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The heavy rain which had fallen throughout the whole night was still falling when we all met again the next morning at the Bonavis.
Because of the weather conditions we had decided to run the two groups down basically the same route, but with the more experienced and better equipped detouring off onto more difficult tracks.
We found that the heavy overnight rain had completely changed the tracks. We used one of the tracks from the previous day which had been relatively easy, but water was running down the ruts made by the heavy tractors which had been ploughing in the fields alongside the track and we were lurching from side to side through ruts and liquid mud as we climbed .
The first section of Sunday's tracks was chalky, grassy and slippery, and two of the Discoveries slid gracefully off the track into the edge of a field. Alec pulled them out with a short tow, as the other group continued. A few kilometres further on Alec's group found a local hunter with his Frontera stuck sideways across the track, and whose winch had jammed. He was very relieved to find another group of 4x4s out on such a wet morning, and gratefully accepted a tow.
It all goes to help relations between the different groups who enjoy the French countryside.
Mark's Hybrid was the next to have a moment, but he managed to power his way out.
A little further down the track we stopped for coffee, and examined the end of a lane which is rarely used. Several of the group decided to give it a try. Meanwhile we changed a wheel on the Land Rover, having punctured a tyre somewhere on the road, and checked what was initially thought to be a failing CV joint on the Hybrid. Luckily this turned out not to be the case.
The 3 Suzukis set off first, followed by one of the Rich's Discovery, Andy's 90 and Sarah's 110.
They waded through the floodwater, climbed over an earth mound, and set off up the track.
Unfortunately about a kilometre along, it had been ploughed up. We will not drive across fields, so they turned round and returned to the rest of the group. We then continued on, following a succession of lanes, crossing the A26 motorway and descending
to cross the St Quentin Canal, which was built by prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars. We stopped shortly after this for lunch in a parking area next to a WW1 cemetary.
After lunch we headed south towards St Quentin,
and crested a hill to find two local men in a
French ex army Renault light truck whch had
slid down the camber of the track and bogged
two wheels in the edge of the field. The truck was well
stuck, unable to get any grip on the slippery
surface. Andy manouvered past them and was
able to pull them free with his winch. The
astonished driver, who was certain that he was
going to have a long cold walk to get help,
thanked us, and asked how we came to be
there. We explained what "Mudplug" did, and gave him a card. A few days later we received a New Year Card from him, thanking us again for our help. Shortly after we had left, Alec's group came along the same tracks, and Terje slid into the ruts left by the French truck, and also needed a tow.
After pulling out the French truck we continued taking a further loop to the South on increasingly waterlogged tracks, before, as night was falling, we headed back towards Lesdain.
It was dark when we came to a hill, which was not normally difficult to climb.Today with an adverse camber, both in the dip at the bottom, and again half way up, was very greasy and difficult to climb. We climbed one at time, a couple having to take a second run, and just as the last one reached the top we saw the lights of the other group approaching. We decided to wait for them in case assistance was needed. It was!
Alec climbed without problems, followed by a jubilant Caroline in the Range Rover with its Mud Terrain tyres, and then Sarah in her 110, but 2 of the Discoveries and the 90TD5, non of which had Mud tyres could make it. One of the Suzukis went down to see what help was needed, and returned triumphantly, towing a Discovery!
We got them all to the top, and then redivided the groups, as one of the Suzukis had lost drive. Alec towed him back to Lesdain where the problem was quickly sorted in our workshop. Several of the others followed Alec, while others continued the journey back on the tracks. The rain had started to fall again, and the next hill was climbed only by our 110 and Caroline in the Range Rover: the others being stuck at the bottom. We turned round and went down the hill again.
Terje had slipped off the sloping track when his snow tyres just could not get any grip. The others had managed to extricate themselves. We winched the front of the 90 round, and then towed him about 500 metres backwards to a place where he could turn. As it was now getting late, we returned to Lesdain by road, tired, soaked, covered in mud, but happy, for Dinner.
4x4 Tours in Northern France 4x4 Massif Central Tours 4x4 Battlefield tours 4x4 Special offers. 4x4 5 pillars challenge 4x4 Photos from tours 4x4 Tracking the Tank photos 4x4 The Battle of Cambrai Mudplug Calendar Mudplug Guestbook 4x4 Links last minute mud 5 pillars site weekends 4x4 Special offers. off-roading, experienced and fully equipped. Land Rover, Jeep, Suzuki, Vauxhall - Opel, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi Mercedes