oops off road !

[richard]

Currently sitting in a scenic laybye near lake windermere and 5miles from our recently discussed Lakeland Motor Museum . Unfortunately I am awaiting recovery as I have pranged the car ! Wet n slippery a misjudged bend ,on a very familiar B road, and thumped the front end into a bank on the side of the road . Coolant level zero oh for an air cooled car . The insurance company first asked me " had the car been modified in any way " - I said well it has now ! 

[Rob Dobie]

I have pranged the car ! Wet n slippery a misjudged bend

Do you really mean "I was driving too fast for the prevailing weather and road condition"?

[marcus]

Oops! Easily done on those roads up there, had a couple of very near misses near Coniston Water.
All those many times I went up there for work over 2-3 years I passed the Motor museum and the Steam Railways countless times. We spent (and even wasted) SO much time on "conferences" so never managed to visit anywhere!

[richard]

Yes Rob that's exactly it , thank you for your kind words.    no consolation but it's my first in 35 years of driving literally all day , perhaps I have just been lucky .Marcus I could do with a nice beer did you mention Conistons ? Unfortunately far from a pub , or anything else for that matter !

[Bob Purton]

Oh dear! Sorry to hear that Richard. Console yourself with a pint of Bluebird!

[richard]

If only Bob , still awaiting recovery.

[marcus]

Draught Bluebird is good stuff!

Those roads all around there are treacherous however carefully you drive. narrow, walled or banked in, always wet, muddy, gravelly, snowy, oily, greasy, whatever! If things go wrong there's nowt you can do, better to hit a bank or wall than a moving vehicle.

[Bob Purton]

You forgot to mention the sheep in the road Marcus!

[marcus]

That goes without saying. Cows too, we got stuck behind one for 25 minutes when I was in a hurry to catch the last train back to London.

[richard]

well home again. at least i hit the bank not lake windermere on the other side of the road . to cut a very long story short the courtesy car had a puncture on arrival - luckily i noticed they didn't . and the locking wheel nut didn't have the other part !! a long day . 

[AndrewG]

You want to try riding a motorbike on those roads.  If you don't skid on the sheep droppings, every so often one of the rocks with a splash of colour on it turns out to be a camouflaged sheep that is scared of the sound of a bike and will run across the road.

Drivers who live there drive exactly as Richard described - they accept that a new front wing every ten years is a fair exchange for not having to slow down for every bend.  And the really, really clever bit of road engineering you see there is how some stone walls have been removed on the apex of bends and replaced with metal railings that you can see through/past.

[marcus]

Good one, Windy's far too cold for a swim at this (or any) time of year!
My Grandad design a boat (Peter Duck) for Arthur ("Swallows and Amazons") Ransome, I think it's still up in the Lake District somewhere.

[richard]

a very good female friend did The Great North Swim a couple of years ago very near there  , by memory was it 5 miles or so she swam . My goodness they were blue with cold and you weren't allowed without full dry/wet suits . Thousands of them swam it though ! good on Linda we supported her from a lakeside  hostelry   

[Rob Dobie]

Cows, we got stuck behind one for 25 minutes when I was in a hurry to catch the last train back to London.

That's not the way to talk about women drivers!

[richard]

11.06pm you posted that ! What was in your Ovaltine Rob - or was it the tonic wine ?