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Yesterday, we went out on one of our usual Sunday drives. After stopping off for a few bits and some lunch, I wanted to take Sal up to Surprise View — a beauty spot with views over the whole of Derwentwater in the Lake District.

All was going well until, on the steep hill up to the car park, I edged over to the side of the narrow road to let someone past coming down the other way. What was a tiny drainage ditch, no more than an inch deep, suddenly gave way to a massive hole and we got stuck. The front wheel that side wasn't touching the ground and we couldn't move.

We had no phone signal so I had to walk (in the rain) about ¼ mile up the very steep road to Ashness Bridge just to call the RAC.

It turns out "roadside assistance" only covers you if you've actually broken down, not just got stuck. Even though "ditched" and "stuck in mud" are two options you can choose for requiring assistance, the person on the phone was seemingly happy to leave us stranded and end the call. I had a bit of a moan so he put me through to someone else.

They charged £169 to send a tow truck out to get us. Even saying that Sal was disabled and stuck in the car it could still have taken up to 4 hours!

Luckily, about 10 minutes after I got back to the car, someone pulled up and asked if we needed help. They had a tow strap and were going to try pulling us out. They only had a small car though so someone coming down the hill in a VW Transporter offered to pull us out instead.

Because I'd left the ignition on for a little bit to clear the windows, the car wouldn't start. So a third person helped give us a jump start.

Other cars had driven past. Some people even laughing at our predicament, but these five people across three vehicles, all strangers to us and each other, combined to save the day.

How awesome is that?!

When we got back to to Keswick, I called the RAC again and said we didn't need them so could we have a refund. Surprisingly, they did it straight away with no quibbling. So that's something.