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.
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.
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.
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.
[Getting the rear wheels over the wide bit near the shallow end]
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
[Getting the rear wheels over the wide bit near the shallow end]
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