Welsh Trip 1/2 December 2001
Another weekend with Lee James 4x4
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| Did we enjoy it, what do you think??? Lee James, Nigel and the rest of the 4x4web team. |
Boys and girls go out to play … and dogs come too!
A morning that begins with two round yellow yolks, a pile of mushrooms and slices of fried bread hails the start to a good day. Just ask my meat eating companions who tucked into bacon and sausages, as well. One sausage being saved for the black and white four legged friend who was to accompany us throughout our weekend off road trekking. Our host at the Farm, Nick, endeavouring through his ready smile and generous nature to feed us more than we could eat.
Dressed snugly in several top layers, wellies and waterproof coats we piled into the Land Rover 110 expecting rain. We were in Wales after all. Lee, the off road instructor from Lee James 4x4 had given us a morning briefing to outline the route plan for the day and check through the vehicles. This included the plastic bag test. This is where Lee puts a black plastic bag over your snorkel and sees how well it works. No taking undue chances when you expect that the river crossings might be a bit deep. All ten vehicles, five in each group, packed with drivers and passengers, chatted excitedly to each other over the walkie talkie radios as we set off one behind the other into unfamiliar territory.
We had begun the 90 mile round trip that was to take us through beautiful countryside which contrasted mountainside views with lake side, rivers and moorland. It was spectacular. The sunshine showed the autumn colours in their splendour alongside streams of water gushing over the dark grey slate of the Welsh landscape. Wide open expanses of land were garlanded by trees and suffused by an invigorating fresh air. To watch the water cascading over one of the large reservoirs was quite breathtaking. So that’s where all the water in Wales goes to!
The river on the first half of the journey lulled one into thinking that one could easily paddle across it, had the water been warmer, but when the 110's bonnet dips under the surface you know that you have to take this seriously. Our group was all pretty well equipped, the other group had a mixture of better and less well prepared vehicles. For safety, one vehicle was towed through the deeper sections with its engine off to make sure no water was sucked in resulting in a very expensive hydraulic lock.
There were vain attempt to enlighten us, over the walkie talkie, about the identification of birds and certain Welsh phenomenon. However, the knowledge of wildlife met with disagreement and several members of our party held a declining exchange that ended up describing the large bird to our left as a 'Big Bird’. The attempts to satisfy our curiosity about the white parallel lines on the surface of a large lake were met with 'that's what the scientists fail to identify as scum! We decided that the Welsh Olympic sheep swimming trials used these as line markers and left it at that. This silenced further efforts to expand on general knowledge of the Welsh flora and fauna. This was followed instead by comments by one member of our party arranging to meet 'by the Madonna with the big boobies.' In our vehicle however, two 11 year old boys giggled as they repeat this phrase, over and over, in a French accent. Despite these, shall we say less those satisfactory exchanges, we felt that the use (and abuse) of the latest communication tools were a benefit to the general level of camaraderie during the trip.
At dusk we were joined by the rising orb of an enormous orange moon. We followed its ascent into the dark of the sky as we motored through deep gullies over heath land down towards the sparkling lights of a small Welsh town. 'Wow'. How Lee arranged that and sunshine on what was supposed to be a wet weekend in Wales was beyond us!
More superb home cooking welcomed us back at the end of the day - soup, casserole and steaming jam pudding and custard! Again more food than we could eat.
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| The 110 pick up dives in | The 4x4web 110 taking water over the bonnet and into the heater |
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| This is the fastest I have seen this river | Glad my other hobby is sailing. Heading plus tide equals course over ground! |
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| Lights on for a better picture | Being last the 4x4web 110 knows what to expect |
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| Bolders were only a problem in a few places... Lee's 110 goes between, the 4x4web 110, driven by Tania climbed over the one on the right! | Getting the bow wave right is all a matter of the correct speed |
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| Stuart & Phil in the 90 | Rosemary & Barry following up in their 110 |
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