Brrrr.. It’s a bit fresh this morning. Oh well I suppose it is only quarter to five in the morning. Even the heating hasn’t woken up yet! Give Carl a shout and tell him he’s got 30 minutes then we’ll be on the road.

True to form; we opened the front door about 45 minutes later. “Oh no! It’s a foggy morning.” Hope the dreaded motorway isn’t going to be long, slow crawl. Actually it wasn’t too bad, just a little patchy here and there. We managed to bowl along at a steady 65 to 70. Mmmm, all that off roading and it still runs sweet as a nut.

Carl had been out to mate’s birthday party the night before (and a fair proportion of the morning as well). So he conveniently slept all the way. Well, that was until I gave him a big nudge and announced that I hadn’t got a clue where we were going! It became obvious that someone who shall remain nameless had totally missed a poorly signed junction. Doh! You just can’t get the staff these days.

Using my superior, well honed sense of direction we managed to find the venue in plenty of time. (Pity my built in navigation skills don’t work when I’m on a section!) Passed scrutineering, signed on and managed to stick the numbers on the doors the right way up. That’s the first major task of the day completed.

Right then, 12 sections, 12 gates. Some people, I mean MOST people can remember nearly every bump and turn of every section. I can’t even remember the way to the start gate as one young Lady noticed. She came over and asked me why I was lined up at the start to section 2 when the rest of the group were on section 3. I pleaded with her not to tell everybody. (I think she felt sorry for me.)

Carl and I were doing our usual thing of just trying to beat each other. If I had a silly score on a particular section then Carl would proceed to show me how to do it properly. Occasionally Carl would do something silly then it would be my turn to claw the points back. We finished the day with Carl beating me by just 3 points which only goes to prove that the vehicle is a lot more capable than both of us put together.

All in all, an excellent day out. Sections laid out just to my liking; wide gates, safe but technical with lots of route planning required. Very friendly people, relaxed atmosphere and well organized event.

This was my second visit and Carl’s first Mendip Challenge. We will both definitely try our luck down here again. You never know, I may even manage to beat him next time.
Happy Rovering

Tony O’Connor