Crawler Paradise? Highlander RC, March 18, 2024March 18, 2024 Had it not been mentioned by a certain friend of mine, we may have completed missed this spot. To say it’s perfect, is an understatement. To those unfamiliar with the concept of RC rock crawling, it just looks like an open expanse of small patches of exposed bedrock, puddles and stunted trees. At 1:10 scale, it is a vast wilderness with difficult mountain passes, small lochans and the occasional “river” crossing. When viewed on Google maps, the area is around 35,000 square metres of crawling habitat, inside a tidy 1km circuit. Thankfully, it looks like we will be able use this spot all year round. Usually with a spot like this, it would be covered by a vast blanket of bracken in the summer months, standing several feet high, making it nearly impossible to navigate on foot, let alone with a crawler. A view to die for Its funny when you live somewhere for so long that you take the view for granted. That is until you see it from a slightly different perspective. A little bit of distance and elevation, can transform that small patch of mountain you see from the bedroom window, into a vast, sprawling mountain range that stretches as far as the eye can see. As you will see from the image above, the view is fantastic. It will be nothing short of breathtaking on a crisp, snowy day in winter, or a perfect summer’s day with wall to wall sunshine. That being said, the main disadvantage up here is the lack of cover. That small patch of trees you see in the photo, that’s it. Problems… It wouldn’t be a day out if one of us didn’t break something. Today, it was my turn. Which is unusual, because Tacticool usually always takes the crown there. It didn’t take long for my day to go to shit either. Probably about 30-45 minutes. We had noticed that there was a slightly unusual noise coming from my Hi-Rock. It was the horrible, telltale noise of gears stripping. That meant only one thing. The motor had moved… Upon closer inspection, our suspicions were correct. The motor had moved out of alignment, and the pinion gear had already started to chew through the spur gear. Never being one to call it quits so early on, we adjusted the motor in the vain hope that it would last the rest of the day. Ultimately, about 3 minutes later, the pinion gear had not only destroyed itself, and took the spur gear with it. Thankfully, it is a cheap and easy fix, and the replacement parts are en-route. Onwards & upwards And with that, the Hi-Rock became a bit of a paperweight for the remainder of the day. From then on out, any photos of it would be staged. I just couldn’t miss out on an opportunity to get some photos. At this point, the Bronco and Fury 2.0 had barely gotten started. As we continued to ascend, we saw just how awesome and varied this particular spot was. From gentle rolling “hills,” to what could be described as scale size quarries, and narrow mountain passes, the landscape kept throwing up surprises. The Quarry as we dubbed it, would be perfect for competition crawlers, or maybe even 1:18/1:24 sized rigs. The Bronco did attempt it, but with the surface being slightly damp and quite steep, it failed to find the grip it need to make it to the top. The Wee Lochans When we finally reached the “summit,” we were greeted by a handful of small bodies of water. For the foreseeable, we will call them The Wee Lochans. With multiple routes through them, they proved no match for either of the two surviving crawlers. Up here, the ground is a big softer and boggier. I’d imagine you’d need your wellies on rainy days. In the summer months, I’d imagine this little oasis will completely dry out, giving us new routes to try out. Or, they will be fed from an underground stream, and be a midge ridden nightmare. Here’s hoping for a stiff breeze on those days. At this point, we had reached a dry stane (stone) dyke that separated us from a small forest at the foot of An Suidhe. This would be the end of our scouting session, but before we headed back down, we decided to have a quick look at what was on the other side… Ruins When we first approached, we assumed it was a very weathered outcrop of fractured bedrock. Upon closer inspection, it did appeared to be man made. As to what it quite was, we didn’t really know at the time. A large, rusty metal bar with cogs on both ends, lay precariously perched above a ledge that had been built into the surround terrain. Who knows how long it has sat there for, or if it was even associated with what stood before us. I had kinda forgotten about it until this morning. I had a quick look online at a website called Canmore (https://canmore.org.uk/) and if the records on there are correct, it appears to be some kind of kiln barn. No idea what that is. After we had spent a few minutes looking around, we decided it was time to head home for something to eat, and to try and fix the Hi-Rock. But that’s a story for another day. Thank you for staying to the end! If you’ve made it this far, and are enjoying what you’ve read so far, please feel free to leave a comment below. Maybe there’s something you want to see, or know more about? Maybe even just say hello or let me know whereabouts in the world you are reading this. Tomorrow, I will be attempting to replace the chewed gears on the Hi-Rock, so come back tomorrow to find out how that goes… Post Views: 43 Days out
It’s awesome. Everytime we crossed a brow, there was an even better spot. Looking forward to it mate. It’s been a while! Reply