What happens on a 4×4 Off-Road Driving Experience? Our beginner’s guide…

So you can drive, but can you off-road? Even if you have a 4×4 yourself, driving on tracks and trails is so different to being on the smooth tarmac roads.

4×4 off road driving experiences let you leave the urban environment behind and try proper off roading in the countryside. But what happens on your experience? What sort of obstacles will you be tackling and how hard is it?

Here’s our guide to what happens when you go on a 4×4 driving experience:

Firstly and most importantly, before any driving there will be an introductory briefing from the expert instructors to ensure everyone will get the most out of the experience – and safely of course! 

The briefing will cover:

·      Key features of your chosen vehicle type

·      Off-road course routes e.g. deep water, steep inclines, rock or forest driving

·      Introduction to off-road driving techniques

Your turn to drive the 4×4

Then comes your chance to get behind the wheel, with one-to-one guidance from your experienced instructor who will be sitting in the front passenger seat to offer tips and techniques to approach different types of terrain. 

Don’t worry if you have never ventured off-road before. When this blogger did an off-road experience it was a first for us too!

To start, you have a little drive around to get used to handling a larger, heavier car on the flat and to see how it performs. There was plenty of loose gravel and – thanks to the British weather – ever-present mud to deal with!

Tackling off road obstacles

Soon we arrived at some more challenging parts of the course and this is where it gets really fun! 

You soon learn that the best way to approach each obstacle is to trust in your instructor and the car – and you will be amazed at what you can drive through. 

Take deep water for example. It came lapping up almost to the top of the doors and is enough to drown even a 4×4 if you get it wrong. Definitely one to listen carefully to the expert at your side and you will sail through – almost literally! 

Next came the steep inclines in the forest trail. From the driving seat, the angle looked to be about 45 degrees and not the sort of thing you would normally even want to walk up or down. Add to that damp and slippery bedrock, plus tree roots and a garnish of wet leaves, then you do wonder for a moment if your instructor has lost their mind. 

Useful tips on driving a 4×4 on this extreme rough terrain included keeping fingers and thumbs on the outside of the steering wheel – to avoid any chance of them getting broken! 

And sure enough, if you trust the vehicle (especially when driving down steep slopes) you will be astonished at their off-road capability.

Finally, to round off our trip around the forest trail was some log crawling – in other experiences this might be rock crawling. Faced with large, solid, uneven, damp and slippery obstacles, once again you might question your instructor’s sanity! 

But by now hopefully your confidence in your vehicle and in your own ability suggests that if you approach slowly but surely, then the car will deal successfully with what looks like another impossible challenge.

How does it feel when you’ve done your 4×4 drive?

It was a really fun day exploring the great British outdoors in an amazing 4×4. We were hugely impressed by its capabilities and it was great to pick up some valuable tips and techniques for off-road driving in any vehicle. 

In addition, refreshments were included throughout the day which ended with a short debrief and handing out of certificates. Whilst facilities and the programme might vary from venue to venue, you’re sure to learn a lot whilst at the wheel.

Nice and dry inside the car!

And best of all – despite all the water and mud, you stay completely warm and dry, so it doesn’t matter what the forecast is, your 4×4 driving session is pretty much guaranteed to go ahead come rain or shine! 

For all the venues and off-road driving experience options, check out Into The Blue’s website dedicated to all things off road, at venues around the country here.

Featured image : RichardHemingway@Unsplash