Devon TRF Group Forum

Same thing, a courier in a Sprinter. On one of the Hartland lanes between Linton and Putshole Farm (I still don't know how the numbers work ). He wasn't as lucky as yours though, sitting on the chassis with one wheel in a knee deep washout. The thing is, he was at least 1/4 mile in and had just passed the only viable turn around point along the lane. You've got to wonder sometimes!. 

Jerry atterick wrote:

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Went on an accompanied Bristol run about 10 years.
Car a bout 100 yards into the end of the lane, really tight to squeeze by to the exit - all 8 of us!!!
Ive never seen a young lady so embarrased or in such a rush to get her clothes on!
I kid you not.
Can be verified by Mr Padley.

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 I have encountered the same on 192-150 as well as on 192-187. On 150 it is a dead end so they were obviously not expecting traffic, but on 187 I had just ridden from one end to the other then found my way blocked on returning back the same way so they really were in a hurry to get down to it.

Oddest sight was a Honda acty van perched at a 45 degree angle in a rut on 202-020. There was room to squeeze by and a little further on I met a land rover so I stopped to warn them of the obstruction. The driver laughed and the passenger looked very sheepish. In his defence he said the last time he went that way it was ok. He was an old bloke with a long memory who had called on his son to rescue his stranded van.

Seen plenty of people who should have known better ploughing on regardless following the sat nav.

> In his defence he said the last time he went that way it was ok.

That resonates with me, as I was that man once.

In my previous job I used to visit horse stables. One such was at the end of Brook's Lane in Saltash - a dead end which had been closed off by the A38. First few visits were fine - a normal little lane, a bit steep but there was a turnaround at the end. Except this one time I went there and after I'd driven down the very steep first stretch, coming around the corner I found the road had been completely washed out. The river had changed course in a storm and washed a lot of mud, big stones and flooded the road. The person I was visiting had set up the appointment without managing to mention this at all. It was completely impassable and the only way back out was reversing up a very steep and muddy road. I was driving an old Mercedes 230 estate - a heavy car with a surprisingly light rear end and rear wheel drive. This was in the 90s before mobile phones and I did eventually get out by process of scraping the mud off the road down to tarmac with my car's ice scraper for about fifty yards to get enough momentum. Took about two and a half hours and was completely blocking the road and taught me a lesson.

In another event, I wasn't the driver but had to recover a 6.5 ton box body display vehicle (A previous Police incident vehicle) from Bourton Lane north of Totnes. I'd sent a new employee who had previously been a lorry driver to collect a vehicle from the Horse Arena's main car park. Only instead of turning left down the tarmac road towards Newton Abbot, he managed to turn right and go up the unsurfaced lane, past the travellers and get stuck past the turning for Sands lane. "I thought it would get better" was his answer when I arrived on scene.

Some things you can never forget, can't believe you still got pics of it. That's the face of a hard working man!