way to enjoy it – for almost 3 seasons if the weather’s clear a swag can get you sleeping out under the stars in style and comfort – it’s THE way to go in my opinion. Just throw it in the back of your Landrover and your ready to go anywhere, stay anywhere! Here’s a video of a test of a genuine imported Australian swag from www.theaussieshop.co.uk:
A Big Snow ‘Get-Out’ in the Mendips
Some photos of a Winter “Get Out” trip up in the Mendip hills – no reason for you or the youngsters to be stuck in doors when you have a Landrover to conquer the snowy roads and lanes…
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Cheddar Gorge in the Rain – Still Spectacular
A run through the Cheddar Gorge in heavy rain – what a drive though, the road goes right through tiny gaps in great walls of rock and it winds and winds it’s way up the gorge… this is speeded up, you might get a bit dizzy!
Unsuitable For Motors…
A friend of mine was directed this way in a Nissan Primera by his SatNav which took this UCR (unclassified Country Road) as a shortcut! With 2 young kids in driving rain the trusty Nissan stuck to the task along this routethe ABS going all the way!
I went back and covered the ground in the Defender – it’s a really nice route actually, but not in a saloon car! The experience wasn’t wasted as it inspirec the start of this new website “UnsuitableForMotors.com” which should be an interesting one for all Landrover drivers as it develops.
Here’s my pics from that road, and a nearby Byway at Stanton Prior.
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LRE-TV: Nordrach – Mendip Hills
Some images from a trip along Nordrach near Charterhouse at the height of summer this year.
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