Getting the Land Rover experience

Off road adventuring in the wilderness around Dunkeld.

It’s the golden hour – that wondrous time before the sun sets – and I’m in a Range Rover Sport driving up a hillside above Dunkeld.

The heather is on fire as the dying sun turns it to glory. We’re on a barely discernible grassy track cutting up hillside on the Atholl Estate. The reason I’m here? I’m taking part in a half day Land Rover Experience.

I had arrived at the company’s centre on the shores of Butterstone Loch a couple of hours earlier, met my instructor Murray Duguid and been given the obligatory safety briefing.

Then it was into the car that would haul me up hill and down dale for the next three hours.

The Land Rover Experience has a fleet of 12, spanning all the vehicles Land Rover and Range Rover make.

Anyone who buys a new or approved Land Rover is given a free half day experience at the centre so they can see what their vehicle is capable of and gain experience that could prove life-saving in bad weather.

Once safety checks were out of the way we headed towards Dunkeld and Land Rover Experience’s park – 250 acres of obstacles and tricky terrain designed to test the cars to the limits of their capability.

There are all levels of obstacle here and instructors carefully talk you through each one before you tackle it.

The fact I’ve done a small amount of off-roading and my “motoring journalist” moniker means Murray trusts me to tackle the centre’s two most difficult sections with no build-up whatsoever. The fool.

First up is the Dell. It’s the steepest slope the centre has. Even craning my neck to look over the bonnet I can’t see down it from the top. Erk.

Murray isn’t completely daft, though. He takes the wheel and shows me how it’s done before I’m allowed a go.

The slope is so steep that, even in low range and with hill descent control selected, you can’t come down it in first gear – the wheels will lock up and we’ll start to slide.

Instead I need to wait until I hit the big dip halfway down, then increase the speed and change up to second gear.

There are penalties if I mess it up. “If the wheels lock the car could slide sideways, flip over and roll down to the bottom,” Murray explains. “This is one where you can get hurt if you mess it up.”

Gulp. Doing exactly as Murray says, I guide the £75,000 machine over the edge and down, changing gear when he tells me.

We accelerate bumping and jolting towards the bottom, where three grazing deer amble slowly out of our way, clearly used to these strange beasts in their territory.

A trust exercise then follows, with Murray standing outside and me negotiating a rock field using only his hand signals for guidance.

Having done so well on the steep hill I’m somewhat disheartened that I don’t react in time and hit a boulder.

It only nudges the bumper, though, and no harm’s done.

Then it’s off into the wilderness. Land Rover Experience has access to more than 100 miles of off road track across 150,000 acres of forest, hill and moorland. There’s nothing quite as technically challenging as in the terrain park but disappearing up into the hill in fading afternoon light is one of the most special experiences of my time as a motoring journalist.

Land Rover Experience offers adventures from one hour through to a full day. As well as catering for corporate groups and people who’ve bought their cars they also sell vouchers that are perfect for Christmas.

I’ll certainly be pleased if someone buys me a day in the wilderness.

Prices for one hour experiences start at £110, with half days costing from £300 and full day experiences from £525. www.scotland. landroverexperience. co.uk