) I took a different route home and going on dark I was beginning to look for a quiet and secluded place to camp. I was riding beside a small clean looking creek and thought it would be a good campsite if I could find a way down. I found a narrow track with relatively fresh wheel tracks and started to follow it . Mistake 1 . I should have walked it ..... but it looked OK.
The track went 40 feet then ran down onto clean white sand . Mistake 2. I should have walked it !!
As soon as my front wheel hit the sand it sunk in to the brake disc, I couldn't turn around and I was committed and in deep ! The next few minutes were spent trying to maneuver a heavily laden bike in incredibly deep sand .
I was bogged !
I unloaded the bags and the panniers and spent the next 30 minutes in heaving and grunting, Tilly would move forward about 2 feet but by then would have dug herself a new hole, (the sand was full of water and this strangely enough also helped the situation.) At this stage I'd lift shut the motor off, lift Tilly's rear end up and the sandy slurry would slump into the hole. Start engine , gain 2 feet . Repeat as required . Eventually I was able to gain drier sand and made better progress. The next problem being a fallen tree that forced me back close to the water .
I eventually got back to hard ground but it was a work out ! Next time I shall look, especially when I see that coarse white granite sand .
After I have looked I shall AVOID !
