When seeking a destination to drive to in Google Maps if you are lucky you find a pin and can access directions.
However the
pin is sometimes in the middle of a place and you can drive around not finding
the entrance even when close. I have also found it left me more than once at
least 500 metres away from where I want to go telling me I have arrived.
A few weeks ago I
was driving off the tarmac roads as in the Aljezur region there are many such
dirt roads. There are no options. Since my Tom Tom gps died I have tried to
rely on Google.
Returning
from one place back the way I came I missed the route in forest area and
realised I was going the wrong way. I stopped and put in Aljezur as a
destination. Goggle took me deeper and deeper into the forest much of which is
on steep hillsides. I was getting closer to my destination but having gone down
two quite steep slopes I found the forest road blocked by some lengths of young
trees. I could see the track ahead had not been used for some time and was
overgrown. I have walked in similar places and know they can become dead ends.
I was able
to turn the 6.3m vehicle and after about 200 metres attempted the first steep
slope back. As I feared, the vehicle could not make it on the loose surface. I
did not try much more as I could see that a wheel could just dig a hole for
itself. It was one hour before sunset and the only consolation was that I had
shelter and a cooker. I called the insurance rescue service and after a few
discussions they told me a tow truck would come from Lagos. I had already said
that it would need 4 x 4 to help me.
I tried to
make a hot drink but the gas bottle was just empty and I could not access the
locker to change the bottle as it was too close to the bank. The vehicle was
also at a very uncomfortable angle.
Time passed
and I had walked back to a junction of a few forest roads in the light of the
full moon that night. I gave a pinned location to the rescue driver and he told
me he was already close by in a small village but was told not to enter the
forest with that vehicle. So why did they send him?
By midnight
I could see that nothing would happen until Sunday morning. In the morning I
was told that the insurance did not cover rescue because I was off tarmac
roads. So Google had put me in a difficult and expensive situation.
I called my
friend Pedro who also has a camper and he contacted someone from Odeceixe who
had pulled him from sand near a beach one time.
Pedro
organised for him to come to me but he also got lost in the forest as so many
“roads” which Google try to send you on were not possible. Google tried to send
me up really steep fire brakes in the forest which would be hard even to hike
up.
Eventually
we connected and came back to my vehicle. The
old Misubishi 4 x 4 pickup is equipped to tow. He placed the pickup
ahead of my camper and connected his winch cable to the ring at the front, and
took up the slack, stating to pull me forward with me giving gentle power to
the wheels.
It was not
too hard once we started to move to go slowly up the two slopes. At the top we
stopped and did the necessary to pay . Being Sunday was an extra charge and I
had to pay for an extra hour when he could not locate me because Google maps
tried also to take him to so many dead ends and impossible places. I asked how
to navigate out of the forest. He said to follow him.
It was not
so easy knowing which way to go a couple of times, and once he told me to wait
while he went ahead to check if it was possible to proceed.
One tree
was partly blocking the forest road so he connected his winch to the tree to
drag it clear. Together we manged to push the tree off the track.
Finally we
reached a couple of houses and then tarmac roads again. I arrived “home” after
13.00 after a really unexpected overnight adventure.
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