Not really what I had in mind......

On saturday I finally had a little bit of free time so I thought it was time to get out and take some photos and put a post on Norwegian Wood about the recent snowfall and winter weather. I also thought that this was get some photos of the landy in the snow and put a post on more power singing it's praises in the winter weather. Apart from the complete inadequacy of the heater and window wipers, it's been as faultless as a 1963 Landy can be. Solid on snow and not bad on ice. In low ratio it manages in snow up to and a little over it's axles. Been very pleased with it all in all.


Having said this, it doesn't matter how good your 4x4 is, it can't compensate for driver error. I was on the way back from a successful trip to get a new magneto, points and plugs for my recently acquired old and defunct (as many of the things I acquire are) snowblowers (Hopefully the subject of another post shortly). I was on the 2Km lane way up to the house, which the neighbour does a great job of ploughing. It snowed solidly for 5 days last week so we have been very grateful for this.

However, the problem with ploughed roads and deep snow is that you can't always tell where the edge of the road is and how deep the ditch is. You can probably guess where this is going, driving up a hill, in a straight line, no cars around and in perfect control I realised a little to late that I had infact hooked my inside wheels off the road. The reason that I realised was that the 4 inch drop on the side of a road suddenly, under the snow, turned into a 3 foot ditch. As I wasn't really aware that I was off the road I drove into this hole at the sort of speed that the landrover tends to manage up such a hill.

When I realised that the landy was still the right way up, stable, unharmed, I thought "heyho, just as well I have the camera handy". Photo's galore followed by getting the shovel out the back and moving a load of snow. After a quick attempt to extract myself came the sad realisation that there wasn't enough weight on the wheels that remained on the slippy road to have enough grip to get out. Quick phone call to the neighbour, embarrasing as it was at least he got me out with his 4x4 without resorting to the tractor.

Really, the pics are pretty self explanatory.... The first is posed in the deep snow outside the house, the rest are not....