Gathering winter fuel

I spent the best part of Christmas eve trying to get Ewan unstuck from this muddy track up at Ford Park. I had asked Ewan if he could collect some bags of logs for our friend Juliet. I said to Ewan I would meet him at Ford Park late afternoon on Friday. See you there in five minutes, I said, the logs are in our small shed. When  I got there Ewan had already arrived and had parked halfway down the track leading to the shed. Oh dear, I thought, that may be a problem.  So we loaded the logs, and tried to back the van out. Lots of wheels spin, and a big problemo, as its now getting dark and on top of that it's starting to pour with rain. We decide to leave it till Christmas eve, Saturday morning. 

Now bearing in mind that I hadn't done any Christmas shopping this wasn't part of my plan for Christmas eve. We regrouped at 11am on Saturday morning and set about getting bits of wood and grit and old metal barriers but all we got was more stuck. Ewan decided to call a guy he'd met in the Hope and Anchor last night who had a 4x4. Nick arrived about half an hour later and we hooked up a couple of tow ropes. A big heave and the tow rope snapped. We tried a couple more times and snapped another couple of ropes.

So Nick drove around the van and tried pulling him forward. This worked, getting the van out of the hole but ended up with the 4x4 now trapped at the end of the track. Nick called a friend of his in Loppergarth who had another 4x4. He arrived twenty minutes later. 

After another couple of snapped ropes and much  slipping and sliding and flying of mud we eventually got the van out and on the road. It was almost 2.30 and not much time left for Christmas shopping. 

That's the last time I offer to gather winter fuel on Christmas eve. 

Anyway alls well that ends well and Juliet, in Coniston will have her logs for Christmas day.