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Playing in the Snow by |
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Day off, & its been SNOWING. Check outside to find about an inch lying on the path & it makes a lovely creaking noise with each footfall. Time to go out & play .Quick check that the recovery gear is in the back , stove has fuel, teabags, milk all ok - The only problem is the frozen bottle of water, so another is found in plain sight next to the 3rd cupboard looked in! Never mind, a quick rinse & refill & off into the bright cold yonder. First lane starts at TQ847544 by a large wooden fence & heads off northeast. Unblemished snow bar some animal tracks, it looks great with the sun shining through the hedges & gleaming off the snow. |
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The snow is not deep (shame) but does cover any litter & completely changes the look of the country. The lane joins the Pilgrims way at an often used tea stop site - What a good idea, put the kettle on & take some pictures. Well no, the pictures are fine, but the wind is making brass monkeys very unhappy, so after giving directions to a group of walkers who didn't have a map, it's off up Drakes lane, to a much more sheltered spot for the all important brew up. |
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ALWAYS TIME FOR TEA..!! Just after the start of Drakes lane there where some berries growing in a wreath shape. Several of these were noticed on the recce trip in Berkshire, & here they are in Kent. Anybody know what they are?
The ruts are full of water (frozen) which gives a lovely smooth ride for about 2 feet, then the ice breaks & things get a bit loud as more ice breaks & the diffs grate along the frozen mud in the centre, surprise surprise , that Unimog has more ground clearance than my Landy. At the end of the lane the usual metal bar gate & barbed wire catch is dealt with, & a picture taken of the cleverly camouflaged dumped car opposite.
Anyway you get good views from the middle of a field. (this lane 'L' shaped past the water board building After that it was home for more tea & mince pies. Then trying to figure out how to get the pictures from the camera to computer without a system crash that would take days to fix.... The lanes were done on 30/12/2000
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Going up drakes Here's a good tea stop. Time to chill out a while, the hot tea helps though. Immediately after the stop, the lane is deeply rutted where some bloke comes along in his Unimog as he is logging in a private copse accessed off the lane.
Due to the time of day the 2nd half of Drakes lane was missed, so it was straight to the top of Smokes wood. All very nice with the low winter sun & the bare trees. Next there was a lot of
concentration driving down the steep slippery narrow track trying not
to look down the steep drop off on the drivers side. More pictures at
the bottom Past the farm at the bottom turn left for one last lane,
This is not one usually done, but it can be fun if its slippery.
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