DIFFLOCK.com - What??

Background . . .

During the past two years I have taken groups of 4x4 owners on Off Roading drives around Exmoor, to raise funds for the Conquest Centre for Disabled Riders. In that time over £2,500 has been donated.

With the advent of Foot & Mouth, Exmoor was out of the question, so I began to think of the Pyrenees, having read accounts of the Ralleye des Cimes in Off Road & Motor Sport. In April I set off with Barry Bedford of Northern Counties Insurance to find out what might be possible. We found Michel, and from then on it was easy, as his enthusiasm matched ours.

A list of some 15 names was quickly raised from people that I had met at various events, some drop outs, an elimination, and a final 10 (the maximum number that Michel would allow) paid their £300 deposits.

Ferries,Hotels & restaurants booked, programme agreed with Michel (a courtesy on his part, he worked bloody hard to set it up) and we were ready to meet at a Pub near Winchester at 6pm on Friday 14th September (table booked for 12,& 14 turned up !!)

The group was made up of 1 boy, 6 ladies, & 11 men. Ages ranged from 8- 71, backgrounds from a Farrier to a Physasist, coming from Barnstaple to Welwyn Garden City and Craven Arms. There was one unfortunate last minute drop out.

The Events . . .

The positive dynamic of the group started at the Pub. RC had worked on his L/R series 2 for six months, had every spare possible on board, was so proud of the beast, then found that a bracket holding the generator had broken, and that his battery was flat !!RS parked alongside & gave a charge while we eat, then TR and I sandwiched him between us & set off for Portsmouth dockside. Light rapidly fading as we trundled along the busy M3, then his spark went & TR had to come in front to tow him to dockside. RS appeared & charged him up enough to get onto the boat, and off again at Le Havre.

Executive decision made that four would set off, while we sorted RC out. This meant his chum TR-RS and IA (who had never driven on the continent before, and whose mother I had promised that I would escort !!) and I set off to find batteries (of course he needed an adaptor for different square/round poles

All was resolved in Honfleur, and after coffee & croissants, & pain & pate for lunch, we set off at 10 am. Secondary roads in France are a joy to drive along, and we arrived at our hotel at the same time as group
one, who we had passed having a leisurly lunch !

We had an enjoyable evening in Bordeaux, do try being sandwiched between two Bordeaux taxi drivers en route to a restaurant, it adds to the spice of the evening.The mistaking of a decimal place when ordering wine is another £200 story !! Before breakfast RC was to be found tying his generator down with braid, and blow us all if he didn't Off Road in the sand dunes around Sabres with the rest of us. The next morning Michel took us all to his garage and they made a bracket on the spot. He had got back at 1-30 a.m. after competing in a 24 hour 4x4 race in Paris

The programme went well as Michel wanted to be sure that we could all handle our vehicles as we followed him and Christian around areas close to the hotel. I was left behind after lunch, causing the search vehicle to run out of fuel later, which meant that I had to tow it to fuel, siphoned from a local lorry !!

The next day we drove into Spain, and IA worried about his diff. (Police with stingers & guns near the boarder) It packed up the next day,as did my starter (resolved by push starts, slopes, & unkind remarks about Jeeps !!). That night Christian drove both ways through the Pyrenees to Pau and back as he had a spare diff in his shed !! It was fitted on the pavement at Hecho with tools and help from various tool boxes,and all was very well. My starter took the hint & has worked well ever since !!

Back into France via ski slope areas, no sign of any boarder controls A 4 km walk in the Gorges de Kakouetta made a complete change.All took part except WB, she made up for it by having a swim on our return to the hotel.

On Friday we gave a group of invalid children rides in the forests of the Irati area, and became involved with the Muskateers that promote that charity. This is an opportunity that we are all interested to see develop. We have now come home tired but happy with the week. I am still trying to understand how adversity brought us together as a group.

My Jeep enjoyed 1820 miles of comfortable motoring, did the business Off Road, and had the water pump pack up outside the local Jeep dealers garage on the Monday morning !! Mind you the red light did come on at Poitiers when the advice given to me was "take the bloody bulb out !!"

Conclusion . . .

If you are having thoughts about organising a 4x4 event make sure that a few disasters occur early on, as this seems to be the factor that concentrates peoples minds, and brings the group together.

How else do you account for the acceptance of the situation that we found at Nocito, quick showers as water heated by solar power/Rabbit stew for dinner (not a scrap left), mattresses on the floor with blankets - 5 rooms, four mattresses in each !! This produced the best crack of the trip for me by KG....."Help.....I'm a prisoner in a snoring factory !!"

Future Events . . .