The place we were staying was quite small but had got great reviews due to the breakfast. Unfortunately we had to leave very early for the greenlaning meet and had to skip breakfast. We had been told over email to carry adequate food and drinks as the lunch stop would be inside a forest. It had started raining by the time we left the hotel. The meeting point was in Ambleside, about ten minutes drive from our hotel. By the time we reached there, almost all the participants had reached. After a quick introduction and pictures, we were on the way. Sam was the team lead in his Land Rover Discovery 3. He was accompanied by his partner Linda and two dogs named Dolce and Gabbana. Most of the other guys in the group had done greenlaning before. I was the newbie and hence the plan was that I would follow the lead car.
The Team
The lineup -
1. Land Rover Discovery 3 - Sam and Linda
2. Land Rover Defender 90 Station Wagon - Sumitro and Rajsri
3. Land Rover Defender 110 Ex Military - Gary and Susan
4. Land Rover Discovery 4 - Peter
5. Land Rover Discovery 2 - Dan
6. Land Rover Defender 110 Utility - Peter and Angela
After driving for about 10 minutes we took a detour where the signboard said - "Unsuitable for motors". Sam came down and told me to put the vehicle in low range second gear.
The track was beautiful, but scary as well. The tyres kept slipping as we tried to move forward. After a while I got stuck. It had nothing to do with the terrain or the vehicle, it was driver error. It had been a very long time since I had offroaded in a completely manual vehicle. Sam came down again to guide me. He said that I had to straighten the wheels and though it might sound strange, I had to go down towards the slope instead of trying to avoid it. It sounded scary sure as there was a stream flowing on the side. However once Sam did the spotting for me, it looked easy!
Spotting! Following the leader
After an hour or so, we stopped at a place for tea/coffee. Since I did not know anyone, it was a good time to catch up with the others. The people were very friendly. We were lucky to be out with a bunch of such nice people doing things we love!
The Discovery 4 had a bit of a hard time negotiating the first trail and the sidesteps got hit. Gary and Sam tried to fix it by putting their weights on it.
From there we kept on doing trail after trail, each one quite different from another. The surroundings were different, the challenges were different. My confidence with the Defender kept on growing with each trail and became quite comfortable with the car. The only thing that I missed was having differential guards. Life would have been a lot more peaceful on those trails if I had got them installed.
Soon it was time for a lunch stop. There was a wide opening under the trees in a forest and all the vehicles parked there.
As we had stopped we saw another group of greenlaners doing the same trail.
We were carrying sandwiches and cup noodles along with hot water in a Thermos flask. Lunch was a quick affair and soon we were on our way again. Trail driving continued till half past four in the evening.
It was pouring heavily at that time, so we could not say goodbye to each other properly. Anyways we would meet the next day.
There was no phone connectivity at the place and we told Sam that we would follow him till Ambleside. From Ambleside we went towards our hotel. As I had said before, the room was too small and we did not want to spend time there. So freshened up quickly and went for a drive towards Ullswater. The countryside was looking beautiful.
The tracks that we covered -
Evening was very busy in Bowness, but Rajsri somehow managed to book a table in an Indian restaurant called Mela. Rajsri is such a good cook that we usually do not have urge to eat Indian food outside, but this time Rajsri insisted that she wanted to. It was actually a Bangladeshi restaurant. The food was really good and the hospitality was fantastic though the ambience could be better.