bernardfeay
Free Member
OK OK, we should have learned our lesson. We have been pulled out of mud twice before. Once in the Lake District in Winter and once in Italy where the little tractor had to concede his authority to Mr Bloody great big tractor.
Yesterday we headed yet again for the Lake District. Found a long dead end road just after Kendal Caravan Sales on the A6 near Shap. Seriously uphill and seriously downhill but very quiet and quite lovely.
We looked for a flat bit of ground that would offer zero challenge to our ability to climb or struggle. How wrong could we be. It was immediately apparent that despite the flatness our front wheels were going nowhere. Like you do - I tried a bit of pull forward, followed by a bit of a pull backwards.
You know it's not going well when little lumps of mud fly past the wing mirrors. I got out to take a look at how deep we were in. Not as bad is it could be but still pretty obvious that we were not going to escape via the engine and driving technique.
We do carry those rope ladder gripper thingamajigs (spellchecker allowed that word), and figured they were about to get their first chance to prove their worth.
Very obvious, from the start, that the wheels would have to be jacked up in order to get the rope ladders under the wheels. The first attempt at jacking up the front resulted in the jack burying itself into the ground and the front wheels staying put.
Attempt two had to be with a big flat stone under the jack. Lo and behold the first wheel went up and the rope ladder was put in position. Wheel two also went up good as gold and the second rope ladder put in place. The wheels were lowered.
We all know that feeling when you know it's now or never. When I put it in reverse will the rope ladders fly off forwards in half a second, will I fly backwards towards the stone wall and smash the back end... or will the endeavour end in success and a bloody great big smile of satisfaction.
We are smiling, covered up to our arses in mud, but smiling.
Yesterday we headed yet again for the Lake District. Found a long dead end road just after Kendal Caravan Sales on the A6 near Shap. Seriously uphill and seriously downhill but very quiet and quite lovely.
We looked for a flat bit of ground that would offer zero challenge to our ability to climb or struggle. How wrong could we be. It was immediately apparent that despite the flatness our front wheels were going nowhere. Like you do - I tried a bit of pull forward, followed by a bit of a pull backwards.
You know it's not going well when little lumps of mud fly past the wing mirrors. I got out to take a look at how deep we were in. Not as bad is it could be but still pretty obvious that we were not going to escape via the engine and driving technique.
We do carry those rope ladder gripper thingamajigs (spellchecker allowed that word), and figured they were about to get their first chance to prove their worth.
Very obvious, from the start, that the wheels would have to be jacked up in order to get the rope ladders under the wheels. The first attempt at jacking up the front resulted in the jack burying itself into the ground and the front wheels staying put.
Attempt two had to be with a big flat stone under the jack. Lo and behold the first wheel went up and the rope ladder was put in position. Wheel two also went up good as gold and the second rope ladder put in place. The wheels were lowered.
We all know that feeling when you know it's now or never. When I put it in reverse will the rope ladders fly off forwards in half a second, will I fly backwards towards the stone wall and smash the back end... or will the endeavour end in success and a bloody great big smile of satisfaction.
We are smiling, covered up to our arses in mud, but smiling.
