"Living with Larry" my Land Rover Discovery 1 300TDI and overland travel: Snow in West Sussex 12th March 2013, freak snow storm and cars stuck in snow YAY!!!

The UK winter in West Sussex, travel disruption

Well I must admit coming off the back of the wettest year in UK recorded history in 2012, no one has much hope for 2013. In fact most people I know have been planning sunny escapes for some time now, and I have even been diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency. Which apparently has to do with not getting enough sun, or beer, not sure which one so I have been trying to remedy both.

UK Dealing with weather?

Anyway, yesterday the 11^th March we had quite a nice forecast for the weather “some snow showers which would continue overnight” and we would get “an accumulation of snow of approx. 5-10cm”. Even for us in the UK this is manageable, unless you use public transport, or drive, the trains obviously do not work and by foot can be slippy, but we cope.

Oh boy from a driving perspective, what as usual our government agencies forgot to do was to a) grit the roads in time and b) not take into account the wind, which was if I’m honest was pretty bad given the 5 days warning they had.

So, after a 2 hour journey 22 miles from Crawley to Littleworth West Sussex on the Monday evening, travelling on icy and snowy roads, on a route which at best is 35 minutes I found the whole experience exciting! I went to bed later that night after a quick vitamin D fix in the local (yes Americans I live near an English pub in England which is not Irish and no not a sun bed in sight, that’s for my buddies in Florida who are always taking me to Irish pubs in Florida?), knowing the next day I was likely to need more Larry miles to get me to work I got excited.

Some people must have been really excited about their journey home from Crawley to Brighton that night, so exciting that quite a few people decided to spend all night on the A23 south to Brighton taking 11 hours to do a 40 minute journey. This must have been a super really exciting media hip special thing to do, even minor celebrities like Cheryl Baker from Bucks Fizz joined in/got stuck in her car, shame (insert sympathy here if you can). This even made the national news. I can see the headline “Bucks Fizz on Ice”.

My trip to work.

So my trip to work today was always going to be special. I woke up at 6am, I’m using woke up loosely. Looked out the window and was quite disappointed that we did not have 2 foot of snow everywhere I was hoping for; but cunningly Mother Nature did use the 5-10cm wisely. Do you like how interchangeable Metric and Imperial measurements are? What she had done is to take the little amount we had, and by using the power of wind deposit it in nice playful banks everywhere.

Excited Larry

So, I went to the car, now this is where it gets sad. Larry to me is a car with a personality and I like to think he is a playful thing furry and fun. I also have a Labradoodle who is a playful thing, furry and fun, so I like to think that this morning Larry was looking around the same way Frodo does when we play chucky stick a complex game of finding a stick and chucking it away, Frodo then gets it and brings it back. Some would consider this as retrieving, he is not a Retriever and I don’t want to call it Doodling, this does feel right and implies some form of artistic skill. A dog is not an artist.

This is where my specific metaphor works, Larry was as happy as a Labradoodle playing chucky stick. There, done, in my little mind that describes it perfectly; I will now wait for the men in white coats.........................................................................

Ok they are not here, that was just how exciting the drive was going to be.

So I set off to work, nothing really special 2-8ft drifts on the roads, my route was to be the A272 – A281 – Devils Dyke and to the office. Now parts of the A272 – A281 were shut, not going to discuss the Devils Dyke, but let’s say it was worse.

Local roads

I did take all the precautions you need to on this type of trip in such snow. I went to the Petrol station shoved some Diesel in Larry and bought some extra strong mints. I did however forget to get a rope, spade and sleeping bag, snow chains, flashing yellow light, CB radio and food, sweets and anything that could have even possibly been useful if I got stuck. I even wore cotton summer trousers, beat that Ray Mears.

Minor Drifts

All was well; I had fun driving on icy snowy roads and then the 180 meter climb (sounds more in feet) to the top of the dyke.

Now a bit about the dyke I nicked this from the visitor’s website.

“A legendary beauty spot on the South Downs

Devil’s Dyke, just five miles north of Brighton, offers stunning panoramas, a record breaking valley, a curious history and England’s most colourful habitat.

At nearly a mile long, the Dyke valley is the longest, deepest and widest 'dry valley' in the UK. Legend has it that the Devil dug this chasm to drown the parishioners of the Weald. On the other hand, scientists believe it was formed naturally just over 10,000 years ago in the last ice age.”

Not today it wasn’t, a beauty spot that is; I pulled into the layby to take a couple of pictures of the snow, yes white on white, no polar bears. I started talking to another guy with his 4x4, I’m going to call him Bob, that was not his name, but I did not ask him his name either, so he may or may not be Bob.

View form the layby

He asked me if I “was going up there” and let me know that a couple of Polish guys in a van were trying to get to Brighton heading south, not normal for Polish guys they normally head north in the UK. Apparently Bob had turned around when his car, an inferior make of 4x4, could not go any further and he even had to use low ratio to go off road.

Anyway, we chatted for a few minutes giggling about the snow, and wondering if the Polish guys were by now stuck and guess what! The Polish guys appeared waved and headed north towards Crawley. That reassured me not because they were ok, but because Polish people in white vans going north in the UK feels like the norm now. No doubt they will be picking veg, whenever. I’m sorry, that was stereotypical.

The Range Rover

Off we go, snow getting worse, drifts getting deeper, cars abandoned, and would you Adam and Eve it, a RANGE ROVER stuck in the snow.

Stuck but smiling, grrrr

I did the honourable thing wound down my window asked quietly if he was ok, assumed he said yes, I parked the car and then took pictures of him digging his RANGE ROVER 2011 out where my Land Rover 1998 had driven past.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, oh yes, I high fived Larry I did (he even lifted his front tyre to do this), yes. Ok enough of Yoda.

So, was it a good drive today, yes, was I being sensible, no. Did the Rage Rover and his mate who turned up in a Disco 4 get out? Who cares, but they should have both had winter rated tyres like me.

More pictures.