Day3 Monday 23rd August
Monday morning and I am dreading the reverse, as soon as I see Paul at the yard I ask if we can get stuck into the reverse before we do anything else as I need to get it sorted. John feels the same and so off we trot across the yard to get the cones set up. We are fortunate this morning as we have plenty of room and Paul only has to move 1 trailer out of our way and we can set the course up correctly this time. I elect to go first and jump in.
Remembering what we had been told and taking it nice & slow I maneuver round the first cone and start to straighten up across the yard, the way we have it set up today is much better, pretty soon Im nearly in the bay but decide to pull forward to give me a better angle of approach. Steady back & Im drifting to the right a bit and have to check myself to decide which way to steer the wheel and I choose wrong, before I know it I need another shunt and mess that up completely so decide to pull round for another go. This time it gos in the box with 1 shunt and I am actually starting to get it, its like something in my head has registered and I feel that with more practice this will come right.
We practice the reverse for about 2 ½ hours and we are both improving steadily, not quiet there yet but coming along nicely as they say… Its time to leave it for now and get out on the road again but before we do we We have a couple of go’s at the Emergency stop which is no problem. We then head straight for the café to fill up and spend the rest of the day practicing the test routes with a few gear change exercises thrown in for good measure. I leave that evening feeling much better about the reverse and overall Im feeling confident in my driving ability so far.