Shiter down

[inconsistant]

2 hours ago, trigger said:

The Ronnie Pickering gods were watching over you!

Who?

[robt100]

6 hours ago, beko1987 said:

I drive fen roads fairly frequently too and if its not black ice it being bounced off the road into the dyke from the state of the roads.

 

The in-laws are in the fens, and their road at some parts is 20mph max, one part is a 2ft + drop over a max of 3ft length, still see people bombing down there like nobodys business. A year or two back they had two cars in two months come through the hedge on the front of the property and end up with them landing upside down in the front garden. Insurance weren't too pleased when they had just planted replacements from the first one only to have them taken out by the 2nd car🙈

[rob88h]

18 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

I feel a bit sad about the car but to be honest it was one of those cars that was destined for the scrapyard sooner rather than later

Think of it this way - all the best Picasso’s are cubist. 

Puns aside, I’m really glad you’re ok. 

[Angrydicky]

Back in the Rover.

It feels like it’s from a different era than the Picasso despite there being only four years between them. And I’d forgotten how low down to the ground it was. It’s a bloody good car though, quick, comfortable and reliable.

I’ve decided to bite the bullet and get the belts/pump/tensioners done on it, the new radiator fitted, new power steering pipes to cure the fluid leak, then I will sort the brakes and exhaust. New back box and rear calipers. It should be pretty good then. It’s done over 150k now (53k with me at the wheel) so it deserves some TLC. I just haven’t got the time at the moment hence farming out some of the work.

[808 Estate]

Happy to hear you walked/climbed away from that. It had the potential to be far worse. 

[yes oui si]

Glad you walked away from it. Glad to hear the rover is getting a spa treatment as well.

On 15/01/2026 at 13:19, beko1987 said:

We drove past one just outside crowland on new years eve years ago, they were waiting for recovery but had gone a long way into the field.

Fitha_oui_si has a photo somewhere taken circa '82 of one of his escorts well into a field on the fens after the passenger misread a map, didn't warn of an upcoming corner and he ended up just managing to pilot the car across the field entrance.

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, yes oui si said:

Glad you walked away from it. Glad to hear the rover is getting a spa treatment as well.

Fitha_oui_si has a photo somewhere taken circa '82 of one of his escorts well into a field on the fens after the passenger misread a map, didn't warn of an upcoming corner and he ended up just managing to pilot the car across the field entrance.

Easily done. My most horrifying driving moment was when dad had just moved out there and I bought my silver laguna from @ruffgeezer who lived close*. 

Left dad's to head home, unfamiliar as fuck and at one key junction shot straight on at 60ish. Went the wrong way which was annoying... Should have turned from French drove to New drove.

Found out later the road I was on did a hard sharp left, straight on is another road. If there was a biker minding their own business turning at the junction I'd have done a very bad thing. Still have it in my mind s I slow to the 15/20mph that corner demands 

The Google street view is 4 years old. These tiny cracks in the freshly repaired tarmac are massive chasms now. I don't often go that way unless the a16 looks slow. Even if the a16 is slow it's usually flowing faster than the thorney bypass  but the a16 is full of craters too

[Angrydicky]

The fen roads are pretty shit, they all have these drainage ditches running alongside them, and lots of heavy vehicles use them, such as tractors/trailers and loaded artics. The roads collapse towards the banks under the weight of these vehicles and you get these huge dips and troughs on some of them. 
The one I was travelling on at the time of the accident was one of the better ones.

Unfortunately, the Picasso was also one of the better cars we had at soaking up the bumps on these roads (The Princess is also very good but I don’t want to wear it out).

[New POD]

I used to commute to work via what they call the Moss.  Basically the totally flat ground between the Northwest Coast at Formby and the first hills as you head east towards Ormskirk or Parbold. 

I've lost count of the number of cars and vans I've seen in the ditches. First sign of ice there would be a builders van in a field with 2 confused looking blokes wondering if they should phone the Boss at home or pretend the van was stolen overnight. 

[MrT]

Sorry to see you losing the Picasso, we had one for a few years, hood car, but when the electronics and a couple of other things  started to play up, it was looking expensive to keep. Good car though. My mums family came from that part of world (well, around Swineshead and towards Boston). Didn't like driving down there, narrow roads with sharp ends for no logical reasons and impatient locals. 

[Jerzy Woking]

Glad you were unhurt Dicky, even though you lost the Picasso.

Don't try hitting a patch of black ice on a motorbike. Thought I had saved my new Aprilia from hitting the deck after sliding on a little patch, managed to scrub of lots of speed before hitting a bigger patch at about 2mph. Tried saving the bike from crashing down onto the road, doing the splits in the process. 

Was in bloody agony, but had to go to work two days later, when my leg looked like this.

Tore most of the muscles in my leg, took a few weeks to walk properly again. Not a mark on the bike.