Hello everyone
I'm glad to say both my sister and I are fine after my car ended up in a ditch Monday am. We had only travelled about 2 miles on our six hour return journey home when the front tyre blew and we ended up in a ditch.
I will put up a couple of photos of the car. We were travelling on a single track road and having just driven around a bend I was only doing 25-30 miles per hour, the driver front tyre blew and it pulled the car to the right by only a couple of inches. This was enough however to make the front wheel on the driver side drop off the edge of the tarmac ( no curbs on these roads ).
The drop was about 4/5 inches ( if this had happened 10 foot further down the road it wouldn't have been an issue has there was no drop off ) and I was trying to pull the car back up, it wasn't having any of it, unfortunately for me there was a second drop off and after having a double dip it was impossible for me to pull the car back up.
I was still managing to keep the car straight with the road, but the the steepness of the ditch was putting my car on an ever increasing angle, so in the end I had to drive down into the ditch. Aa I turned and drove down into the ditch it was a bumpy ride, there was an awful loud noise going on, it sounded like the exhaust had
been ripped off or something!
The car eventually came to a stop, and my sister and I were asking each other if we were okay, it had happened so quickly, we got out of the car and I then realised the really loud noise was from the wheel arch trim and wheel arch been ripped off the car and dragged underneath.
Luckily it was a soft landing in the bottom of the ditch, couldn't see the wheels or undercarraige, I got back in the car and started up the engine, fired up straight away, I reversed the car back the way I'd come in, but after about 10-15 feet it wouldn't budge.
We had just stepped out of the car again when a passerby stopped, he asked if we'd rang anybody. We said no, it's just happened and there is no signal. He offered to go to Monron's down in Oban for us. He then came back to say they would be on their way shortly.
It was really heart warming to see so many motorists stop to see if we were okay and if they could do anything. I thank each and everyone of them.
The recovery truck came and winched my car out of the ditch. He said I was really lucky the car hadn't flipped over because of the steepness of the side. It was put on the back of the truck and down to town we went. Believe it or not, my tough car got away with a new tyre and was drivable!
So we had a £240 four hour delay and was once again on our way home.
Didn't get home until after 9pm, at which point I popped open a bottle of Crabbie's Ginger Ale amnd toasted our successful ascent of Ben Nevis and our very lucky escape from the ditch.
I'm still trying to get my car sorted out, but she's still driving really well. I never once felt nervous about driving her 300 miles home after we had been pulled from the ditch. I'll just be happy when the damage is sorted and she looks her normal self!
The Ben Nevis sponsored challenge was a fantastic experience, all who took part thoroughly enjoyed themselves, those who didn't turn up missed out on something really special.
I look forward to the next endurance challenge as War on Cancer takes on as part of conquering the highest peaks of the British Isles!
All future events will now come with a minimum deposit required which can be redeemed from sponsor money collected to prevent another "Ben Nevis" occurrence. It's certainly a lesson that's been learned. The non- showers have seriously reduced money raised on a big annual event. I cannot in all good conscience allow this to happen again.
So happy and safe from our wonderful Ben Nevis event and already looking into next years1
So it's on with training for the Yorkshire 3 Peaks which Lost Earth Adventures are hosting on behalf of WOC in July and then carrying for my Mount.Kilimanjaro climb in September.
Until next time
Tracy
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