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Home > Events > EVENT REPORT : 4x4 Adventures DRD Weekend 5/6 April

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party monkey Member Since: 31 Dec 2010 Location: Oxon. Posts: 1311

EVENT REPORT : 4x4 Adventures DRD Weekend 5/6 April Apologies in advance for another mega long post but no video camera with me this time, so it's words & stills... As an infrequent participant in all this off-road mullarky, for the past couple of years, I’ve joined James and the lads at 4x4 Adventures on their Welsh green laning trips and indeed, their first adventure weekend held in 2013. It was at the adventure weekend where I first had a taste of a gentle drive round route on the farm. I’d seen the website reports/pictures of the drive round days held in the west country and I fancied a crack as they looked great fun and equally, I was keen to gain more off -road experience. The two main stumbling blocks however, were the distance I’d have to travel for a single day event and that I did not meet the normal pre-requisite of mud tyres. Discussions with James ensued and at the end of last year, a plan was hatched for a drive round weekend over the 5/6 April, which would give the distance travellers a chance to relax into the Sunday and also, hopefully, at this time of year, it would be drier on the Bampton site, so vehicles shod in the less aggressive ATs would cope better. As part of easing ourselves into the main day on the Sunday, we would have the opportunity to warm up on the Saturday afternoon at David Bowyer’s off road course. Saturday evening provided the opportunity to camp in the particularly well appointed Bampton Hilton field (To quote James’ pre event email “Water and a shovel would be beneficial”…. you get the picture!). Prior to the off on Sunday morning, we would also have a brief talk on bush mechanics/bushcraft from David Gunning. All in all, a full on action packed weekend and so, our stock Td5 110 trundled down to Devon on the Saturday morning laden with camping gear and my ten year son Daniel for company, co-driver, photographer and chief Jelly Baby scoffer. Upon arriving at the pub in Zeal Monochorum, the first sight that struck me were Steve and Paul/Alison’s rather purposeful looking 90’s adorned with MTs. Introductions out of the way and I see Shane’s Blue 110 lurking at the bottom of the car park, also on MTs . Into the pub for our pre-ordered lunch and slowly but surely more folk arrived, some of whose names, rather embarrassingly, I’ve forgotten. More introductions and then James, Tim, David & Jeroen arrived having been ‘tinkering’ at Bowyer’s site already in the morning. Following lunch and the driver’s brief, we headed out into the carpark, ready for the off and I was particularly impressed by the total number of vehicles on ATs …. One!... ‘B*gger’ sort of sprung to mind. Not so much that I was worried for myself about getting stuck, as that’s all part of the learning curve and I knew the guys would be on hand to advise and recover. It was more that I didn’t want to be the one spoiling other people’s enjoyment of the weekend by me being constantly recovered and eating into their off-road time. However, it then struck me that I perhaps had a trick up my sleeve with my vehicle being fitted with traction control….time would tell…game on! Off we trundle for the very short transit to Bowyer’s off road course, which is a nice compact site with a wide variety of obstacles to give both vehicle and driver a work out. So far so good and I’ve heard the record for getting stuck is within three minutes of getting though the gate, so that’s target number one. I’m pleased to report that I’m not the new record holder but it was probably within the first ten minutes where I first found a nice spot to dig a hole. No major drama though. A quick winch pull from the James & Tim in the lead vehicle and we’re through and off again, complete with some words of advice from Tim. The trick for smooth forward progression clearly is knowing when to give it some gas and when to back off to let the tyres find the grip and it seems to be a pretty fine line between the two. From memory, we required a gentle ‘recovery’ from the lead vehicle once more during that muddier section but overall, it was far from the shocker that I was anticipating and I’m slowly grasping the concept of ‘as slow as possible but as fast as necessary’. Overall, the ATs were gripping pretty well and the TC helped curtail the over enthusiastic right foot. On to more obstacles and then some reasonably steep ascents. My first attempt on one in low second failed about three quarters of the way up. A quick reverse back down and following James’ CB advice of ‘try third’, we got up and over with no drama. What goes up must come down and so it’s not long before we’re heading back down the tracks we’ve just climbed. All reasonably controlled in my mind on the basis that Daniel wasn’t screaming to be let out of the cab once we reached the bottom. After James & Tim had led us around the main obstacles of the course, they then handed the course over to us all to explore with the encouraging words of ‘don’t worry, if you get stuck, shout and we’ll come and get you’. However, equally cautionary words for me in particular of ‘avoid the deeper wades’… which is fine as with no snorkel and the ECU still located under the drivers seat, I had no intention of going near it. Still, it was good fun to watch those who did. We continued to explore the site and I had another crack at one of the ascents, this time in low third to start with and we’re almost up when we start to lose traction and the TC kicks in. I’m not quick enough to react with the right foot and we stall. All good reason now to practise a failed hill climb and then subsequently successfully make it to the top in low second. Close to where the particularly deep water was, are some claggy muddy ruts which James & Tim (and now photographer Daniel) were keen for me to have a crack at. First of all I drive half way around the course to turn around but then manage the first set without any dramas. Tim hops in the cab and we then have a go at the trickier second set but lose momentum on the exit. It took five or six goes of reversing back and having another crack and finally, with Tim’s guidance, we made it, to cheers and a big grin on my part. Tim kindly stays in the cab with me and guides me down one particularly short and steep rocky slope which is good experience for what would face me the following day. It was amazing how quickly the time passed and slowly but surely people seemed to have had their fill and gathered to chat at the side of the steep slope. I needed to quickly address the plastic transmission mud shield that had been caught at some stage and was flapping away underneath the truck and once this was done, we said our goodbyes to the folk that had only joined us for the Bowyer’s element and those that were not camping and returning tomorrow for the DRD and made our way in two separate convoys back to the Bampton campsite. Our group being slightly delayed as on the wade out of the site, Shane was unlucky to catch a floating section of decent sized tree branch which jammed over his rear axle into the suspension, requiring a few minutes attention to free it. Once at the campsite, we marvelled at the views and shivered at the biting wind that blew across the field. A quick pitch of the tent and then settle down to sorting out some food and a beer or two and joined the others for a chat. Whilst chatting away, a small gathering circled around Jeroen’s 90 tdi following discussions over whether, in the failing light, it warranted tinkering with the fuel pump to address an apparent loss of power. There were two schools of thought on this, the ‘leave it alone’ group, who were sat comfortably out of the wind swigging tea or beer and the ‘well if it’s f**ked anyway, what’s the worst than can happen’ group that had the tools out and a glint in their eye. I’ll leave you to form your own opinions as to which group everyone fell into. Eventually, after some colourful expressions of disappointment at dropping small vital components into muddy/longish grass, Jeroen’s truck roared into life filling the sheltered area with diesel fumes and possibly tainted the flavour of two thirds of Tiverton Tesco’s meat counter that the lads were planning to cook on the BBQ. They finished the work just in time as the rain started to come down which provoked a degree of banter about the effectiveness of ATs on wet grass slopes on the Sunday. The chat and banter continued to flow and the evening seemed to fly by. The wind and rain continued for much of the night but it was a welcome relief the following morning to see that the latter had at least stopped… for now… Ahead of the full day drive round, we were joined by those from Bowyer’s who had chosen not to camp and those folk who were just joining for the day. We were also joined by Dave Gunning for a short talk on bushcraft, centred around the core elements of shelter, fire, water & food. A particularly good spot high up on the hill in Bampton to discuss getting out of the wind and I think we were all fascinated by the black mould that forms on ash trees and can be collected, dried out, lit incredibly easily, to be used as a fire starter or as charcoal. If gathering mould is not your thing and you want to avoid any strange discussions with the police as to what that black lumpy resin like substance is in a zip seal bag, how about shorting the vehicle battery with wire wool to start a fire (hopefully, not the vehicle itself and preferably using jump leads away from any potential battery gases). As part of his wild food section, Dave had also commented on there being some wild garlic growing at the end of the track leading to the camping field and on our way out, we should stop and pick some. Funnily enough, nobody in our group at least took Dave up on that offer and I speculated as to the kind of CB based sledging you would get on a drive round day by asking the lead vehicle to wait whilst you picked lunch. James called us all over for a drivers safety briefing and allocated us into groups based predominantly on the wheel base of the vehicles as this would dictate where each group would go. Not only this, but both mine and Dave’s vehicles had roof racks fitted so this would naturally limit us on some of the lower hanging later sections through the trees. As usual, James was keen to point out the importance of driving within your own limits and comfort factor and the over-rider of ‘if you have to think about it – don’t do it’. All of the trickier sections had bypass alternatives but those decisions had to be made in good time. The shorter wheel based group would be led by Tim and those of us in predominantly in the longer wheel based vehicles would be led by James. Our group consited of James leading in his 2.8 TGV auto 90 TC, then Shane in a Td5 110 HT, Daniel & I in the Td5 110 SW, Jeroen in his Tdi 90, Dave in a Tdi 110 and Richard in his Tdi 90. David hopped into Dave’s cab. I was placed between two well experienced Bampton site regulars, which was comforting, although I was hoping not to need their recovery assistance. Continued on next post.... Jon - 110 td5 [sold]. Currently Defenderless.

7th Apr 2014 5:38pm

party monkey Member Since: 31 Dec 2010 Location: Oxon. Posts: 1311

... continued... A short transit to the first wooded section that seemed pretty friendly and initially reminded me a little of the LRE Exmoor Trek day I’d participated in last year. No traction issues at the moment with the ATs and all is looking good and then….. whoosh.. James turns off the track and heads down through the trees at quite an accute angle. Once at the bottom, he is promptly followed by Shane. My turn next and remembering what Tim had told me the previous day, we slowly crept to the tipping point and then very cautiously, over we went. An ‘interesting’ sensation to say the least when you see saw from sky and branches to mud and trees trunks but with the advice from the previous day in my head, we got to the bottom with no dramas and using the Daniel scream-o-meter as a yardstick, reasonably controlled. That was a welcome early confidence booster and so we continued on along the tracks on a variety of ascents and descents and whilst I was beginning to feel more comfortable, there were some sections I simply shouldn’t do as my vehicle was not spec’d for the job. Tree stumps and sills are not a good mix at the best of times, even less so half way down a particularly tricky slope and I was perfectly happy to follow James’ recommendations on when to take a bypass and then take photos of the guys fitted with rock sliders One final descent for us involving a tight left off the track and a shunt for the 110 around a nearside tree and down onto the descent ruts. I’d hopped out to take a look at this one first of all as it was tight. As we edged around the tree the angles generated caused us to lean towards the tree and rack acted like a tree slider and eased us around into the correct line. I’d love to say that was planning and driver skill but it was 100% lady luck and I was more than oblivious to what had happened until it was pointed out later on in the day. From the wooded section, a short transit to an uphill field climb towards the quarry section. Despite the rain the night before, we maintained good traction over the wet grass and we soon arrived at the quarry, where James suggested I park up and take a look at a few of the experienced drivers first of all before I disappeared down the slope. Daniel was thoroughly enjoying himself and jumped at the chance to hop into James’ truck as he disappeared down into the quarry and straight back up the other side with consummate ease. He continued around the quarry as we all watched. Daniel had a grin on his face like a Cheshire cat. Shane, Jeroen & Richard soon followed in and were making light work of the climbs. Jeroen lost momentum on his exit but a quick deployment of the winch and he was out. Dave & I as both Bampton newbies, were a little undecided. To be fair, me more so than Dave, as I now had the AT inferiority feeling and whilst the descent into the quarry didn’t bother me, I wasn’t overly confident of making the up slope the other side, even though, it was possible bypass this with a shunt right in the standing water at the bottom. After deliberating, I decided against a foray into the quarry (looking back, my only slight regret of the weekend) but Dave cracked on, successfully making it up the initial slope. He trundled around in there for a while and only really had one moment where he lost momentum which seemed to be down to an optimistic choice of route. Once all out of the quarry we headed back down the field for our lunch stop at a nearby picnic area. Daniel of course, having spent some time in with James now realised he was in for a more exciting time in that cab than in mine so was desperate to stay with James, even on the bl**dy transit to lunch… kids! We’d been lucky in the morning that the overnight rain hadn’t continued but sadly, as we finished lunch the heavens opened. Jeroen & Richard took their 90’s down into the river and back out at the picnic spot. Daniel was almost in James’ truck quicker than the man himself and then we headed up further into the forest to investigate the ground conditions nearer the top to see if some of the tracks would be suitable for the less experienced Bampton drivers in the 110s and indeed the ATs. The guys in 90s and muds and Shane in the 110 had to work hard and so it was decided for Dave and I not to give it a go. There was one descent that Dave & I had the option to try but this again would require a shunt to get in line. It looked tighter than my earlier roof rack tree slider incident and so both Dave and I decided to give it a miss, turn around and trundle back down the track to meet the other guys at the beginning of a byway that would lead us towards our final section for the day, past the pheasant pens. David joined me in the cab for a short while and it was good to have a natter as we made our way along the byway and past the pens. Just past the pens, we stopped so that Daniel could rejoin me for forthcoming spotter duties and for David to join James for gate duty. Our final section for the day was to be a river drive. All well and good but my first issue was to contend with the wet/greasy sloping field. I did wonder why James chose not to take the more obvious looking track to the left edge of the field and I soon answered my own question as I felt the back of the 110 sliding and I wasn’t quick enough on opposite lock or the power to give TC a chance to kick in and catch it. So we’re now almost pointing uphill and I’m feeling like a right chump. After a bit of thought collection and numerous silently shouted expletives, back on the throttle and with a lot of TC assistance, we get moving again, initially in a sort of snake like side ways fashion but soon enough, we’re sort of back on the straight and narrow. I was told afterwards, that one of the trucks on muds behind me experienced similar difficulties, albeit they didn’t have TC to help them out. Given the normal entry point to the river crossing has some significant low hanging branches, Dave and I with roof racks were advised against entering the river where Jeroen & Richard started off. Shane, whilst without a rack on his 110, had some fetching creases in the roof after an argument with a low handing branch on a previous trip and so wisely choose to join us in following James to a secondary river entry point, which, if anything, looked steeper than the traditional entry point. The river levels felt a touch lower than the entry/exit wading at Bowyer’s and there was good traction, but it was tight with the trees and branches, coupled with a reasonably rocky surface under the water, so we needed all our wits and Daniel’s spotting eyes as we crawled along. Too much concentration needed to think to take photo’s, which was a pity as it would have been quite a picture. We were almost at the end and I heard James on the CB saying ‘Watch the exit Jon, it’s tight’, no sooner have I acknowledged this and am looking out for the exit point than ‘clonk’ and our CB aerial mount on the rack decides to pick a fight with a low branch. My own fault for mounting it on the offside, rather than the middle of the rack. As we reach the river exit, James and David are already out of the truck and just as were crawling up the bank we start to lose traction…… Nooooooo… not this late in the day, please… My initial reaction is more right foot and that does nothing… I can see a smile appearing on James’ face and then what was said to me yesterday comes flooding back. I ease off on the throttle and the tyres find grip and albeit, not particularly skilfully or gracefully, we get to level ground and park up. Dave and Shane were already packed up from the camp and so decided to head straight home when we picked up the tarmac again, so we said our goodbyes and those lads charged of home, leaving James, Jeroen, Richard and I the short transit back to camp. Once back, a proper clean of lights and plates and then a swift packing away of the sodden tent and kit ahead of the hundred and fifty mile journey home. It was a shame not to see Tim and his group at the end of the day but our prompt finish bought me precious sociable hours journey time. It was a great weekend. Daniel and I thoroughly enjoyed it and whilst I was initially a touch anxious about being the only vehicle on ATs and indeed, probably the least experienced off-road driver, it didn’t seem to cause any problems as in the main, the ATs had the traction and any recoveries early on the Saturday were swift and painless. If anything, I think I benefited hugely from being the only AT shod vehicle at the Drive Round Weekend for AT shod vehicles as I was able to monopolise James, Tim and David’s time and hopefully, that may have closed the gap between the competency of the vehicle and that of its driver. Daniel, however, now has his sights set on a challenge truck… So, first job for the budding bush mechanic can be to relocate my CB aerial mount. Not sure green laning is going to be such an easy sell to him in the future. I believe that this was the first drive round weekend that the guys have organised and I can thoroughly recommend it. They have another one scheduled for the end of this month and going forward, I’m sure it’s something that they can look to run more regularly in the future if the interest was there as it’s a great way to get over the travelling distance barrier and use the vehicle off the tarmac. If camping doesn’t appeal, then Bampton itself will have B&B’s/small hotels etc My decision for my next outing… ATs or MTs ?? Jon - 110 td5 [sold]. Currently Defenderless.

7th Apr 2014 6:03pm

g-mack Member Since: 07 Jan 2014 Location: northumberland Posts: 1967	excellent write up i enjoyed reading that! My 109 thread my youtube channel
7th Apr 2014 6:50pm

TJ101 Member Since: 30 May 2007 Location: Taunton Somerset Posts: 3748

What a great write up Jon,, Just like being there Really enjoyed the weekend,, even the couple of damp bits ! party monkey wrote: . It was a shame not to see Tim and his group at the end of the day but our prompt finish bought me precious sociable hours journey time. ? Ditto,,, Will try and find some time, to do a bit on my group's day out Hope to catch up next time,,, Summer camp hopefully  California F1, 75th 110 "Kermit", 50th Ann V8, 90 V8 Hybrid, 55 Series 1 Main Brian James Trailer Dealer for South West UK

7th Apr 2014 8:24pm

party monkey Member Since: 31 Dec 2010 Location: Oxon. Posts: 1311	Cheers chaps, Tim...yep, the summer weekend will probably be my next run out I suspect.... Jon - 110 td5 [sold]. Currently Defenderless.
8th Apr 2014 5:30am

sparkylee Member Since: 06 Nov 2010 Location: surrey Posts: 1455	Great pics and entertaining write up  It's good to be back from the dark side DC110 -2012 Black with black hood and black x-tech FFRR 4.2 vogue Renault traffic auto PT crusier convertible Laika x700 Motorhome
8th Apr 2014 6:19am

tookaphotoof Member Since: 18 Mar 2013 Location: dordrecht Posts: 1279
9th Apr 2014 6:36am

party monkey Member Since: 31 Dec 2010 Location: Oxon. Posts: 1311

A few more photos of my antics during the weekend, taken by another participant, Richard, who, whilst I don't believe is on this forum, has kindly agreed to allow me to post them here... Firstly, at David Bowyers off road course.. Typical... he had to be snapping when I'd misplaced that forward momentum... Dad, I'm only getting back in if you promise not to get stuck again... you're embarrassing! Click image to enlarge And now... Bampton... Click image to enlarge  Jon - 110 td5 [sold]. Currently Defenderless.

14th Apr 2014 7:13am

jst Member Since: 14 Jan 2008 Location: Taunton Posts: 8006	a few more pictures and words from Richard Watson http://www.4x4adventures.co.uk/_main/_reports14/140405_drd.htm Cheers James 110 2012 XS Utility 130 2011 M57 bespoke Camper 90 2010 Hardtop 90 M57 1988 Hardtop
28th Apr 2014 8:29am

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