So, as always when driving off-road, make sure where your front wheels are pointing, especially before going off the top of a hill. Look out of the window, straighten the wheels and as you descend, cast your eyes down your nose and make sure that the Land Rover logo is level and facing you the right way up!

While descending to the bottom, gain confidence in the vehicle's engine braking. Both the diesel and petrol versions have good low down torque characteristics to control you at the bottom. You should not use the footbrake to slow you down for fear of transferring the weight onto the front axle. This will make the back axle go light which could cause you to slide uncontrollably off the hill sideways, risking a sideways roll.

However, if you find when driving down a steep slope, you are travelling a touch too fast, a little light braking could be used. This could happen when driving a petrol version, which has slightly less engine braking than the diesel models. Then you could slow things down a little by 'feathering' the footbrakes very carefully.

Never slam the brakes on and cause a skid through locking any of the wheels, which will throw you off balance.

On the other hand, you could be travelling down the hill too fast because you are tobogganing out of control owing to the weight of the vehicle coupled with the steepness of the hill on a very slippery surface.

The wheels may not be turning fast enough causing you to lose control as you slither down on the surface.

If this happens, accelerate slightly by blipping the throttle to raise the speed of the wheels to match the speed of the vehicle. This brings back both control and steerage. Having regained some control, come back off the throttle to try slowing the vehicle up a touch.

Hopefully, the bottom of the bank has a run out, as it is imperative that you don't dig your front bumper into the ground. Pick a route to make sure that this cannot happen.

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(c)Goodwinch Limited 2006