Last night i found a definition of freedom. I'm sure there are other definitions, some of which probably do the term more justice than mine. However, i would like to share my experience with you anyway. I hope you enjoy my story. Last night i was running low on fuel. The nearest 24 hour petrol station is 25 miles away. After deciding i could just make it, me and my friend set off on our mini mission to get petrol!

We arrived in Porthmadog, empty, not a soul around (tourist towns turn into ghost towns in the winter around here) after refuelling, my mate said "fancy a quick spin down to Black rock sands?" to which i said "go on then"

Some of you may recognize this place, it was used by EVO magazine to do the group shot of the ecoty, a year or 2 ago. We came to a narrow opening between 2 sand dunes leading onto the beach. It was amazing! No cars, no people, no dogs, no cops, no bad weather, no nothing, just miles and miles of deserted dark empty loneliness. It was like driving on the moon, the beach was so flat, even with full beam on, you could only see around 20 ft in front as there was nothing to reflect the light back. I stopped the car and switched off. I got out, it was warm, the air was still, there was no breeze, just the comforting sound of gentle waves softly lapping the beach a few yards away. There were no lights for miles, only the distant glimmer of street lights over the bay around 10 miles away. But above me was magic, a moonless cloudless night revealing millions of stars everywhere, horizon to horizon, stretching from land to sky to sea and beyond. With the added effect of the occasional shooting star highlighting the night sky, it was simply stunning! And the thought that you could drive as fast or as slow, straight or as bendy as you liked safely with nobody to tell you what to do, it was blissful! A complete peaceful cut off from the busy World we know, just man and machine on a dark undiscovered planet. This is Freedom.

(and for your info, i drove very slowly as the flying sand can damage the paintwork a lot easier than you think!)

I hope you enjoyed my story, after that experience, i will be sure to return there during the lonely winter months! Then the thought came to me, what an awesome place for an Abarthisti meet? 

That sounds fun! 25 miles is a huge island! I'm assuming your taste of cars has changed slightly over the last 10 years then? Jeep or Abarth hmmm....
Irony is that Abarth are Fiat and Jeep are Chrysler, Fiat bought a large part of Chrysler earlier this year did they not?! Bet you never would have guessed that 10 years ago! 

heres a recipe for disaster... sand, oil, salt and machinery

Yup, sand is evil and forms a nice abrasive paste that gets into joints, seals, and all kinds of places, causing everything to wear out incredibly quickly.  Couple that with corrosive salt water, and yuk.

When I did the Goodwin thing, we billed it as the only 'beach' in the UK where it's technically legal to drive.  I've not looked into it since, but I reckon that's still the case (excluding privately owned beaches, of course).

Edit: before anyone asks, you can't get out onto Goodwin any more.  Well, unless you find a way to charter a fleet of Chinooks...

You bunch of miserable sods.  Let the boy have his fun.

Can't really believe you've taken a new car on a beach! Pray for rain to wash all the crap off.

get something old and crappy for the beach, save your abarth for propper driving

That's my plan 

Thanks PG, i enjoyed it, the car is fine, has more damage from flying stones than sand.

It really only damages the car if you drive fast, i never went over 15 MPH in all honesty. An empty beach, would you really just drive by? There's more sand and salt on the roads in the winter here than on the blinkin beach