Well, for anyone wanting to know the full story about our 'UK trip return', here it is. I'll try to keep it short but I'm sure it'll be a big read. Just too many things to tell.

As you know, we took a 3-day holiday with me, Joke and Lene (3 months old) to go and have the car checked out. Just some minor aesthetic stuff really and some reliability precautions, but the thing was to spend Joke's final 3 days of maternity leave. Took off the sunday morning, drove up to Barnacle's place, up to Nigel's, down to Hereford to spend the night. Monday morning off to Joe's and left in the (very interesting) courtesy car. Plenty of funny noises it produced! Also the first long public drive in a RHD car, but got used to it within 2 miles. Joke never got used to it. Special moment was: 4th gear up a hill, not really getting anywhere, flicking back to 3rd yelling "poweeeeerrrrr" only to have to switch back to second because we were still going slower and slower. Made Joke chuckle.

Anyway... spent a wonderful time with Sloggs, Joe and his lovely half Claire with the Jaffa-cake sun, Nigel and us in an all-you-can-eat Chinese in Worcester. Next day we had planned to pick the car up around 14:00. When we arrived Joe was still working on it. He DID have a long list and he did get stuck in the snow in the morning. After some final checks, oil,... we set off, on to the Eurotunnel!

Things went pretty smooth, took the M25,... and got totally stuck in a traffic jam for an hour or 3 because a truck or bus had fallen off its wheels and blocked two lanes. Or so we were told later, because we didn't have a radio. Well we DID have one... in the boot as I asked Joe to take all the stuff out (11-year old, many 1000's worth navigation system and CD-changer which was past its 'this is modern kit' date). We had filled up on the sunday and had already emptied the tank on our drive, so we were running low on fuel and had to fill it up - only one stripe of fuel left we went off the M25 on junction 13 or 12 because there should be a Q8 nearby. We saw the chaos on the secondary roads: it was just FILLED with cars waiting to get on the motorway. All roads going to the roundabout near the M25 has multi-mile traffic jams. The Q8 was nowhere to be found, but luckily there was a Total nearby. Filled it to the brim and took off again. The other direction, because we knew we would be facing hours and hours of traffic. Roads were still fine, so we decided to take some A & B roads to try and get us a junction or 2 further onto the m25.

This is when the snow started doing its thing: covering the roads. We spent an hour driving to the next junctions but they were either closed by the police or had miles of traffic just sitting still waiting to get further. Around junction 8 our trip came to a total stop. We sat in a traffic jam for another 4-5 hours on Brighton Road. I started trying to call some hotels / B&B's that were on the TomTom but either they didn't pick up the phone or they were 'full'. Calling wasn't easy either: whenever I tried calling a landline, most of the number were refused by my network and I used Joke's phone. Which we didn't have a charger for and was beeping it needed juice. So Sloggs was called to the rescue and he called a good 40 places for us. But no help. Spending the night in the car with Lene wasn't an option (it's not healthy for a baby to spend 24 hours in a maxi cosi + we didn't have enough food to get us through the night) and also I didn't know how much fuel the car would use running on idle. [Barnacle would later tell me 0,4 litres per hour and it proved to be indeed very frugal during our further adventure.] So not only did we just HAVE to find a place to stay, we also needed to find a place where we could go out and get some food for Lene. We did have some reserve but those were some packages we had with us from a different situation with 'emergency food' for Lene, which she definately doesn't like - she just drinks a bit and starts crying and refuses to have more. We started rationing Lene's food by mixing not 5 but 3 spoons of powder with the water. Which helped a bit, but she needed more frequent feedings (started crying even hour and a half). Coming to a roundabout (yes, every half hour we would move forward a good 20 meters) we decided to turn back and start driving north, where we had seen a road to a place "Walton on the Hill". They had better just called it "on the Hill" because there's wasn't much Walton around. No hotels or B&B's and it looked pretty deserted. Either the people hadn't been able to get home either or it was a holiday park / ghost town / ... whatever. No petrol stations on the GPS, no stores, pharmacies,... nearby to get Lene some food.

The nearest place that was marked a bit larger on our TomTom was 'Leatherhead' so we decided to continue our trip. Unfortunately the roads got worse and worse. I'm not a purple guy on the road, but I can tell you with your girlfriend and your 3 months old baby in the back you err on the very very safe side and every centimeter of sliding will make your heart jump out of your chest. We had lots of centimeters of sliding. Any slight downhill I had to balance between speed and control. The slightest dab on the brakes caused the ABS to kick in and had us lose control. The water jets also froze up, despite them being filled with -20° windscreen spray. I decided it was time to stop hoping to get to Leatherhead - when we went through a place called 'Headley' we saw roads that were closed off and not many houses. At this point I called the police after this was recommended to me through the many SMS's we got. Continuing was irresponsible. No cars to help us, side of the road was just trees and hedges. The operator was very friendly when I explained the situation: he said 'sorry there is no-one available in the area you will have to make your own way'. Thanks a lot Emergency Line / option 'Police' / operator for not even making the effort of forwarding our call for help! So we continued, sliding downhills and trying to get up them with a little run (and seemingly past some houses that we couldn't see from the road but we saw them the day after). No lighting, no nothing, just the reknown Coupe headlights (of which one had now failed) lighting the road and snow just a couple of meters in front of us. It took us probably 15 minutes to drive 600 meters and came to a car park. 'Cock Inn'. Nobody there. Closed. By then it was 01:20. A guy in a Land Rover was also preparing to spend the night in the carpark. It being a Land Rover he explained there was no way of us getting any further. There were cars just 200 meters further down a hill that were trying to get up. He said not to try going down as we would just slide into the cars standing there. The guy having a 4x4 and not continuing made me look around and saw the actual state of the place we were in: 30 centimeters of snow in the carpark, which had fallen from the skies in the last 4 hours.

With my phone charged again I gave it to Joke and asked for her phone and ventured out. Cold as if hell already froze over, minus 13 with a good chilly gust of wind it felt colder than the -35 I once was in. Just to go and look if there were any houses around. And: there were. Quite a few actually! But no lights and nobody opened the door. Opposite the Cock Inn was a place 'The Old School House'. Well lit, dancing lights. A telly! I hopped across the street and a guy opened. I explained our situation and he said "well I couldn't say no with a 3-month old baby - just come in we have a spare room to spend the night". Off to get Joke and the baby. Had a little chat with the guy (ncie tribal on his neck!) who was great and very friendly. Tired after having spent 13 and a half hours in the car, most of it just standing still we just fell asleep after a good cup of tea.

Next morning, woke up, major headache but generally in a good mood to start driving again and go home. We saw no snow was falling anymore. The guy wasn't awake yet so we took off after I knocked on his bedroom door to thank him, left a £10 note and on we went.

When we turned on to the road it was pretty clear things didn't get much better, but at least we could see the houses. Nobody was on the streets, nobody in the houses, we seemed to have picked an awful place to be in. We tried to continue to Leatherhead but after a 40 minute drive [I later did this on foot to get to Pete in just 10 minutes] we got stuck at the bottom of a hill... facing another hill. We HAD passed like 20 cars. Deserted or accidented. Another phonecall to some people and they said Leatherhead was only a mile or so from where we were. A quick check on the GPS proved Leatherhead to be 3,5 miles away which means almost 3 hours to get there and back on foot. Not an option. We sat at the side of the road and were joined by two other cars. They couldn't get up the hill either. We tried a couple of times, but we just slid back. Again, decided it was 'time to stick'. Having people around wasn't much help - the only thing we needed was to get to a place to get Lene some food. We had 3 hours to go before we'd run out. Even if we took place in one of their cars, it probably just meant getting stuck further down the road with a different car that didn't have our stuff in it + our car was in the middle of the road. To be honest, they weren't very helpful. They even risked an accident to have a long run and try to get over the hill. Resulting in someone who got an inch from our side mirrors so I decided to just park the car between two other cars that had been abandoned there to protect us. Not too early as some 20-year old crazy in a crappy dented car came spinning down the hill, went round 3 times and ended up where we had been standing just seconds before. I called the police again and luckily this guy was a bit more friendly. He promised someone would get back to us, but he couldn't say when because the main roads were gridlocked and the smaller roads were just ice. He asked what car we were in because we seemed to have got pretty far and he would definately not get any normal car in that area. But there seemed to be some farmers up the hill (to be honest, I had been in total contentration during the nasty drive down the hill on what later turned out to be just pure ice under a thin layer of snowy dust) so hadn't even seen the farms and houses further up the hill. In any way, having seen the car spinning down the hill I wouldn't leave Joke and Lene alone in the car as I didn't want to come back to see them hit by an idiot storming down the hill 'having a good run up for the next one'. And as they say 'never leave the car'. Another car came tumbling down the hill and ended up almost smashing into another one (millimeters!). We waited for another hours. The only 4x4 that came blazing past didn't stop when we honked.

After another wait, PeteP told us that he was on his way to come and get us! In his Punto!!!! Just a half hour or so later I got a phonecall from the police that they were on their way and to please wait by the car. Going up the hill on foot would expose us to danger. From the sound, I suppose they already had a few incidents with people on foot trying to get somewhere being hit by sliding cars. They said some farmers were informed to come and check us out.

A good 40 minutes or so later someone in a 4x4 arrived, probably a local farmer. I asked him to just stand by for a few minutes and as I spoke to him, the police arrived in a Discovery. AND Nigel called at the same time, saying the owners of the Cock Inn were also informed and would be having us if needed and could come and get us all in a 4x4. I told this to the police and asked them to get us to the Cock Inn as they were prepared there and if they would please try and get some food for Lene. No problem, the Cock Inn was only a mile away - we had taken 40 minutes through the snow! Off we went, we took ALL of our stuff out of the car as they said it was so bad that they'd expected us to be there for a couple of days. The local guy in his 4x4 took us, the police took our stuff. Turned out the police had lent the Discovery from a local guy as well, as they got stuck themselves trying to get to us!

So... finally we arrived at the pub (taking just 10 minutes in the 4x4) and just as we got there and ordered 2 hot chocolates, Pete left a message saying he was at our car. I took off to find him, the police took off with instructions on which food to get for Lene. I just walked 7 minutes to the car. By that time, it seemed like the farmers started to come to life. They were getting shovels out and 4x4's were starting to move around in the village. Presumably they were all called in to help stranded people. When I was sliding down the hill on foot... what was coming up? It was Pete in his Punto, facing the worst weather but having no problem coming up the hill with his skinny tyres. Amazing sight. There just had to be a big hug!!! Santa!!!! Going up though, we were faced by a Honda being pulled by a farmer in a not-so-very-smart way. They didn't pre-tension the rope and the Honda ended up being pulled into another 4x4 that was standing there. After another pull the Honda was freed. The 4x4 left and... the Honda got stuck again. Me and Pete pushed it further up the hill. Only to have the Punto just take off again and continue its way. Cracking snowplough!

With the Punto to the pub, to warm Pete up as well. A good coffee. My hot chocolate. Pete even had food for Lene, which we used later!! And some food for us as he didn't know if we would have anything when he left for his 30-mile trip! We took a good hour and immediately forgot what we went through. It was past 2 a clock then and Lene just loved Pete - she smiled as soon as she saw him. Such a warming sight. Right after 2, we went to the car on foot. Took us a good 12-15 minutes. A few cars were being towed by 4x4's up the hill. Once we got to the car, I was able to drive it out the 'parking space' and turn it around. Or more slide it around. Tried some branches below the wheels, dirt, leaves,... didn't help. Then a Renault Espace came down the hill and slid to a halt as well. Out came 7 people. After some pushing, reversing, taking a good run, it got up. Pete took an attempt in the Coupe again, but it was the 'final attempt' with a desperate only slightly risky drive backwards and another run up the hill that did it. With quite a few farmers in 4x4's and some spinning recovery cars (a smart recovery assistance went into the hedge even with ESP on!) the snow was starting to wear off (although it just revealed the ice underneath). Well... a good hour after we left the pub we finally got up the hill.

Another Coke in the pub. The Police arrived from Leatherhead, also with food for Lene (a box of powder!) - they had taken 2-3 hours to get there and back in a Discovery! Around half past three we left the pub. We really wanted to go home and they had told us the roads were pretty much driveable because of the 4x4's that had been running up and down them.

If you think that's the end of the story, think again. We got onto the M25, M26, then M20... and had to sit in the traffic jam caused by what we were told was 'operation stack'. Reading about it on the internet that is just the most stupid attempt known to man to try and stop gridlock. In fact, what they do is just block off the motorway. So, instead of having gridlock in one area, they CAUSE gridlock on (at that time) 8 miles of the M20 and all surrounding roads. And then... they just let you get ON the M20 again. We sat in traffic for another 3-4 hours. Literally thousands of trucks were sitting in the first and second lane. Many had given up and stopped for the night at the side of the road. We... were determined to get to the Eurotunnel. IF we could make it before 19:30 we wouldn't have to pay full price for the crossing. We would be within the 24 hours of our normal booking.

We arrived at the Eurotunnel payment machine at 19:28. £ 16 was added to our original ticket price. We drove onto the train and left 19:50.

When we got to France half an hour later (19:20 France, local time) we saw it wasn't much better their. But we had already been warned by Magooagain, who had been stranded in Ireland in similar conditions and waiting for his Ferry to cross the channel. We were warned, so we took it easy and decided if it was needed, we would stay in a Hotel. But we went on and on. An aunt called to say my uncle had taken 5 hours to drive 30 miles around the Ghent area due to traffic jams. We hoped they would clear up. Progress? Not really... in France the safe speed was around 50 on the motorway, in Belgium we had a stretch where we could to 70 but our average speed ended up to be just 35 mph. So our last 110 mile trip took us well over 3 hours and we arrived at our place just before midnight.

... and can I mention that if I had had a gun in the car I would have shot every single stupid idiot crazy truck driver that thinks he is invulnerable - just SO many of them shot by us (and all other 'normal' cars on the slow lane doing 20 mph) at their regular limited 55mph. They are just crazy. Okay, they will probably dig into the snow a bit deeper and with 18 wheels under their fat arse will probably grip better on ice, but I can tell you that the gust of wind they cause are all that's needed to get a car sliding as we found out personally! For normal cars, getting on the second lane was IMPOSSIBLE as it was covered in 5 centimeter snow. At least the first lane had two rows of icy tarmac that didn't throw you off course or send your car up aquaplaning on the snow. They are lunatics - especially the probably 20 or so Polish ones that also had the guts to honk and even drive partly on the first lane - probably 'just to give us a scare'. JUST SHOOT THEM. Them doing 55 when all the other traffic is doing 20 AND sliding around on the first lane is proportionally just as stupid as us passing them at 180 mph with just half a meter to spare. If they find it funny to then also have a tyre on the lane WE are in, that is just trying to murder someone.



So... that was the story of what we went through. It's not that we were ever in any immediate actual danger, but we were in situations that could have turned worse just every other second - running out of food for Lene, being at least 2 hours away from the nearest shop that had baby food, having to abandon the car and facing the cold not being an option, getting stuck, not finding any immediate help,... I have found out that with a kid you are facing more than one problem. By accident (christmas present) we had a quality extreme weather sleeping bag in the boot, but a baby just needs 18°C all over its body. It needs food. It needs YOU. So you NEED the car to keep running, you NEED food to even just keep the baby happy - if it starts to cry it's hungry and there's just no way to stop it. Otherwise, sure as hell we would have left the car behind and walked however long it took to find a place to stay. Now, you just sit in the car, not risking to go further than 500 meters away. In this case, I think it was the smart choice. Driving back through the roads we had driven the day before, we COULD see houses from a distance, driving back up the hill to the cock in, there were some houses a few tens of meters from the road, having been invisible from the road. And if we would have got up the hill the other side, we might have found a flatter piece of road. But the guy that came from that direction said it was worse there. We could have ended up being hit head-on by a car that came spinning down the hill. We think we made the right decisions and not took ANY chance any more once we ground to a halt. The roads were crazy, the last miles had been just ice and the only cars we saw that came out got hit by other cars or ended up hitting hedges, trees and other cars. There's no way you're going to risk that with a baby on board. And there's no way you're going to let your missus and baby out of the car, run the risk of crashing the car somewhere in a ditch, being unable to get out, or let the baby in, or maybe you break something and it won't start or won't be able to run long enough to keep you warm.

I've experienced how people on here have become friends over the years, and how people that were just names and signatures on a forum became rescuers, were texting just to keep the spirits up, were texting that if all else failed they would be there in the evening with whatever means were necessary to get us out. I've seen who is probably the oldest member here come up to us with just a Punto and drive where 4x4's were having trouble. Help to push the car up the hill and help us to get home, warm and safe. When we were sitting waiting for the train I took the Forum up on the phone and read to Joke what was being written on here. You guys are amazing.

PS - me AND Joke (!) are looking forward to the meeting in March.

EPIC!

So glad you guys ultimately made the right decisions and got home safely. Kudos to this place [forum] and it's people... some of the names might have changed over the years since its beginnings, but the ethos and spirit remain the same. Something magical in this community and all from sharing a car... figure that out?!

Glad I could help, even in a small way. I actually felt helpless , even whilst able to assist as little as I could. Looking at maps, juggling traffic reports on various sites (so many of them dotted over the part of the map you were in!!), searching and calling on B&B's, hotels and hostels into the very late hours and sitting worrying about what the hell to do next! You were blind of the information I was poring over and I of your physical plight! An interesting exercise in communication my man!

...and boy did you make the right choice... its still mayhem in that area!

Great to see you and Joke again too, and meet Lene for the first time, what a cutie.

Until next time (I won't leave it as long again!).
Sloggs

What a great write up Klass and wow what an adventure!
Glad everyone did their bit to help and a big well done to Pete! Looking forward to seeing you and the family in March.... snow free

If it doesn't snow...

that is such a story KJ...

fantastic wright up!!!!!

see you in March mate!

I'm so pleased that everything turned out OK in the end. You said that you weren't in any real danger - I'm not so sure. People die in their cars, especially the very young or the very old.

However, in my opinion, the true hero of all of this is technology.

Without mobile phones or the internet, you would probably still be in Headley.

I used Google Earth to find the road you were on, then tracked east to find Headley village, then dropped into "StreetView" to "drive" down the main street of the village, which was when I spotted the Cock Inn and an advertising board outside, which showed their phone number. One phone call later and the landlady was at the ready to come and get you, but she was beaten to it by the police and the local farmers.

People have whinged about the invasion of privacy that Google streetview poses, but in this instance, it helped out immensely.

Also, the medium of this forum was brilliant in keeping everyone informed and allowing people to help out where they could.

Next - I'm SO impressed with the police - driving for 3+ hours to deliver baby food for Lene. They could so easily have said that there were "more deserving" emergencies, but they chose to "serve and protect" as they swore they would when they joined up.

And finally - well done to PeteP for getting there in a trusty Punto diseasel - it just goes to show that its not all down to your equipment - its how you use it. Many 4x4 owners must have been truly perplexed at how a little FWD hatch had managed to go where their expensive Chelsea tractors had failed.

Great story that perfectly illustrates the community spirit of this forum.

i vote that peteP gets a hero award from FCCUK!

pete, when you read this, your invited to the resturant for a meal on me for what you did mate!

Corrected that for you Marco - I'll be there - make my steak a large one

Everyone - congratulations & good result

hahaha

do you thik im made of money??

Nigel - didn't realise you did it that way! So cool!

Great story and I'm glad all got back safe.

Pat on the back to everyone who helped out, what a fantastic forum this is!

A crazy story.

Im glad all involved came out of it fine and in good spirits!

I can only hope that this experience hasnt jaded your first major outing in the coupe Klaas and apologies i wasnt nearer otherwise i would have come out to help as well!

Well done everyone.This could have been a very different story in those conditions.
We are home also now,after getting off the boat from Ireland last night,we found over 40 cm of snow in Cherbourg.
It was total madness,the Police had stopped all lorry's and a single lane got us into an area on the outskirts of town where we saw a sign for a hotel.We took the road to it and just drove straight into 40cm of snow. My front wheel drive and trailor with a coupe on was going nowhere.There where cars and lorry's abandoned everywhere.
Spent the night in the hotel,then dug myself out this morning.I had to reverse out the way i went in.The 1 hour journey onwards to Caan took over 3 hours. I had to be pulled up hill by a Toyota land cruiser 3 times. (next on my list of vehicles). When we got to Caan the roads were clear until after 700 klms i was just 4 miles from home and had to go down small lanes with thick snow .Any way i have slipped and skidded home. Time for a beer.

Well done Joe.

Welcome home as well Joe. And thanks for your phonecalls!

If anything, pfoe, it has shown me how incredible the Coupe is. A well maintained car will just sit there and go on forever. Really impressed by how little fuel it used just sitting still with all systems active. Okay, the windscreen spray froze up (still no joy with the headlamp 'sprinklers'), the remote locking / door lock pumps can't seem to generate enough force to unlock the doors and one of the headlights failed. But... cracking car and so nice to be in: warm, silent, no funny things, smoke, no freezing brakes,... We would have died just from sore backs in the Brera!

Wow, that's some hard times in the Coupe there Kayjey!

Amazingly just 100 miles due West and we have the slightest sprinkling of snow. It's cold, but roads are totally clear.

Always good to hear a happy ending

P.S. Glad you got back too Joe, another epic voyage!

Quite an adventure KJ, but good to hear you 3 got home safe!

In the years I've had a coupe I've spoken to quite a few people that didn't trust it enough to take it on a long journey. I never understood that, the coupe is a sublime car to make long trips in. It's been very reliable in the years I've owned it. That is, it never actually left me stranded (just twice with a flat battery, but that was just a failing battery). It cost me enough in preventive maintainance, but the car will reward you for that! Good to hear it still lives up to that And by the way, that's also the first headlight bulb that went in about 7 years time!

It's been a cracking car Jurgen. Excellent and after the oil change (400 miles) - zero oil consumption.

My requests to Joe for some fluid changes (transmission etc) has improved it even more. Also one of the dashboard lights failed but that's fixed already. And the K&N 57i cone filter is now gone again. Two days of sucking was enough. I can now hear the smooth 5-cylinder noise again! Happy chappy!

PS - want you radio back?

Seems I missed an epic adventure whilst out of the country, otherwise I might have come along with Santa Pete to help. Glad you, Joke and Lene all got back in one piece hopefully none the worse for wear. Got any pics?

Yes, this is a picture from our car of the landscape around us...

Image from our car

Glad you all got back safely Klaas.
See you at Spa hopefully

Great to hear it all came together in the end. A Cock Inn meet would have my name on it.

Spirito di Punto!

Theresa should appreciate the Cock Inn .........

Reminds me of...

I read that completely wrong.