[Tejas@perioimpl]

I reach the nearest train station around 4:30pm and Stephania is waiting for me to pick me up and drive me straight to the venue. We would be checking into the hotel later in the night. Others had already arrived and were waiting for me.

As we drive, i see the Fursten Forest board and my eyes light up and the adrenaline rush kicks in



As we enter through the gates, i see some nice LRs parked. These are going to be our test vehicles for the duration. Fully equipped Defenders! I'm in heaven!







As i reach, the others are already there relaxing and having snacks at the Fursten Forest restaurant.



Introductions are made.

Going clockwise from left:

Lower left is me.

Then next to me is Tim Pyrce from Wales. Associated with LR and a master technician and was a pro at trail fixes. Learnt a good deal from him

Next to Tim is Rob Mieras. A Crotia Trophy veteran, chief landrover experience instructor in Holland, BMW drift instructor and a super fun person all in all. He had got his famous trophy car called the Pink Panther for the testing. But more on that later.

Top left in black is Dirk (from Germany) who would be one of our examiners. A very nice person, soft spoken, exceptional host and owned two of the Defenders that we would be using.

On the right on top in the orangish shirt is Chris Cole from the United States. Current president of the I4WDTA, another examiner for us and a treasure trove of knowledge and owns one of the best Unimogs i've seen (in pics) and heard of! Ex-special forces seen action in numerous conflicts and hundreds of stories and anecdotes to tell us. Runs a successful business of making trail campers among other things.

Next to him in the blue shirt is Stephen Haughey from Australia. Runs a company called Xdrive and provides training in everything to do with cars from defensive to aggressive driving, driving with a trailer, offroading, testing, wilderness, etc.

Each of these people shared a lot of local tips that were not in any textbook and something i will remember forever.

These people became my family for the next week and we bonded like brothers!



They had a wonderful orchard in the property and grew this fruit which was made in to a squash which was served with a strawberry that we were drinking. Forgot the name of the fruit but it's a local fruit found only in that region. But it tasted so wonderful! If ever in North Germany, you guys have to try it. As soon as i remember the name i shall post it or just ask for the local fruit squash.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Coming to the Pink Panther.

Oh, what a vehicle! Winches, front and back. A middle PTO winch with it's own gear set and is insanely fast, the usual works like air lockers, etc and one tough vehicle!

Rob was gracious to let me drive her around and what a pleasure it was. A true 4x4xfar!

Some pics of the vehicle from the Crotia trophy stages:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Introductions done, we're now briefed regarding the outline of the program.

During the day, we'll be trained on different aspects of offroading. The training modules include:

- Adult Education Principles
- Introduction to 4wd
- 4WD Skills
- Environmental Awareness
- 4WD systems
- Navigation and survival
- Recovery resistance calculations
- Traction Aids
- Trail Repairs
- Vehicle Recovery
- Etc

Our day starts at 6am. Get up and finish breakfast by 730 and leave for Fursten Forest and lectures start at 8am.

Here are some pics of the small meeting room at the Fursten Forest Restaurant where the lectures are held.











Chris is a brilliant teacher. He has no airs about himself and has done a masters in adult education himself which made him an excellent teacher. Made us think individually and as a group.

Lectures go on till lunch time and again we start lectures till tea break.

Lunch time is a splendid affair. Food is superb and the head chef will grill whatever takes your fancy!

Lunch time is also a time to discuss and evaluate what we have gathered so far.

Some random pics of lunch over the days:











Even during lunch, there are impromptu Q&As and we were constantly evaluated.



After lunch, back to the lecture hall and more studying:







Post 4 o'clock, we head off to the field undergoing training in practicals:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

What we learn during lectures, we put into use on the field.

Here's Chris talking about the Hi Lift jack:









There's so much to learn about the humble shackle as well!





Then we go on the field and put it to practice:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

We spoke about Ground Anchors and different types. We compared the off the shelf type and what Rob had custom fabricated for the Crotia Trophy. That one was made from aircraft grade aluminium and was extremely light weight and super easy to use. Pull Pal was next better and the pull pal clone was the worst. Instead of digging in, it kept working more as a plough.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Here's a small video clipping showing how the pull pal ground anchor clone gets dragged:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRFWA...ature=youtu.be

[Tejas@perioimpl]

We were also asked and shown what to do if you do not have a ground anchor. What other alternatives can you use or how can you use three simple tent stakes to make a good anchor. Good stuff we learnt!

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Dinner was also a proper four course meal! Loved the hospitality!

[Tejas@perioimpl]

I'm just randomly putting in different exercises that we did over the days.

Here we are doing something called "Daisy Chaining". Basically if you have a long rope and need to shorten it, it can be done in this method. We also learned the use of different kind of knots.

We needed to know everything, and only what we didn't know or weren't very sure off or was something important and / or safety related, was demonstrated.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

One of the testing assignments of ours was to explain driving skills in different terrains. We were randomly given a type of terrain from the list and asked to explain the terrain, precautions, driving methods, etc.







Here's Tim giving an explanation:



Stephania was then roped in to be a newbie driver (she's a pro actually) and we were supposed to be instructors and guide her while sitting in the vehicle on various obstacles. She would purposely make mistakes at the crucial time and we had to be calm and find out her fault, correctly explain it and guide her out of it. So there where failed hill climb attempts, side slopes, gullies, etc.

Here's Stephen with Stephania during a "failed" rut / mogul obstacle:



I was given a hill climb to do with her. So i sat as an instructor and did a theory run with her. Then in the run she purposely stopped at the crest and we had to simulate a failed climb procedure:



Dirk sitting at the back is constantly grading me on my explanation techniques







My next task was crossing across ruts:





Here's tim having a go at a side incline:



We were constantly graded all throughout:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Then we go to another spot where Rob has to do a descent and a ledge climb.

We observe the terrain:



This is the obstacle. Go down and through the water and up the other side crossing a ledge:





Chris talks us through the dynamics of crossing a ledge (in this case it's at an angle):



And they head to tackle the obstacle:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

We spend hours talking about winches as well:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

There's always a general random Q&A session thrown in at any time:











Here we are talking about a simple log crossing that was nearly discussed for 30 minutes. There's a lot to learn!

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Next up, driving skills.

The examiners go and find an obstacle.



We have to go down, climb, U turn and come back up.

It's not as easy as it looks.

Tim is up first:



Goes down:



Takes the U turn:





And back up:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

I'm next.

Rob is my spotter. The entry is extremely tricky. You have to pass between a tree and a tree stump.

Even the climb has moguls in the middle with a ledge and also there is no room for error since there is only 6 inches of space on either side of the vehicle at the top.

Was challenging to drive a left hand drive vehicle but i did well and was happy with the LR. New found respect for the Defender!

Dirk is grading from inside the vehicle while Chris is assessing from outside.