Defender Day at Eastnor

Well what a wonderful day with Liz and Huw Gulliver and Rhian Kendall where https://www.facebook.com/landroverexperienceeastnor kindly let me drive this £££ car over some very muddy and steep terrane Many thanks to Bron Harty and Stratstone Land Rover for the prize at the Welsh Festival of Land Rovers 2023 and gift that let us have such a nice day out. 

No vehicles were harmed in our adventures and my old 127 Ambulance got quite some interest in the car park

It's a totally different way of driving compared to the old Defenders, but the instructors were complimentary that we all knew how to drive off road

What they let us play with were these Hybrid vehicles. The electric parts does make an automatic a lot nicer to drive 

There was mud and wildlife

We were Off-Road honestly 

Waiting for the less capable model. We then took a steeper track 

Enjoying the view 

Getting back to the mud

Mid you we still had the best car in the car park :) 

But the new ones do look impressive when posing don't they :)

 

Children in Need 2023 Road Run

We took part in the 2023 Children in Need Road Run which rurned out to be quite an adventure on some flooded roads 

The start was at Stratstone jaguar Land Rover in Cardiff where Bronwyn had kindly laid on coffee and breackfast items and we had a lot of fun parking our older vehicles alongside some of the latest (sorry abot the oil on your nice clean tarmac) 

There was a prize for the best dressed vehicle and this was a clear winner along with Tom and Sandra 

At the alotted time we lined up ready for off, but of course it took a few more minutes to get going so sime for a few more pictures 

Then it was off to the Cardiff Rugby ground for a quick stop (made all the quicker because we had lost time in setting off and in the traffic) and then to the Tesco car park where there were already some running repairs needed on Fluffy

After that we headed out into the country for some real fun with a whole load of unplanned water features on a load of lanes that had become flooded 

I was licky that Brobwyn was following in the brand new Defender 130 and she managed to get some excellent pictures from the in car systems that show us having such fun 

This shows us plodding along at a suitably slow speed because you don't know what you will fund in the water even if it is a tarmacced lane 

And a bit later when it got a bit deeper. You can see that we are going even slower in this deeper water

And finally what the fantastic in car video systems were showing in the 130. from talking to her later on she was able to clearly see a tree stump or rock on the verge that  she needed to avoid whis was hardly visible in the near dark by that point 

I have to say that I'm very impressed with the new Defender. 

I hope thay sell well and one day I'll be able to afford one to go on my drive (second or third hand) 

Vintage Sports Club Hill Climb

 Land Rovers don't feature in this post even though we were camping with SWLRC

We went up with a bunch of our friends to Ralphs Cider Farm to see the Vintage Sports Car Club Hill Climb. 

These wonderful cars are bring ragged up a muddy field and tracks with the sole aim of having a lot of fun (OK and maybe possibly winning the event) The cars have to be between 1 January 1919 and 31 December 1930 and fully road legal as they have to get from site to site

Rolling backwards is a failure and marks the highest point you made. Many have been modified to help grip on the driving wheels, but also (and you can see this in the last car which doesn't make it passengers can bounce to add grip  

Here's a bit of video I took 

I'm no expert if you want to find out more abot the VSCC take a look ar their website https://www.vscc.co.uk/  

127 Club AGM 2023

It was fantastic to meet up with the 127 Ambulance club once again in person and what an excellent opportunity this was to compare solutions to the same problems we all have (space, cooking shelter etc)

It's was a great weekend with 2 Marshalls, 2 Locomotors and 4 Pulses and a look around a Land Rover graveyard 

Our hosts Tony and Ruth were fantastic company as usual and we had a great time despite running from awning to awning at times as the showers hit 

First in terms of age were the 2 Marshalls - Katy and in orange Dreamcatcher

Next in terms of age were the Logomotors 

And the youngest were the Pulses 

We're in discussion about a club Morocco trip .. hopefully a lot more to folllow 

Three Cliffs

It's a nice place for a spot of relaxation, but I can't help feeling it's a bit posh for us because the camp site has gone an awfully long way up market since I last stayed here

Having said that we're in the original camping field and the steep slope of it has meant some serious use of the wedges and some careful driving to get me a level bed for the night. 

I think the view from the back step is worth the hard work! 

Basking in the Sunshine

 I've been trying to get out and about with Katy in the good weather, partially to give her a good shakedown after all the work and partially to get some exercise and take some pictures now the lockdowns seem over (and just in case they come back) 

This was the week that it was scorching hot and I really enjoyed the fact that the beer was being kept cool just by the power of the sun i.e. by the solar panel setup. 

It lasted well for three days (after an initial cooling at home) and the leisure battery seemed still to have a good charge in it because the victron app reported it as fully charged when I looked at it when I got home

So here we are at Cae Glas campsite which is a lovely site in the upper Swansea valley with Cribarth (one if the hills I climbed that week) in the background

What I did realise was that I had forgotten to fit the USB charging point running from the leisure battery so that was remedied before this two day trip a couple of weeks later to the other end of the Brecon Beacons which has Pen Cerrig Calch (another hill I climbed) in the background

All in all about 40 miles and nearly 9000 ft climbed in hot weather (on foot). I'm hoping that my bodywork will be as improved as Katy's if I can keep this up

Summer in Somerset

 Shakedown cruise 1 left us with a few jobs. Most of them have been resolved and it was time for another trip away to see how we are going and to look into some history 

We selected Southfork Caravan site (mind you they do tents as well) which turned out to be a very pleasant place to stay with nice level pitches and clean and tidy facilities so it made a very nice base for the adventures. 

This is in the area of the Somerset levels and if you want to get a decent picture then you need to get a bit of height to take it from which is quite easy when you have a good ladder on the back and the roof-rack to sit on.

It's also the type of rural locations where you find a few friends to park up next to. This quick stop in a farm shop turned into a full tour of the barn to look at the Morris traveller, Morris Minor, Ford Prefect, Fordson tractors, Lister stationary engines and much more. The steak pies and lemon drizzle cake we went in for were just as nice as the selection of cars

We were actually hunting down some family history which meant a lot of visits to local churches which like this one from Martock, were often made of this lovely creamy limestone 

So we went to Ham Hill to see the quarries that it came from 

Up close (take extreme care near cliffs!) you can see the cut marks where it was taken out of the quarry to be used

It was not just used in churches it was also used in Montacute House and the surrounding villages so here we are admiring some of them Rhian says that she finally knows which stone the "Light Stone" paint that we have used on Katy is meant to camouflage her from

No more jobs to add to the list... just to complete the ones we already know about

127 club meeting

Last weekend was a wonderful meeting for the 127 130 Owners Group in Shropshire at the Farm of Tony and Ruth

There was so much fun to be had looking at the other vehicles and sharing build ideas and adventure stories that we did not leave the campsite on Saturday

Here we are parked next to Ash and Gill's excellent Locomotors - they have wonderful adventures in it as can be read on their travel blog http://loonytoone.co.uk/

When it comes to vehicles we were a bit outclassed by the Ex Military "going to the pub" vehicle which the owner found out did 4 gallons to the mile and has sat in the field since

it was a good job we spent the day on site because there was a constant stream of extra's turning up such as Heim and Mel's excellent Pulse conversion with the additional roof height - the second one of these I have seen and it's an excellent idea on a flat roofed 127

Joe's Paella was another highlight of the weekend - Yum... I went back for thirds :)

The next day we went about 9 miles to a cafe... about 1 of that on Tarmac which is excellent. Tony and Ruths "Cambulance" in the lead, Les and Jane's "Dreamcatcher" and us bringing up the rear.

Here is a selection of the pictures