What an absolutely awesome Sunday drive had by some friends (a few from here
@Spooky @PaulyVenturi @Jezer101) on a run out across south/mid Wales.
We started with an early morning meet up at a Starbucks on the M50 near Ross-on-Wye with a planned route from there towards Raglan Castle then on to the Brecon Beacons, after that it was on towards Lower Brynamman to pick up the A4069 (black mountain pass) then through that on and up to the Elan Valley (plan was to do a lap around the reservoirs)
First casualty straight of the bat was
@Jezer101 pulling into starbucks in a cloud of smoke, split turbo oil feed stopped his trip before he started. In true top gear style he was left to fend for himself
We picked up another friend near Raglan Castle in his 350z and then on to Brecon. Now in the distance everything looked very white, even though the main roads were all fine. We had some fun on the clear roads and then started to climb to the Brecon visitors centre. Little bit of snow on the ground, great for sliding about on (the e36 M3 was a big fan) but still manageable and we stopped for a break. Unfortunately it was too early for the place to be open so we just made use of the toilets.
Onwards to the black mountain pass,
@Spooky took point in his fancy 4wd bmw with sat nav.... it decided to try and take us across the beacons instead of back down the main roads. It got hairy very quickly and i soon found out how bad summer tires are on snowy hills. And so did everyone else
After taking a run up to get over a hump id already slid down (i was back of the pack at this point) i met everyone else stuck trying to climb out of the next dip in the road..... we were queuing to get out but no one could move forward
as we stood around discussing the plan of action and wondering where
@Spooky had gone in his 4wd equipped car i watched the 350z suddenly slide after being parked for a while straight into the front of the e36. At this point we decided we should try and turn everything around and head back to the visitor centre. This in itself was a monumental task, the roads barely wide enough for a car, no traction and freezing conditions. It took over an hour to get everyone turned around and back onto some tarmac. The boxster was pants, it took 2 people pushing it, salt under the tires and a towel,
@PaulyVenturi in his meg3 rs faired quite well with his LSD. The 911 was surprisingly good, the 350 and the e36 also faired well but the DTC equipped e92 struggled like feck. The saviour of the moment was a towel id thrown in the boot in the morning after chucking it across the windscreen
We got back to the flat but
@Spooky was no where to be seen..... We headed back to the visitor centre (which was now open) freezing cold and wet. Coffee and a bite to eat whilst trying to get signal. I managed to get on the wifi which then allowed me to get hold of spooky. He had also gotten stuck, just further down the road but had managed to get out and on his way
we agreed to catch up with him at the black mountain view point.
Onwards we went sticking to major roads, i was now on point and following directions to the view point. Up and over the black mountains was great, it was freezing but id taken the top down to appreciate the views. Still following the sat nav on my phone we went up and over, back down and it then told me to turn off onto a single track lane. All the cars following, it started to get deep with snow again and the road was undulating a lot. I could see it going bad again so stopped. Jumped out and started to explain that the phone was telling me to go this way to catch up with spooky, only to be told that we had passed him..... sure enough at the back of the que, there he was
by this point we had a delivery van at the back too. I wasn't going forwards, feck that, everyone agreed, make him back up too. About half a mile down a country lane all in reverse
So we were all back out, all heading in the same general direction, we had a little meet up and then continued our run to Elan Valley. Guess what.... more silly back lanes and snow, ffs this was getting silly. Anyway we made it there, more drinks and food and a quick look around. We jumped into the cars ready for a lap. The roads climbed, the views got better and the snow got deeper. I stopped on a slight incline to let a car pass and that was it....... I was stuck going nowhere yet again. 2 defenders came passed, offered assistance to which a friend said "nah don't worry he keeps doing this today, its part of the fun" they bimbled past with no worries at all. Urgh, we got it going up again after sliding backwards till it got tarmac, turned at the first opportunity and headed back down. Half of the group had gone ahead and they soon came back too. With a short tale of some landys pissing themselves telling them about the porsche boxster that was stuck further down but didnt want help as it was fun. We all took a few more pics, had a chat and then decided to call it a day. We wanted a quick 2 hour run home to only be stuck behind a few mobile homes for 40 fucking miles and with no where decent enough for us to pass. Well accept for
@Spooky and his flying machine.
All in all an awesome day out with a great bunch of people, I'm more in love with the car than i was and even not being the fastest out there itll hang with most things we were out with, enough to have plenty of fun. We will definitely do it again.
TLDR went out for a planned drive, didn't complete the drive, came home
You could really feel it, even in the 21 which is mitigated by the turbo. Cooling was a problem too in the thinner air.
I'd still do it again for a laugh 
