Just back from a fishing trip to the Thurso in Caithness. It really is wilderness up there and to get to one of the beats we had to cross a small drainage dyke. No problem I thought but the substrate was glutinous mud about 18 inches deep and the car was well and truly stuck. Tried getting the revs up to 2500 rpm to get the diffs to lock but no joy just dug myself in deeper . Thankfully the Ghillie had his Toyota truck which helped pull me out.

For the 1 or 2 game fishers - yes very successful fishing with 5 springers to 14lb.  MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

Congrats on the springers. on getting stuck looks like you just proved the old adage, " if you want to go into the bush, take a LandRover, if you want to come back-take a Toyota" . On a serious note with 18" of mud I doubt much this side of a tractor would have any chance .m 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

Agreed Martyn and you would need a exhaust gas bag to lift you out if on your own.

Being a philistine what is a Springer fish, is it a early season Salmon ? TNT seems to work better for me than a rod.  FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

You can get stuck on a road. During my holiday around NSW it started raining out west on the red dust roads. The surface turns into soap. A few times I was standing still and the car simply slid down the slight camber. Nothing you could until the car hit the scrub to get some grip.

I spoke to a Toyota owner who had one serious vehicle with the most extreme tyres. They got stuck in the outback for 36 hours. Got out by themselves in the end.

A couple of these will wrap around the inside to the spare wheel.

Click image to enlarge

When my son moved from an Fl2 to a Mitsibishi L200 he found that the combination of diff lock and low range made a big difference when driving over the same farm tracks and digging itself out of mud. Where the FL2 scored better was on things like wet grass. He now works in Kenya where he drives a Toyota Hilux in the Highlands and hasn't seen a Landrover since he got there in January. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Thankfully the ghillie had a HiLux and proper towing straps similar to those above - interestingly nearly all the estate workers used HiLux or similar, not a Defender to be seen.

For Yorky some pictures to relish



 MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

Did you lower tyre pressures to below std road pressure?

Mud is similar to sand in that you need to keep forward momentum so by lowering tyre pressures you elongate the contact patch to keep you from digging yourself deeper into the sand/mud. Keeping Rpm at around 1700 to 2000 will allow the terrain response to channel torque to whichever corner/corners have most grip.
Unfortunately if you stop you will general dig yourself in and in a mud situation once you dig yourself into a situation where the under-body is in contact with the mud it acts like a big suction plug......only a winch or being pulled out is the realistic option. MY15
Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
Surround Camera System
InControl Apps soon to be replaced with CarPlay (WIP)
Meridian Premium Surround Sound
Digital Audio Broadcast
Timed Climate
Cruise ECO Data
Follow Me Home Reverse
Extra Features Menu
Picture In Motion
4x4i screen (WIP)
Digital Broadcast TV
Meridian Rear Media with WIFI
Factory Powered Tailgate
Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM)
Reverse Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA)
Electrochromatic Wing Mirrors (WIP)