One question: why do people travel to South America when they want their 4WD get stuck? It works just fine if you drive around Scotland!
Tom, the webmaster of the Scottish Highland-Four-Wheel-Drive-Club (www.highland4wheeldriveclub.co.uk) gave me a recommendation:
“…the Corrieyairack Pass, which is an old military road running from Laggan (off the A9 near Newtonmore) to Fort Augustus (…). The track is stoney and mostly in good condition, the hardest bit is the climb to the summit which can be badly eroded by water. The track offers excellent offroading with spectactular views from 770 metres altitude. The track starts at OS GB Grid Reference NN 5000 9532 and ends at approx NH 3687 0526.”

Alright then, off we go! In the small village of Laggan I asked at the local newsagent’s for the concrete directions. And I slightly misunderstood the shop assistant. After some miles driving there was the bridge she had told me about. And next to it the small path leading away from the paved road. I was a bit surprised that this way was rather difficult to drive (did she not say that at the beginning it was easy?). Loads of water, mud and not really firm ground. But then this is off-roading and if maybe the Scottish have different ideas and another measurement about what “difficult tracks” are. I crossed a couple of smaller rivers which worked just fine. But then while crossing a really small one I was a bit too slow. The LandCruiser stopped cruising. Even with the differential locks in place it did not move one slight bit. And once again, it leaned over but just too many degrees to feel comfortable.

But no problem, I had Jack-all high-lift and some sand-ladders made of strong aluminium. Well, the ground was really soft, I discovered. Instead of lifting up the car, the high-lift got stuck itself. It was like the ground would want to eat it. I could not get it out again. Only when using the winch in a miserable ankle, I got the high-lift out. Slightly bent though, but still working. This time I used a sand-ladder to get some stable ground for the lift. And it worked. The car’s front wheel was in the air and I could place the other sand-ladder under it. Of course I had to dig a bit with my hands in order to get all the mud away (I should do some shopping). And of course by now I was standing in the water of the river, but at that point I really did not care much. But then the high-lift got blocked. It would not lower itself anymore. And it had half a car of weight on it. You cannot just kick it away. Finally I got it free using the hammer. Once again I tried to get out, now with the sand-ladders which should provide some grip. Not enough, I realized. Alright then, I could not get it out on my own. And I was in the Scottish Highlands, a place with as many people living on a square kilometre as in the Sahara

I walked a bit and finally reached a farm-house. The landlady gladly informed me that they would have a tractor, but that her husband, Angus, was away and I would need him to help. Maybe he was at the neighbours, but there nobody picked up the phone. I walked over to the neighbours (maybe for 20 minutes) but that was fine, since it did not rain as hard as before. Arriving there I met another landlady but no Angus. She kindly offered me her Peugeot 206 to get my car out, but that would not work since the Peugeot is not heavy enough. A Land-Rover was needed at least, better a tractor.

So I returned to the first farm – and then my luck turned! Suddenly a man on a Squad arrived and told me he would bring me to my car to see how bad it was (he did not believe me that it was bad). Arriving there, Angus’ son arrived with his mountain-bike. He was quite impressed on how I had managed to park the car in a small river. Later Angus himself arrived with the tractor. We towed the cable of my winch to the tractor and then everything went smoothly. Angus gave me “tumbs up” and before I could say “thank you” he had left the scenery of crime. The Squad-man (the husband of the lady with the Peugeot 206) told me that in order to reach the pass I would need to cross the bridge and then follow the small way.

That night I was really not willing to sleep in the roof tent. I drove back to Laggan and found an excellent little hotel (http://www.laggancountryhotel.co.uk) with beautiful rooms and, as I found in the morning, a stunning view. The owner himself welcomed me at 9.30pm and cooked some delicious dinner. When going to bed I was ready to give another try on the next day!