5th July 2003
I arrived at Daniel Swains house and helped / watched him
fit a set of free wheeling hubs (their not as shiny as mine!)
after some dinner we set off laning...

The first lane was around Bakewell. Pretty easy going, with a smattering
of mud...


...and a few ruts.

Next onto the main roads (Bakewell again) where we came to
a river crossing in the road, albeit a small disused side
road, but it can still get pretty deep!

See - over the bumper and that Samurais shod with 235/15 MTs and a 2"
lift.

Next Dan let me drive his truck back through, brave/stupid or what. made
it across with no trouble. i didnt take mine through because
..errm.. ..err.. the paints not harderned yet. yes, that'll
do!

Next onto some VERY overgrown lanes. Even a lifted Vitara
would struggle down these!


Definately need some Tcut after all this

a few ruts...

and onto a nice little ford at the bottom.

safely through

a LOT of overgrown hedgerow/bushes/brambles/trees. It knocked the CB
aerial off no end of times. i resorted to putting it on the
bonnet.

At last! a new lane and some space! This one peaked at 1500ft* above
sea level!
(* thanks to Dans flashy GPS system)

Right now down to business. our goal for the day was this lane, Chapplegate.
We parked up at the entrance and had a walk up due to being
told it was extreme. And it didnt disappoint! This was the
first pic we took (about one third of the way up the hillside)
due to us being more concerned about getting the trucks through
it in one piece.


and it got much worse...

Yes, a 2.5ft wash out zig-zagging down the track!

Safely at the summit, it was ...flooded!!!

over the bumper, there.



And into another pool




what can you say, it's a fantastic lane!

After Chapplegate, the track lead onto 'The Steps' In case
you couldnt guess, let me explain. These are a series of stone
steps running down the other side of the hill. some are getting
on for 2 feet in height! As you can see, building up the step
with rocks was a good idea with standard suspension and a
tow bar!

and stretch!


tip-towing over


some good flex there!

my turn


No problem!

Parked up at the end of the steps

The start of Roych Clough. "Point at the sign and look
angry" Dan said. "OK". 'I'm not posing for
anything again!
That was the end of the trip. we set off back to Dans arriving
about 8.30ish. The last two lanes were amazing and ill definately be returning
soon! I Reckon a certain lifted Vitara couldnt have done those two lanes
without breaking an axle! do you think the owner of said Vitara will prove
me wrong? To be continued......
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