Alps 2013 The Movie

During our wonderful holiday Through France and up the Italian alps Rhian was filming scenes for me. I've now had time to download it all and edit into a video which is offered here for your entertainment

It starts with an introduction about our trip through France and the rest is the over landing scenes from about 4:25 in if you just want to get to Land Rover's off tarmac.


Alpine Overlanding 2013 from Andy Kendall on Vimeo.

Sorry it's only SD resolution I only have a basic Vimeo account so am limited on the file sizes I can upload. if you want to see an HD copy please get in touch. 

I would love to know what people think of it so please do leave a comment here or on Vimeo so I can learn more about what I'm doing well and what I need to think about working harder on for future video's

Quiet Thoughts and home

Our last stop in France was somewhere I had wanted to visit for a while and I felt that Katy, as an ambulance who has seen active service should visit as well it was the Thiepval Memorial in the Somme area.

The Thiepval Memorial is to the 72,337 missing British and South African men who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918 with no known grave.

My personal reason for wanting to visit was to see the inscription on the memorial to one of my ancestors Sergeant William Allison Barnett 

He was one of three brothers who went to war, one survived unscathed, one was taken prisoner and William was the unlucky one. he was recommended for the medal just 2 days before he was killed in action.

Even as we pulled up we gathered interest from visitors who understood what she was and I was really happy to be able to tell them that she had been saving lives in Croatia and she saved even more in Rwanda when she did active duty.

There is a new visitor centre and I was amazed when they printed a summary of information of Uncle Bill as he was known in our family.

The spotless nature of the war graves in France is testament to the work of the CWGC and to the people of France who maintain them in this way in partnership with them

What I had never known until I read the exhibition was that he had been killed on the first day that British Tanks had been used in action and that this day was a major offensive for the British Army.

No wonder he was lost somewhere in combat that day it must have been horrible

Thiepval is one of those places that everyone responsible for sending people to war should go.

Imagine if we sent every politician to sit and think for a day on the possible consequences

After that we needed something nice to end the day and so we stopped at a local store to pick-up some fresh produce for tea and settled down to our last night in France

Up early the next morning and some shopping on the way and then another uneventful day on the road and we were finally home by the evening of the 14th

So the trip in summary

• We met some really fabulous people, especially the Alpine rovers crew, Mike, Mike and Mandy 
• A major achievement for all of us and a set of memories to treasure
• About 50 hours driving in total across 2 weeks 
• No significant breakdowns 
• A lot of learning so we do it better and easier next time
• A sense of capability that will remain with us whenever we venture off-road in Katy again
• Some fun with some very nice people, and stories to tell  

Some Stats 

• 2020 miles round trip
• 481 Litres / 105 gallons of diesel
• 19.3 mpg on the runs and 19.4 on the mountain days (which did include road work)
• Total cost in Diesel £655 approx. I haven't taken into account all the exchange rates and charges

To end This Adventure...

I've often been asked if we've taken Katy on any adventures and I feel I can now look people in the eye and say

Yes! 

She's been over the Alps and I don't mean on the Tarmac, I mean up and down mountain tracks and it won't be the last adventure we have. Just watch this space.

Heading home in the Mountains and Onwards

Saturday. It had been a wonderful time, but it was time to say goodbye to the team we had spent the last week with and head off again on our own.

The De Frejus Tunnel had been a nightmare on the way here and we would have to face the 13 km (8.1 mi) going uphill this time so we were keen to hear about alternatives.

Mandy recommended the route through Briancon to Grenoble as being one worth considering for the views if nothing else. We had plenty of time for the route home so we decided that a gentle start would be good to calm our nerves from all the driving we'd been doing, I mean, roads have got to be simple after all the things we'd taken on. 

We waved goodbye to the Chris, Gillian, Mandy and the Mikes and set off up the valley from the camp site and up to the French border just past Claviere. From there a right towards Briancon where we stopped for a browse around the antiques market that was open. Rhian decided she had enough old things with Katy and me so we headed off again.

From Briancon the roads heads up through the Col du Lautaret (2058 m.) past some wonderful peaks with hanging glaciers. It just cried out to be admired in the sunshine so we stopped for a coffee and relaxed in the sun.

I didn't climb up I used a long lens

 

Here we stopped and took a picture of the third member of our crew, Cosgrove, who had come along to give us moral support at critical moments.

He'd hidden away a bit because of the marauding hounds (actually they were well behaved, but he may have been too tempting)

From there down to Grenoble was down, down, deeper and down until we levelled off nearer the status quo of sea level. 

With the route we had taken it was nice to have an early stop so we headed just north and selected a campsite from the Sat Nav and settled down for a nice meal and bottle of wine.  

The next day was Sunday and we planned for a long drive. In retrospect this was a wonderful idea because the number of lorries on the road was much reduced, which reduced the amount of overtaking we had to do and made for a much nicer drive. With no bad headwinds we were able to get to our cruising speed of about 65 and stay there for miles on end

We'd decided to visit the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau on our way home as it was somewhere Rhian had always hoped to visit so we picked a camp site just south of there in the Fontainebleau forest which was really nice and a good place to spend a quite night

Apart from the nice door and library the Palace did not live up to expectations as it was expensive, noisy, busy and frankly could have done with a good clean so we were soon on our way again north to our last planned stop of the trip... 

Day 6 on the mountains Lac du Mont Cenis to Gran Bosco

A cold morning after another rainy night, but the day did look better so We started with a brief trip over the reservoir at the end of the lake to get some breakfast at one of the excellent cafes overlooking the reservoir,

Expresso & Croque-monsieur was welcome after a cold evening / night and  and then up into France for a look-see/shopping trip.

The next stop was one of the most impressive forts on the trip. Good drive back towards our list nights campsite, and then Mike, Chris, Rhian and I went for a stiff walk up the hill whilst German Mike went to check what would be our last green lane of the trip for suitability as the guys were aware of some rocks that needed to be climbed over.

Fort de Variselle was truly stunning with multiple levels and rooms to explore once you had navigated the drawbridge which was some very flimsy looking beams in my opinion.

On our return German Mike had returned and declared that the trip was probably ok for Chris and Gillian, but we were simply not going to make it over the rocks on the track without removing some of Katy’s underside.

So the party was split and we headed off with Mike and Mandy. Once they had been spotted as having made it past the obstacle we went to do the old Roman road they call Jurassic from the other end to meet the rest of the team for lunch. A real cracking route and a real highlight of the trip even if we only did part of it, and took more video on that run than pictures so you will need to wait for the video if you want to see more of it than I have here

We stopped on the way back for a couple of pictures

and whilst we did Mandy located some really nice wild strawberries

.
Then back through Susa and up the hill where we passed a personal milestone for Katy 150,000 miles on the clock. As I've noted before this mileage may not be real and she may well have done about 50,000 miles less than this figure

We then went to Fort Excilles on the way back to the campsite as it was on-route and enjoyed the lifts up rather than the long walk up the old roadway, It’s probably best if I don’t mention who locked who into the loo or the castle.. The guilty know who they are.

A few pictures of some obscure parts of the castle

Like many old buildings the lime mortar was being redeposited

One thing they had done really well was these shadow graphics. this one showed the Alpini's practicing rope work on the mountains

And this one their emblem, the Eagles soaring

Back then to campsite where the formal bit ended and we enjoyed a meal with the group and shared thoughts and experiences.

So what more have we learned in summary

1. We can do it – a total of about 216 Km / 134 Miles on green lanes with no serious issues
2. Travelling with people who know the capabilities of people and vehicles was really useful. Mandy related how the Mikes take a close look at people on day 1 and decide from there what they are capable of. They were impressed with how well Katy coped and I take that as a compliment on the work and upgrade we've done, because she would not have made this in the state we got her 
3. Picking a tour company based on how much you trust them to look after you is important. I’d got a head-start because I’d talked to Mandy on the Land Rover Addict and Land Rover Scene forums. 
4. We have things we want to do to improve Katy, but we need to take German Mike’s advice seriously “only add things that add value, knowledge of how to cope & fix things is more useful than any gadget”. I think he was approving when I said my most important things on board were a toolkit and a Defender Haynes manual
5. We really need to look into fridges again. Chris and Mandy both gave us advice on compressor fridges and I’ll take a look into that again
6. German Mike offered advice on the relay problem I had identified and agreed that this really did look like it was allowing current to flow even when the ignition was supposed to be off. A typical Land Rover fault apparently is the ignition switch allows some current through (post trip review has identified that there is definitely something wrong with this as the switched feed is permanently live and causing battery drain) - Need to add multi-meter to the going away kit list
7. The only negative was we had in the week was 2 camp fire nights washed out – nothing anyone could have done, and not enough to spoil what had been a fantastic adventure 

Damage / Problems so far

1. None

Credits 

We had some more adventures and saw some more scenery on the way home through France which I'll add, but this was the end of our mountain adventures so I would like to thank 

1. Mandy, Mike and Mike from Alpine Rovers for looking after us and all the positive comments and advice
2. Chris and Gillian for being good company along the way and their good advice
3. Rhian for putting up with me and taking many of the pictures and all the video which I still have to cut into something watchable
4. Steve Walford back in Cardiff for the work he put in to help me get Katy ready for this first adventure
5. John. Toby and all the other people who used to own Katy, but let her move on to us so we could have these adventures
6. All the people who dropped by to marvel at the strange apparition that is Katy as we wended our way back and fore 

Meursault (Dijon) - Salbertrand (Gran Bosco)

From Dijon to Chamberey where we stopped to the night of the 2^nd was easy driving if it had not been for the ferocious headwinds and side winds which meant we had to keep the speed down and decided to stay in France for the night. 

It was very hot and we made good use of our new awning which we had fitted in preparation for nights in hot places 

The next day we were to meet our guides for the week ahead Mike and Mandy Stringer of Alpine Rovers.

Fate was to delay the meeting as there was a long delay at the Du Frejus tunnel so we spent a frustrating 2 hours moving uphill to the pay booths about 50 foot at a time. 

The Tunnel it'self was a serious downhill journey and quite warm so I'm wondering how Katy will cope with that as an uphill run. 

Eventually we were through it and a quick run, down to Salbertrand and into the camp-site where we were directed to the “special area” reserved for Alpine Rovers.

Bouncing up to us was a small red headed lady with a big beaming smile ... it took less than one second to realise that this was Mandy and we were in the right place.

Introductions were soon made and we were introduced to the group we would be with for the next few days which consisted of the Alpine Rovers crew of Mandy, Mike & German Mike and co-tourists Chris and Gillian and the “Italians” who went chasing girls in the town instead of joining us for a meal for the night

We had a really nice chat with Chris and Gillian who have a superbly outfitted Land Cruiser with Maggiolina roof tent which they have taken to some really interesting places in groups and on their own. A really nice comment from Chris when I said how we were feeling somewhat apprehensive.. “you'll be fine. I can see where we were about 5 years ago just starting out”. 

Well they all look in control to me, hope we get there one day.

What have we learned so far.

1. Mandy can talk for the Olympics, but she is as nice as she’d seemed on the forum so it’s OK J

Damage / Problems so far

1.  None

Arras to Meursault (Dijon)

It was a really hot day and we decided to try out the Route Nationale instead of the Peage in the hope we could stand having the windows open at lower speeds, but when we’d done about 3 hours and only managed about 90 miles we realised it was going to be just too slow and Peage it was to be.

Because of the heat we were regularly stopping at the rest area’s, but even so we were now averaging 50 miles per hour and starting to get somewhere. According to the Map we had there were camp-sites in the area south of Dijon which is a fine wine producing area so we headed to the Camping Grappe d’Ore at Meursault directed by the Sat Nav.

Horror.... at the gate hung a sign “Complete” (full) and we were out of luck, or so we thought.

Sitting there trying to decide what to do a nice lady (Juliette as I later found out) walked towards us and said I bet you need somewhere to stay. We agreed we did and before we could ask if she could recommend somewhere else she said they could find us a place to park because they had a rule they always tried to help... Cyclists, VW campers and especially Land Rovers.

We were shown into a wonderful secluded secure courtyard and were able to stay there for the night.

A nice meal with a truly superb Chardonnay white and the day ended very well

In the morning after a nice breakfast Juliette showed me the pictures of her and her friends out in their Land Rovers including her 1980 Series III 109, and we were told we would always be welcome.

They must have known of my prior exploits in Spain because at the gate there hung a sign...

What have we learned so far.

1. I need to do more of the heatproofing of the cab area as we were getting quite hit from the heat coming in from below.
2. We should create some net curtains for the windows and rear door to have insect free maximum ventilation when it's really hot
3. The Sat Nav is good for finding campsites, but we should have called ahead even though in this case it worked out

Damage / Problems so far

1. None