Unrelenting rain and high winds forecast for the weekend. Brilliant weekend to have a night under canvas then prior to the social morning at David Bowyers Off Road Centre near Zeal Monochorum, mid Devon. Well the night was actually very quiet, we did venture out for a little dark off roading, nearly didn’t get out of one the holes there too, decided it was then best to retire!

Bright and early Saturday morning we cut our way back out of the site after the morning high winds brought down a few limbs on the entrance track and into the water splashes. Just as well we had stayed on site to give the time to clear them! The campsite its self was well sheltered and tucked down in the bottom of the valley out of the way, but none the less having walked parts of the course and found it all clear at 0730 it was then surprising to find the few limbs blocking the exit.

Having made our way out of the course we headed to the Waie Inn for morning coffee and the meet. Joining the regular crew we had Peter Giles in his Discovery 2 keeping up with the Defenders on site plus Andrew Austen in his Freelander. It’s been a long time since we had a Freelander 1 around the course. They are great to watch in action, where they lose out on articulation the traction systems work their magic with wheels right up in the air, there is little loss of momentum and on they just keep going. Being nice and light aids it significantly. The Discovery wasn’t running a Central Locking differential and again its great to see the traction systems doing their thing – a totally different driving style is required with both these great vehicles to keep them moving the wet stuff and through the articulations compared to non traction control systems.

Words never quite show the site or the drivers ability to the full so, what better way to get a good understanding of the site than browsing through the online pictures and watching this speeded up clip of parts of the course (including a short night drive!)