Event Reports

The Solent And District Land Rover Club

Soggy Somerley

November 2006

by Rob Marriott

This years Somerley event was the weekend following some of the wettest weather we have had all year.  We had had a number of meetings and conversations with the site manager and estate office prior to the event.  In the week before the event we had confirmation that we could use an extra section of land to the north of the site.  This had not been driven for about ten years and so was very overgrown.  A group from the committee went down to the site to set up the signs and tape on the Saturday afternoon.  While we were there we also cut out the overhanging foliage from the new routes to a degree to make them drivable.  Having lost the light we called it a night and agreed to meet up early the following morning. 

Sunday dawned and I headed down to the site for the 8:30 start we had agreed.  After setting up the road signs at the entrance to the site and the paperwork for Jackie in the signing in hut I grabbed a cuppa and some breakfast.  After this I had a quick chat with Kirk and set off out around the site to make sure that all the signs and tape were still in place.  The site looked really wet and treacherous (great fun!) and when I got around to the pond I had a good look through it before attempting it as I have never seen it so deep. 

After getting back to the gate I spoke to Kirk and headed out to the new section with Sharon, Jeff’s wife to marshal there for the morning.  We took a quick recce around the area to make sure it was all passable and then stationed ourselves at the top of the hill.  We had a lot of members through the section and they all really enjoyed the new challenge’s.  By lunchtime the effects of the weather and the lack of use were showing their effects and the tracks were starting to cut up.  This was especially true of the uphill sections.  To minimise the effects of this we turned both tracks into downhill routes.  We had a number of interesting moments during the morning with vehicles having difficulty especially with the climb out which needed careful placing of your wheels to avoid a slide slip into a tree. 

Early in the afternoon Kirk came over to get me as we had a problem with a vehicle at a precarious angle on the main the climb.  I high tailed it over the problem and found and chap in his Series 3 Stage 1 V8 had failed a hill climb and on coming back down had come off the track and was balanced at a very awkward angle.  There was no way to stabilise him or extract him from the bottom of the hill so I drove around to the top, set up my truck and descended down the hill with my winch rope.  Luckily there were decent recovery points on the front of the truck and I hooked on and then climbed back up and proceeded to winch the truck up the hill.  After looking at the state of the hill on the way down I thought the best route would be to lower the vehicle down the hill rather than trying to pull it all the way up to the top. 

As I started winching I only succeeded in dragging my truck closer to the top of the hill.  Luckily Jeff jumped in and stood on the brake which was enough to hold it still and it pulled the Stage 1 back onto the track with little trouble.  I then asked Justin to pull the back end of the Stage 1 across so I could lower it back down the hill.  He happily did this but as I lowered the vehicle down it dropped straight back into the ruts which lead off the track.  There was nothing for it, I winched the vehicle all the way up to the top of the hill.  The Stage 1 managed to climb bits of the hill on its own and I was glad the speed of my M8274 winch was up to keeping the rope out of the way., every time the Stage 1 ran out of forward motion the winch took over and in the end we had both trucks at the top of the hill. 

After all this excitement I headed back to the car park.  Unfortunately I didn’t make it.  I came across Ian in his Rangie ‘Swamp Donkey’, he had tried to cross a stream up by the main fort but instead of driving in and going down and then back up, the ground was so soft he went down and then further down!  His brother Nigel tried to pull him out with a snatch recovery but he had two hopes, no hope and Bob Hope!  I put my truck in a good position and then spooled the winch rope back out.  Ian’s Rangie was full of water and heavy but it slowly emerged from the quagmire.   

After the Swamp Donkey was back on terra firma I took the opportunity to retire to the car park for something to eat and to give Jackie and Roger a break from manning the gate.  They both headed off to explore the site.  After a little while Jackie cam e back to relieve me and I wandered over to watch Lenny take a new approach to closing the pond.  This was really impressive but unfortunately even Len’s truck could not make it all the way through.

After watching Len playing submarines I headed back out onto the site with Jeff.  Up at the really sticky section at the top of the hill I managed to drive into a huge hole and had to pull myself out with the winch (at least I managed to use it to recover myself for once!).  After negotiating a couple of other tricky sections we watched a couple of members have a good go at crossing the terrain and inevitably recovering one another. 

While we were there Justin turned up and had a go as well.  He almost made it through but ended up cross axled.  The next hour or s was spent watching people playing in this section and recovering them when they were stuck.  Of course I had to have a go at the section which had caused most people problems and again had to resort to series wound electrical power to pull me out when V8 internal combustion let me down!  By this time we were starting to loose the light and most members were heading home.  Before the light was gone I headed out around the site with the other marshals and recovered all of the sign’s and tape.  When I got back to the car park it was dark.  I packed up the signs and tape into the trailer and checked that everyone was off the site.  I then headed home. 

I had a good day at the event.  This is always a great site and can be as easy or challenging as you chose to make it.  The new section added an extra dimension to the site but was very soft and cut up really quickly.  Both this and the big hill where I recovered the Stage 1 need some work to make them passable again.  Myself and the committee plan to do this before the next event we have at the site.  If you are interested in helping out with this them let us know.

Rob

For more pictures of this event click HERE.

                  
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