Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Drought in Kirdford

There is supposed to be a drought in West Sussex, but today I think someone must have left the hosepipe running...

I was off to see my friend Derek at Sussex Autogas, to discuss the pending service and MOT of my Range Rover, going though the village, past the church, I came to these views.

Well I had a Range Rover didn't I? I should be able to have some fun and get through this. I drove through the first flood and stopped at the brow of the bridge, raised up the suspension to it's highest limit, put the car in drive and went for it.

Well I got half way through the second flood, the other side of the bridge and the Rangie spluttered to a halt and died. Oops! I was a little at a loss as the water was 6" up the doors, hmmm, there was no way I was going to open the door at this point, so I sat there and phoned Derek, his workshop was only 500 yards up the road, hopefully he would pop down with a winch and tow me out, unfortunately Derek was in his car on the way to Pulborough... He said he would call Jay who would come and help me - great I thought.

So sitting there, I thought I would give the Rangie another try at starting (not forgetting that most of the engine was now underwater) - low and behold she started on the button! So keeping the revs up, put her in drive, and slowly drove out of the flood - cool beans!

Unfortunately, she is now running like a dog, so I had to leave the car at the workshop, and walk back to the village, with Jay, We only had to wade through about 4" on the path, so no great shakes. I will pick the Rangie up tomorrow when the engine has dried out a bit...

Sorry no photos of the Rangie sitting in the middle of the flood - well I wasn't going to get out was I?

 

2 comments:

  1. Hmmm. Having lived next to the bridge for 9 years and have during that time owned either a Defender or RR Sport, there have very occasionally been days when I have thought that I would not risk driving through the flood. Yesterday was one of those days. Glad to hear that I was right!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That made me laugh James. As you can see, an old P38 did make it through that flood, and she was running fine this evening when I picked her up from Ganders. I think it was luck though, and Derek has asked me NOT to try it again...

    ReplyDelete