Wrangeld

Hopefully next time, with a few more drives under the belt.. 

Rahim bhai. Your talent for writing is exceptional and means if I intend to write anything in the future I shall have to 'up my game' 😏

This was truly a magnificent run, expertly led and even more expertly recorded. 

Looking forward very much to the next installment. Written and mobile. 

Today, with a whole lot of other important lessons we found out that 'popping out' to the desert and 'popping out' in the desert are two completely different things.

Our intrepid crew was not prepared to give up without a fight, however when it comes to popping, there are just some things that won't however hard you try. 

Roshan, thanks for giving us the chance to see an unusual and very technical recovery. 

The other key note of the day us that while there might only be one letter difference between newbie and fewbie the promotion to more complex, technical challenges brought a whole new world of fun and a few frustrations. 

Once again, excellent (and truly restrained) leadership from Rahimdad. I am sure Srikumar enjoyed sweeping up today ... allowing him to be a little less restrained than usual. 

Emmanuel, ably assisted by maman, kept us on track and very healthily fed. An asset to any drive. 

Shamil, it's a real shame you make all your passengers feel sick . I'll be your passenger any time. 

Jeepie ... thanks for returning the favour of last week and allowing us to dig you out this week. (Photos attached). 

Bottom line, this little club is simply the most supportive encouraging and effective way to learn how to navigate the dunes, while having fun and meeting wonderful warm welcoming people.

Thanks once again.

Congrats Bony. 

Congrats TJ. Love watching that majestic orange gold beast crest the dunes with you at the wheel. 

Maybe some day we will join you on two wheels. 

Congrats Adil. Looking forward to many more drives with you.  

Congrats Adam. If I can learn to handle my Wrangler half as well ... I'll be mighty happy. 

Congrats Xaf. Your supreme control across the dunes is a pleasure to watch. I guess only being flown by you could be better!

Gefeliciteerd jonge. We are lucky to drive with you. Thanks for all the advice, support and tips. Well deserved. 

Wow, wow, wow. We never expected that to happen so soon or to have been welcomed into this 4x4 group so warmly. 

Even though we are both truly delighted and humbled to have been upgraded, there's still a lot of newbie drives in us, and now we know a massive amount of learning to come.

Thanks to everyone and we look forward to seeing you at oh my god o clock on Friday for the next adventure. Now we need to plan a bit longer drive on Friday as the Fewbie drive beckons. 

Richard & Marjan

 My oh my. Another early start 100% worthwhile. Srikumar led us through beautiful dunes: looking every inch like the desert vision we had in our minds in Europe growing up. 

Freddie. Thanks for laying down tracks to follow , Rahimded for sweeping us up and a fantastic gang of wonderful people for what turned out to be simply the funniest and most technical drive yet. Shamil, TJ Xaf, Adam, Bony, Adil, thanks for everything (sorry if I missed someone). 

We even had a few moments if real learning on how to recover. Important to feel how that feels for next time.

My over enthusiasm meant you very kindly had to dig me out ... followed by a transforming piece of advice which this newbie is not going to forget. Riding the dunes has a whole other meaning now.

No doubt it gets more and more challenging from here. These small technical dunes felt like a training ground for the promise of what's to come ... and boy, are we looking forward to that. 

Anyone reading this with doubts about whether it's really worth getting up before the crack of dawn to join these drives, push those doubts from your mind. Take a nap in the afternoon. 

There's not a lot of better ways to enjoy your Friday morning with some great company, incredible natural beauty ... let's not forget the gazelles either ... and safe learning of how to truly enjoy this majestic landscape. 

Thank you once again. 

I had some experience with this on an older Mercedes. It seems none of us really trust the garage mechanics but let's face it, most mechanics coming into the business today have little knowledge about mending cars, instead, they plug the car into their computer, wait for the error codes and then fix what ever the ICU tells them needs fixing. It's why I prefer an older car as well, because having moving parts you can look at and fix. 

Having your own OBD means that when you hear that sharp intake of breath from the mechanic you can smile, knowingly and call them out if they invent new problems. It's amazing how may problems can be fixed with a simple reset. Let's not forget that there's a computer running most modern cars and from time to time they might, just like your phone or computer need a reset that do not just get fixed with a reset. 

Random errors should more or less be expected, but in the end, there will be an end of life for just about every component. Clearing the code is not a solution, because all you do is clear the code, not the cause of the problem. That's why it will come up again. 

As a general rule, I decided to follow Rahim's advice. Green lights in the car mean go. Yellow mean be careful and red stop. Ignoring them is a bit like ignoring your first heart attack and wondering why you feel a bit unwell after eating too much cholestorol! 

Another fantastically well organized and marshalled drive by Rahimdad, Freddie and Emmanuel (sorry to those I forgot in that list - we were at the back!)

Thanks to all those who helped us make our way round, gave amazing tips once again and made sure we all got home safely and securely. Great also to meet more new faces and learn so much from all the people out there making sure we have fun, smile, laugh and learn about going out to the dunes safely and carefully. 

Being a newbie it's excellent to be given the opportunity to test out ourselves and the car, find our way out of (and into) trouble. We truly appreciate the planning and thought that you give to making these events a success. 

Till next week. 

An iconic off roader!. Built with incredible capabilities for the farmers and families of France.  

Thanks for that Srikumar. We will make sure to check all the levels when we take possession and look forward to our first off raod adventure in the Dunes. 

Hi there. 

Will take delivery of an bn oldish swb wrangler on weds. 

My 4x4 experience is almost 100% in mud, not sand and quite a long time ago. I did courses and had a swb patrol. 

The car has hooks on both ends. But I don't have other equipment yet (boards, big jack) 

Is it ok to join?