Hi Duggie
You could be right, the closest bitumen to us is about 300 km's away. My car has 198k+ on the clock, and less than 10k of that is bitumen, mind you, I have been through plenty of bearings and seals, a couple of sets of wishbones and CV's, new tie rods and a few other bits and pieces here and there.
The last time I got bogged I had to use long planks beside the car, a high lift into the tyre rims, and lift out then other planks in under the wheels, all in all about 4 hours and I was out. I thought I knew the road, I did not know that someone else had dug themselves out and not filled the hole in.
Regards
Tjupurula