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Diary - Minety Pay and Play (Aug 2008)
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| On what turned out to be a beautiful sunny day in August unfortunately was preceded by almost an entire week of rain and cloudy days. When you think this was the perfect run up to going to play in the mud, it ended up making it a little bit too tricky. Having never been to a pay and play sight before we didn’t really know what to expect. Now I am aware that this past time has built the nick name ‘Pay and Break’, but this 4x4 world is very infectious and couldn’t resist having a go. |
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| Minety 4x4 is based just outside Malmesbury, Wiltshire and has to be one of the best ways a farmer can diversify for a little extra cash. Open for visitors once a month, they make five miles of track available, skirting around a handful of fields and meandering through two different woods. They have also created a ‘free for all field’ with a varied concoction of muddy terrain to brave. The majority of in-passable areas we were able to skip around, though a few areas do not offer a detour. Fortunately due to the height of the roof rack and our Land Rover we were not able to go through either of the woods, however this is actually where the serious sections are, as if the other bits are classed as easy!! |
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| Anybody thinking of going to a Pay and Play sight without a second vehicle to help with any towing should not worry as everybody is more than happy to help out and become the hero. In my case this ended up being a friendly Devonshire guy in a Discovery, who I had to call on far too much. I could take some pride in one or two recoveries of others, but only for a short time before I had to get them to help me out of the very sticky, wet mud. |
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| If you asked me if I would go to another Pay and Play, I would definitely say yes, it’s great fun. However it would not be in an Expedition prepared 110 Land Rover with all terrain tyres, it would be in a kitted out 90 Land Rover with mud tyres. Only then could you make the most of the facilities on offer and not keep having to ask for a tow. Instead we were only able to make use of about 25% of the challenges. It was still worth while as it does expand your knowledge of how vehicles get stuck and what different methods of recoveries can be made. Driving in mud does require commitment and a reasonable speedy approach, I was just paranoid of something going pop so was a little bit of a girl driver. |
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| For more photos and see the Gallery section of the website. Or even the videos at the Videos section of the website. |
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