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Real rock 'n' (nearly) roll

Rodger

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Messages
1,562
A few weekends ago Dave2000 (80), Corinne and I (40) went to visit friends in Castalla (near Alicante) who wanted a taste of off-roading. After taking them on an easy trail up to the fire-watch tower, we decided to have a full day out. The idea was a trail over the mountains in the morning, lunch and then another trail back – looked great on wikilocs!

Within 5 kilometres the planned trail was gated so we took to a small, unknown trail nearby which is unusual for us as we normally carefully plan our routes. It was tight and rough but we made steady but relatively slow progress until we came to a rock in the middle of the trail.

DSCF2649_ 1 (00.00.23.800)A.png


With no option to turn or reverse as we had crossed a steep wash out that prevented a return, we decided to move it. So with our hand winch we released the rock from the surrounding earth and then our 40 pushed it out of the way. It took 35 minutes to get it moved and the pictures, extracted from the videos, show our 40 with its RSJ front bumper, ably directed by Dave, clearing the trail.
VID_20180904_135453_ 1 (00.01.12.300)AA.png

VID_20180904_135453_ 1 (00.13.29.266)EE.png

VID_20180904_135453_ 1 (00.13.40.700)FF.png

VID_20180904_135453_ 1 (00.33.44.900)KK.png


The trail became very narrow, especially for the 80, but no worries, until I had a senior moment and didn’t walk the next hazard – a deep gully. I managed to drop the front right wheel into this 3 foot deep gully – opposing rear wheel in the air and the front right hanging so that the dropped corner was supported on the edge of the front wing and the step. Dave pulled me out backwards and the only damage, other than my red face, was a scratch on the wing edge and a small dent in the step.
DSCF2656_ 1 (00.00.00.000)C.png


The gully got wider and it took half an hour to get me down – width and crumbling edges – and at one point, to get the rear wheels through, Dave had one 5 foot sand ladder horizontal supported by the other ladder at an angle (end on) to the bottom of the gully. The 80 with its wider track had no such problems.
DSCF2664_ 1 (00.01.12.700)E.png

[Getting the rear wheels over the wide bit near the shallow end]
DSCF2664_ 1 (00.02.03.533)F.png


The local farmer had ploughed the trail to extend his fields and the final wooded section was so narrow that the axe got some exercise.

Seven and a half hours later we decided to give the second trail a miss. Oh, did the folks who wanted to try off-roading like it? They have started looking for a suitable truck!

Regards,

Rodger
 
A few weekends ago Dave2000 (80), Corinne and I (40) went to visit friends in Castalla (near Alicante) who wanted a taste of off-roading. After taking them on an easy trail up to the fire-watch tower, we decided to have a full day out. The idea was a trail over the mountains in the morning, lunch and then another trail back – looked great on wikilocs!

Within 5 kilometres the planned trail was gated so we took to a small, unknown trail nearby which is unusual for us as we normally carefully plan our routes. It was tight and rough but we made steady but relatively slow progress until we came to a rock in the middle of the trail.

View attachment 149594

With no option to turn or reverse as we had crossed a steep wash out that prevented a return, we decided to move it. So with our hand winch we released the rock from the surrounding earth and then our 40 pushed it out of the way. It took 35 minutes to get it moved and the pictures, extracted from the videos, show our 40 with its RSJ front bumper, ably directed by Dave, clearing the trail.
View attachment 149595
View attachment 149596
View attachment 149597
View attachment 149598

The trail became very narrow, especially for the 80, but no worries, until I had a senior moment and didn’t walk the next hazard – a deep gully. I managed to drop the front right wheel into this 3 foot deep gully – opposing rear wheel in the air and the front right hanging so that the dropped corner was supported on the edge of the front wing and the step. Dave pulled me out backwards and the only damage, other than my red face, was a scratch on the wing edge and a small dent in the step.
View attachment 149599

The gully got wider and it took half an hour to get me down – width and crumbling edges – and at one point, to get the rear wheels through, Dave had one 5 foot sand ladder horizontal supported by the other ladder at an angle (end on) to the bottom of the gully. The 80 with its wider track had no such problems.
View attachment 149600
[Getting the rear wheels over the wide bit near the shallow end]
View attachment 149601

The local farmer had ploughed the trail to extend his fields and the final wooded section was so narrow that the axe got some exercise.

Seven and a half hours later we decided to give the second trail a miss. Oh, did the folks who wanted to try off-roading like it? They have started looking for a suitable truck!

Regards,

Rodger

Nice post Rodger, and a great day out by the look of it :lol:

Driving trails can get a bit boring with nothing “interesting” to deal with... you seem to have found your fair share with the rock and the wash-outs :lol:

That rock looks heavy, I’m sure @AndyCook would have a better idea, but it must be close on a tonne...

Thanks for posting :thumbup:
 
I would not liked to have checked my heart rate getting @Rodger over that hole. At one point his wheels were sliding in, by using the width of the sand ladders it kept the wheels upright. The shadows (not caused by my sylph like figure) hide just how much of the edge that is actually missing under the wheels, Rodgers heart is probably still on life support somewhere!

A very busy day in very hot weather, but we got through it, picnic in the shade of a nice forest afterwards made it worthwhile.

Regards

Dave
 
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Looking good the old 40 Rodger love the look of it thanks for the pics a big :thumbup:.
 
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