20 miles on sheet ice!

[Derek Mc]

Well if you have been watching the news you will know Scotland was deluged with a snowfall that closed the country.

My wife drove to work as normal but by early afternoon it was obvious that she was going to have to abandon the car at work and get a couple of trains to get home.

It emerged the closest she could get was Irvine about 10 miles away, so the trusty Vectra was forced out the drive and that in itself was tough as the drive is red chip and it had become permafrost!
The main roads were compacted ice and dry slush, not wet as the temperatures meant it didn't thaw.
I then drove across the back-road with the least hills to get to Perceton in Irvine.

In all my years and I have had a licence since 1981, I have never driven on such a very poor surface for traction it was very tricky to keep her steady, but she made it.
I was on Nexen N3000 rubber and had no true scares I managed to maintain about 25>30mph on the flat straights, and get a run at the hills allowing no wheel spin.

I have to say I really felt bad about forcing her out the drive I did get a whiff of clutch but that was the only way as the shovel did nothing to improve matters as the snow we had froze, then some sleety rain froze like glass then fresh snow.

In my humble, the Vectra was far superior to the Saab in these conditions and felt much more planted somehow.

I was just so incredibly relieved to get her back up the very steep hill I live atop of, again compacted snow but the inertia kept her rolling to the point I turned off and now she sits all sad and lonely outside the house on the road instead of the garage. I get this feeling she is not pleased ha ha ha

[Innes]

Well done derek. Its ****** scary driving in those conditions. I've only ever had to do it once and by no means as bad as you described. Glad you both got home safely.

[Derek Mc]

Its the moment that the ssshhhhh ing noise from the tyres stops but the surface is all shiny and sparkly that gets the nerves on edge mate! Oh that and several fruit loop's driving in the middle of the road forcing me to either flash mains or take to the verge!!!!

[Deztroyer]

well done Derek -a braver man than most

i was speaking to a woman at work last week saying i drive with the radio on very quietly at this time of year so you can hear the change in road surface.....she asked me what i meant

she said that she didnt know you could hear the change when driving on black/ice she does now and said that her drives to and from work are not quite as scary as they used to be

[Derek Mc]

It's an old tip I got from my dad in the times when his car had crossply tyres and has served me so well over the decades.

I do NOT plan any more trips out unless vital until we see a gritter on our roads.

They say however that at these temperatures grit doesn't work so it's all a bit too catch 22 for me!

[Fruit'n'nut]

the trusty Vectra was forced out the drive and that in itself was tough as the drive is red chip and it had become permafrost!

If you can't get salt grit, try chucking some sand down on it, it should give a little bit more grip.

[Big Sig]

[Johnsdutton]

Well done mate I used to travel that road quite a lot for work. It took me and my son about 8 hours form the house to Parks garage at the Whirlies, down to Blantyre Industrial Estate and back to the house in the Murray, East Kilbride yesterday. Unfortunately most of the delay was due to other peoples inability to either drive in the snow or use a little bit of common sense and listen to people who knew what they were doing.

[Grumpy1954]

Its the moment that the ssshhhhh ing noise from the tyres stops but the surface is all shiny and sparkly that gets the nerves on edge mate! Oh that and several fruit loop's driving in the middle of the road forcing me to either flash mains or take to the verge!!!!

Yes, well done for coping with succch conditions, we have several numpty's round here that drive straight down the middle. I refuse to mangle my alloys on the kerb, was once advised by car section manager of insurance firm never to go off road to get out of someone's way, as you end up with all the damage and they say nothing to do with them, you chose to do it. Hmmm.

[byebyeitsagsi]

Yeah agree most of the problems are caused by people who dont know how to drive. For example i got to a small incline approaching a roundabout with 4 people stuck on it all out wheelspinning at full revs going nowhere. All they had to do was simple stick it in second and very gently lift the clutch no gas and it would have moved with a bit of persuasion.

I left to go to work this morning but there was patches of inch thick sheet ice all over the road everytime i touched one the car wanted to go sideways i gave up turned round and went home, not good.