We started out on a very cold and frosty morning in November, meeting up at Leeds Bradford airport and driving up to Middlesmoor
in the cold and ice. Ivan had no heating in his 90, Jason & Sarah were all cosy in their brand new 90, and Hadyn was kind of warm in the 110. We planned
to do a few lanes before lunch, stop at a nice country pub somewhere for a sunday roast, then hit some more lanes in the afternoon, probably doing the last one in the dark.
We arrived in Middlesmoor at about 9am, did a quick check of the vehicles to make sure nothing was broken, damaged or missing, then headed on to the first lane of the day. It starts at the
top of Middlesmoor and heads towards Scar House Resevoir. It's normally fairly solid under tyre, but this morning, with the temperature currently well below zero, it's like driving on rock.
We stopped just above the reservoir for a quick brew, and to admire the scenery. It looks incredible, all white, and orange where the sun hits the frosty heather. Then it's on down the switchback to the side of the reservoir.
Taking it very slowly down the loose rocky surface, there are a few moments of indecision, but the dam is beckoning, and we're soon down at the bottom.
Having driven across the dam, it's a left turn to follow a track alongside the reservoir, before turning up towards Dead Man's Hill. Hadyn in the 110 goes first up the steep icy slope.
Picking his way carefully up the track, until we reach a step up, at which point there's a bit of a bang (put down to suspension or similar), and it seems that Hadyn is going no further. We try a few more times to get up. Jason drives round in front, taking a different route. Ivan follows him and they are at the top
of the first slope.
At this point Hadyn gives up and reverses back down the hill a bit, to try and take the same route as Jason and Ivan. We all make it to the top of the first slope, but the difficult bit is to follow. There's a tight turn to the right, then
a tight turn to the left. Easy enough normally, but now there's a sheet of ice about 4metres across, right across the track. At this point we decide to turn back, and try to find our way to the next lane.
Driving back alongside the reservoir, there's no need to have the centre difflock in. So Hadyn stops, knocks the difflock off, and tries to set off again. I say tries, because although there's a lot of noise from the engine, it's not
translated to forward movement. Oh dear..... Leaving everything running and in gear, Hadyn jumps out and looks underneath. Ooops the front prop is merrily spinning away, but not much else is happening. Oh well, back in with the centre difflock, and we trundle back up to the hard standing on the other
side of the reservoir, whip the front prop off.
Day over, we opt for an early lunch, find a pub, fantastic lunch, then it's off back home to Leeds.
And then it was on to the fun & games of stripping down the front axle, to find out what was wrong, and hopefully fix it all.