Spreading Landy Love

Owning a Land Rover is great… especially when the weather gets rough

On Sunday December 10 large parts of Great Britain woke to a fairly decent covering of snow. It was our first proper fall of the winter, creating chaos on the roads and closing hundreds of schools in the process.

It snowed for most of that day in my village. While the police urged motorists not to travel unless their journeys were absolutely necessary, I (carefully) drove my Land Rover to the next village for a pub lunch. I do love my Sunday roasts.

On the way we stopped at one of the steepest hills in Bedfordshire. About 20 kids were zooming down it on their sledges before taking the slow walk to the top to do it all over again. My Defender was the only vehicle in attendance.

That day social media was abuzz with incredible photos and videos of Land Rovers towing, snatching and winching drivers of trucks, BMWS and other less capable brands. You can read one such account on page 12. In fact, the video of Daniel Morgan’s Series III pulling an artic out of trouble had been viewed 1.3 million times after a few days of going public.

The Birmingham Children’s Hospital put out an urgent appeal for 4x4 drivers to help get staff to work and one of the images I saw in the media was of an Evoque and Discovery Sport kindly obliging.

A Land Rover comes into its own during the winter and it can be likened to an infantry soldier as it can operate in all types of weather and conditions. They are not scared of hard or dirty work. It is for these reasons they have long been the vehicle of choice for the military, mountain rescue and farmers.

So, the next time we experience really bad weather, don’t forget to spread a little Land Rover love.