Damsel in distress!

[whitestone]

We've been snowed/iced in for a couple of days - the lane is pretty steep (25% straight from the door) and had 100-150mm of wet snow on it. Got it cleared, with the help of a front-loader, by yesterday afternoon but then it began to freeze and the lane was covered in black ice. Got out just before lunch. There were a couple of cars parked at the lane end where it's flat.

I then decided to spread the bucket of ashes from the fire to give a bit of grip on the flatter section (the steep bit of the lane faces south so a bit of sun will clear that but as soon as the angle eases the sun isn't high or strong enough to clear things). I get up there and the driver of one of the cars has got well and truly stuck trying to get out.

The sides of the lane are pretty soft and wet ground. The earth wasn't frozen when all the snow arrived so the car will have settled slightly while she, the driver, was visiting our neighbour. As soon as she couldn't move she'll have pressed the accelerator, spun the wheels and dug herself in. When I got to her, the engine was touching the deck! Yep, that soft.

"Get your towing eye out, I'll nip back down and get my van as I've a towing rope"

"My what? I don't have one of those."

"It should be with your spare wheel and the jack. It will tell you where in the manual"

"I don't have one"

Luckily, like most cars the spare wheel is in the boot. Turns out she's a district nurse so has to unload all her kit to get to it.

"Take that cover off and screw that towing eye in as far as you can."

I return with the van and set everything up, being front wheel drive I thought it best to do this in reverse (I know my towing eye and jack are under the passenger seat). She really was stuck and not helped by the fact my driving wheels were on ice it took about five minutes to get her out, even when her front wheels were out of the holes she'd dug it was still difficult to pull her. I think she might be getting a tow rope at some point, if everywhere isn't sold out!

So good deed done for the day. Just hope the other car isn't stuck as well.

[Lazarus]

Good man we use to have an old tractor for such events when I lived in rural hilly wales

[Bearbonesnorm]

Well done Bob ... I had a spate of folk following their satnavs and arriving here a few years ago, mostly when we had the last big freeze / snow. It tended to happen at night, usually while it was snowing and they'd drive down into the yard but were then unable to get back out. They were actually okay as I could just hitch the quad up and pull them but those who managed to get half way out, then come to a halt were a proper PITA as I often couldn't get the quad past.

Thankfully, Google maps no longer believes the path past us to be a road anymore.

[redefined_cycles]

Nice1 Bob. I have a client who I work with. A serious case of muscular dystrophy and a small family 2 kids, but no partner at present. I told him a few months ago that I'm not looking forward to him forcing (well, I can hardly say no) me to drive the mobility van upto the singletrack hills where his 10 year old daughter goes horse riding.

I can only imagine black ice everywhere and a serious recipe for a mishap. I'm sure that DN will really appreciate you for the years to come. These lot gave it tough in winter and it's not helped by the fact they probs don't know what/why four wheel drive is. Nor do I imagine many will have snow tires

Salute to your van too. A tractor once got me out of a road ditch in some floods of 2018 (I think) coming back from Chesterfield HDU Still remember em, lovely lads doing some road building works. Never went that route ever again, snow/rain or shine.

[whitestone]

TBH Shaf we don't have snow tyres on either vehicle, basically we've nowhere to store them when not in use (and obviously storing the summer ones when they are). While they help they aren't a complete panacea if you don't know how to drive in snow. Don't have 4WD either.

Usually we park at the top of the lane when it's going to snow but with the ground being so soft we'd have sunk as well. There's some hard standing at the lane end but the road also does a sharp bend at that point and vehicles regularly park in/on the walls

[redefined_cycles]

Lol. I thought as much that you'd not really be reliant on snow tyres (or AWD). Story once about my Subaru Legacy (only realised that even the 3L Spec B was just an enthusiasts car and not designed to really go over 200k) was going Scarborough for a shift once.

Full all 4 wheels drive with their special sort of system (can't explain how, but so reliable and nice) and snow tyres. Enroute the snow came in and went mental. Full whiteout within about 1 hour or less.

Me driving 80 miles to work and I made it there. But the locals didn't manage to get into work Then there was the drive back on the A64. Full-on blizzards/snow and I think mine was the only car going (properly). Must've overtaken a good 10 miles of traffic and got home whilst they still waited, maybe hours, in the nearside lane.

No more AWD sadly and just a rear wheel olden days chauffeur type Lexus. Message to self, must get snow tyres as I can't even borrow the wife's if the snow gets too bad. She's a hybrid with the battery weight at the back, but front wheel drive.

Heard from the local taxi drivers with the same engined Prius, that they just park up and rest on snowy-days...

[redefined_cycles]

Just to be clear. The wife is not a hybrid. She drives/owns one Thought to clarify in this modern day/age of people marrying their dogs/cars/pianos.

[frogatthefarriers]

Just to be clear. The wife is not a hybrid. She drives/owns one Thought to clarify in this modern day/age of people marrying their dogs/cars/pianos.

[JohnClimber]

If this cold snap doesn't lift by Friday I fear the Winter Event numbers will be low this year

[Bearbonesnorm]

If this cold snap doesn't lift by Friday I fear the Winter Event numbers will be low this year

Cold - better than wet and windy I feel.