Sunday the 13th of December, and a few of us had arranged to meet up to go do some 'lanes in my home county of Denbighshire... So I woke early, 7:30, to find a hard frost -
Stealth's all frozen over! So I left it standing, thinking it might warm up a bit before the others arrived around 10... so I made my butties, filled the flask with soup, and took my two Labradors for a walk...
... came back and it was still frozen, so I thought I'd run the engine to warm everything up and melt the frost... but once again it wouldn't start, so I jumped it off "H19H GV" my daily driver lifted Grand Vitara.
So, left it run for a bit to both charge the battery and to melt the frost...
The other guys arrived - Simon in his Vauxhall Frontera, and Kevin in his Vitara, with son DJ.
We had a few warm drinks, and discussed whether my old Lab' Cadbury the chocolate Labrador was fir for the trip... he's 11 now, so 77 in doggy years, so he's a bit of a pensioner! I got his harness out (he sits in the passenger seat!) and he sprung into life, so I thought we'd take him along for the day...
First lane of the day, or rather two lanes, run from Gwaenysgor down to Gronant, and then back up to Llanasa... the first lane runs past the police transmitters, and there's loads of cameras around there...
So, the first lane, nothing taxing, but a great drive...
.. and great views (errr, not a clear day though) of all the caravan parks along the North Wales coast...
Down at the bottom and heading back up again, this BOAT (Byway Open to All Traffic) is actually signposted... quite unusual...
This lanes a bit more taxing, uphill and slippy...
... with some ruts and side slopes towards the top... Simon in the Fronty coming up ;)
Fresh Ice, so no-ones been over here today yet then...
Second two lanes, 2 BOATs outside Tremeichion... we started in the top middle of the above map, and dropped down to Graig, and then turned back up again to take the second lane in...
DJ, out gateman for the day, cheers mate... you've got the job for life! ;)
These lanes are just a few miles from my house, and I thought they were little used, I haven't been over them for a couple of yours, but looking at the tracks there's been more use of them recently...
Up the top, and we're rewarded with a completely STUNNING view... the Denbighshire (Clwyd as it were) is full of a bed of fog, and all you can see is the pylons sticking out of the top!
Back into the trucks after admiring the view...
Just before a (daft place for a) gate... look at Cadbury staring out of the windscreen! LOL
Dropping down... not a taxing lane, but a nice potter / bimble in the countryside, and some stunning views...
More views of the fog ;)
Nice lane, stil in good condition, not as much use as it looked at the top...
Nearing the end of the drop, you can just see the gate that marks the bottom of the lane...
...through that, and we turn up to take in the second lane...
Nice view of the route around the edge of the valley...
Nice drive...
Not over-used either...
Stunning, climbing out of the valley, and over just grass... you can just make out the lane.
We then climb up to take in the big lane that runs along the side of the Clwyd valley... we turn up through the hamlets of Dre-goch and Castell to avoid the irate farmer that lives under the television mast, and often has words with users of the lane...
Notice the red circle and the arrow pointing at the corner?
I turned round that and met a local coming down the lane so stopped to let them come down...
"Screech" behind me, then a big thump...
Oh sh!t! Simon's run into the back of me in the Fronty!!!
Oh dear!... the bullbar's been smashed into the bumper, and it's taken out three spot lights and the headlight as well... bent the bullbar and the bumper, and forced the slam panel into the engine bay so that the radiator's fan's pulley is scraping on one of the turbo tubes...
Oh me god, it's mashed...!
Tentatively, I look round to survey the damage to the back of Stealth...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Errr, virtually unscathed! It looks like when Si' slammed on, the Fronty must have nose-dived and hit my recovery point bar and primarily that big Dixon Bate hitch in the middle... the rest of the impact was taken by the ORA bumper, which remains virtually unharmed apart from that little srcatch indicated by the yellow arrow.
So it's Frontera - Nil, Vitara - One...
Shouldn't make light of it, as there's a fair bit of damage to Si's Fronty... no-one hurt though, although I did do the traditional insurance claim "ooh, my back, it must be whiplash" comment ;)
Si knows of a similar Fronty in a breakers yard, same colour too, so he'll soon be back out with us! :D
Onto the lane that runs along the edge of the valley, and we're rewarded with more stunning views of the fog...
Nice picture that, the camera's gone grainy as it was taken into the light, but the trees look great in the fog!
Nice little group, three 4x4s, a good size, and excellent company... cheers Guys!
The water tank, a familiar sight if you've ever driven this lane...
A short trip around the corner, to take in another BOAT...
We drove down...
... through the ruts at the bottom...
... and then turn round and back up again, to take in the next lane...
Over the top of Moel Dywyll in the Moel Famau Country Park...
We've done most of today's lanes "in reverse" to what we normally do... it's amazing how a lane can seem so different driven in the other direction to what you normally do...
Another nice group photo looking down on a manmade lake with a dam.
At the bottom...
I was then going to lead off to a lane called Bryn Ocyn, I led as far as Ruthin and then realised we where heading in the "wrong" direction, away from where the other members of the group live, so it made more sense to go and drive the Conquering Hero north to south... we got there, and I stopped to open a gate, turning the ignition off as I left the truck in gear on a steep slope... and when I got back in it wouldn't start... I just got a "TICK", so the others backed up so that I could bump start it in reverse and limp down off the mountainside and get home ASAP!
Time to get a replacement alternator!
Many thanks to Simon, Kevin and DJ, ooohh... and Cadbury, for their excellent company... let's do it again soon!
Dave ;)