RRS's a re still a bit new for taking part in these wonderful offroading weekends in the forests around Lochgair and Lochgilphead in Argyll. The number of cars is kept small to keep things manageable and there are lots of nice small hotels and B&Bs in the area if anybody with a Land Cruiser, Defender or similar "scratchable" 4x4 wants to come along to the next one at the end of May. Some of the routes can be quite challenging and all are bypassable if you feel that your experience/ techniques are not up to driving a section. There are always 2/3 (often more) cars with winches in each group and plenty of owners wanting to perfect their winch operating techniques if you do get stuck.
Here are some pictures of this weekends event - not that the weather is NOT what we usually have, more often than not there is nice soft west highland rain!

Stunning scenery Tim, what date at the end of May do you have in mind RRS TDV6 sold RRS, TDV8 nearly sold, Ferrari 355 sold, Cobra sold,

now driving an 06 Freelander sport

The dates haven't been set yet Envoy, but if you are a member of the LandRover UK Forums then you will find the details will appear there, but as soon as I hear something then I'll let you know. Here is the thread that the Argyll Forest drive has over there: http://forum.landrovernet.com/showthread.php?t=83013&page=12. The guy who organises these runs is "Basher" aka Ian Hamilton, and his wife Marion helps. There is a small fee to pay, but all monies go to either repairing/ maintaining tracks or is donated to local charities. All the land is owned by Forest Enterprise so the special stages are joined by gravel forest roads.

Just to put your mind at rest............................ it isn't just Land Rovers that appear, there was a large contingent of Toyota Hilux Surfs there this weekend and they did very well considering only a couple of them had driven offroad before. We also have a few Suzi's too but they were all at work on their oil-rigs this time! A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road

If the dates work out Tim and im not at work i would consider bringing the 90 on a trailer, just in case,it is a shame to go off roading and not do any challenging stuff because of the worry of damaging the motor if you have a long distance to drive home RRS TDV6 sold RRS, TDV8 nearly sold, Ferrari 355 sold, Cobra sold,

now driving an 06 Freelander sport

Envoy, the damage sustained this weekend was to a heavily modified 90 riding on a 4" suspension lift........ the rear nearside spring wasn't relocating properly and popped out twice and paintwork scratching driving along overgrown lanes. Apart from a couple of non damaging slides off the track into dry ditches (normally damp or wet ditches!) that was the total damage unless you count a couple of mudflaps torn-off and I lost the cap off my tow ball. The idea off these runs is to be sensibly challenging and NOT to be damaging so that those with less experience and those with families can also enjoy the day out. Basher, myself and Mudalloverit recce the offroad sections on the Friday before to see their condition as this is a working forest and there is a lot of timber extraction going on at the moment which can wreck some of the trails we have recce'd and make them unsuitable. Usually there are two groups set off from the start - one goup of shineys and less experienced or no so well equipped vehicles and the "advanced" party who don't mind having fun, doing more challenging runs, getting scratched, dirty and using their winches occasionally. My Defender is bog standard except for having a set of Sumo bars instead of the factory issue steering bars and as et of Grizzly Claw Mud Terrains and I had a ball with the Shineys on Saturday, driving some of the less experienced over trails that they were not sure if they wanted to take their own cars over (after going round with somebody who knew the trail most were happy to give it a go themselves with either Bill or I "spotting" for them from the side of the trail) and on Sunday I drove with the advanced guys as it turned out one of the "shiney" group was actually very competent and had a well equipped Hilux Surf to be able to give Bill a hand if anything went wrong.

If you want accommodation then there is a hotel at Lochgair - the Lochgair Hotel at www.thelochgairhotel.com which is only 3 miles from the entrance to the forest and 8 miles from the town of Lochgilphead where there is a campsite, CO-OP, Esso and Thames filling stations, chip shop and chinese take-away! I don't know if I will be here for the end of May, but will go if I am. A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road

Some other clips of this weekend and the March and January trips to Argyll from the wonderful worldwide superhighway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q0Ka2oo-_s

One of the "shineys" getting out of a "situation"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opX42oV8H3w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgDZt8V-lr0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52zKMFcKfrk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-hzdBDq4lQ

http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/ab...8%20April/

http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s301/ia...?start=all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc2dympj7Dk

AS you will see from all of these slide shows and video clips the emphasis is on FUN, not ripping up the countryside or damaging your "truck" on these drives. Only two of the Hilux owners had taken their vehicles off road before - by the end of Saturday they were signing up to come back on Sunday and bring more of their friends along, which they did to the extend that we ran a group entirely of Hiluxes with a Defender in the lead A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road

Some more pics (including one of my Def backed into a gully ) taken by one of the Hilux owners http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g265/smi...orApr2007/ A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road

great pics Tim  http://www.jkavonline.co.uk - 15% discount to rrsport.co.uk members (Discount Code: rrsport)

SONOS - MK SOUND - TANNOY - MONITOR AUDIO - JAMO - TIVOLI - SUNFIRE

You note that this site gets a plug in every photo of my Defender's rear! Also the Green Series 2a/3 with the whote hardtop isn't really what it seems...................... it's a Range Rover chassis and 4.6l V8 FFRR engine with a series body on top and it can't half go! A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road

Another video from the weekend has appeared on You Tube, htis is the advanced group on what we call the Plateau section, which is VERY wet and rutted in after 10 days with no rain................. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHkpYVaa-HU A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road

Nice pics Tim  RRS TDV6 sold RRS, TDV8 nearly sold, Ferrari 355 sold, Cobra sold,

now driving an 06 Freelander sport

And another video - this time from the January drive:
http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/heb...Basher.flv A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road