Surely there must be someone else out there with winter tyres that has had their fair share of snow and winter by now?
That large helping of snow that we received just before Christmas - well...!
I left work at around 5am having been outside working for most of the night. I seem to recall it started snowing a few flakes at around midnight. At first it didn't appear to be sticking but by the time i got away from work I was a bit alarmed when I got to my car and found around an inch of snow had already settled on it and the car park.
Having spent a few minutes clearing the screens and warming it up a bit, I set off from RAF Brize Norton thinking 'The RAF haven't done much around the camp roads - hopefully it should be alright on the main roads though..'
Guess again!
I drove out of the camp only to find the roads around Carterton were no different, but decided to keep going, wary of the fact my front winter tyres where starting to show their age.
I head North towards Stow-On-The-Wold. In the dry at legal speeds it usually takes me around 30 mins to get home.
The roads between Carterton and Burford appeared to have not been treated; there were going to be one or two tests for me on this journey, the first being a place known as Shilton Dip. This is a well-known accident black-spot consisting of a crossroads set in the bottom of a very steep dip, on a slight bend, with an equally steep climb up the other side. Not ideal in 1.5" of snow.
Thinking I may struggle up the other side I got the car as straight as possible and carefully caned it down into the dip to keep the momentum going for the very steep climb up the other side. I made it quite easily and was slightly surprised. However on reaching the summit I could feel that the car was starting to lose traction a little bit, but I'd made it so far. Next stop Burford high street.
With no further drama I trickled down Burford high street to the traffic lights over a narrow hump-backed bridge where I had to come to a stop. On green, pulling away was a bit slippery and I did spin up a little bit but got over the bridge ok, and made a left at the r'bout to head towards Stow.
The next test was going to be the decider on whether I was going to spend the night in Burford or get home; a sharp right hand bend followed by a steepish long hill was the next test.
Because of the sharp bend I wasn't going to get a chance of a run-up at this hill; it was all down to what the tyres/car could do juxtaposed to my own skill and luck. This was a bit touch and go and I think I was lucky to make it up this hill. I managed to keep moving all the time but was losing traction slightly and did momentarily, that this was going to be the end of my journey, but no! The worn old Dunlop Wintersports managed to get me up the worst of the slope after which the incline reduced and I was able to pick up speed/traction easily.
With no other vehicles on the road I was by now driving through what looked to be about 2" of virgin snow. A long wide straight of about 1.5 miles allowed me to risk getting some good speed up. This was probably chancing it slightly but there were no other vehicles on this section and the car felt very stable with no fishtailing or tendency for it to want to slide; directional control felt very good.
But by now it was snowing very hard and by the time I reached the turning for Little Rissington it was a real blizzard. Worse still, just after that a very thick possibly freezing fog had descended, and coupled with the snow I was driving blind!
This was a total white-out that was worrying to say the least; I couldn't see where the road went at all and was now down to a speed that I would say was a slow walking pace, it was so bad!
There were now some vehicle tracks in the snow so up until that point I must have been catching something up, and as I reached the brow of Wick Hill, I momentarily glimpsed some tail-lights.
Very gingerly down Wick Hill that, in spite of the overhanging trees, was deeply layered in snow, and I was definitely catching something up.
The next test was going to be the traffic lights at the bottom of Stow Hill followed by Stow Hill itself. In the past the overhanging trees on Stow Hill have been my saviour, but it wasn't to be on this occasion.
I luckily caught the vehicle in front of me as he triggered the lights to green so was able to keep moving, aware that anything coming down the hill might not be able to stop I pulled out to start up Stow Hill.
I was astonished to find I had caught up with a transit van towing a large box trailer! He was seriously struggling on Stow Hill, but I felt that my momentum might just get me past him so pulled into the overtaking lane and started a slow overtake. I was losing traction a bit but still gaining on the van and did get past leaving him struggling behind me. However what was more alarming was a truck that overtook me as I overtook the van! Three vehicles all abreast going up Stow Hill; good job nothing was coming downhill!
Now where I live, in spite of being near to a school, the roads are never gritted and it felt like the longest part of the journey was spent coaxing the car up a neighbouring road before turning down my street which was now getting on for a good 4" deep.
It took me 10 attempts to get the car off the road and on to my block-paved drive. A lovely smooth drive but not ideal when its snowy or icy as I have now found! It took 10 goes because the car kept trying to slide into a low retaining wall with the adjoining property, before I'd got it clear of the pavement.
