bhclrc magazine

www.bhclrc.co.uk

THE MAGAZINE OF THE BEDS HERTS & CAMBS LAND ROVER CLUB

LAND ROVER APPROVED CLUB

Issue No. 48 - Autumn 2011

4. Griff’s Groan.4. Pete’s Ponderings.5. Heather’s Greenlanes.6. Colin’s Competition Corner.7. Welcome to our new members.8. Latest from Land Rover.10. 10th Birthday Bash.13. Whitwell Family Vehicle Trial.14. Derbyshire trip.18. Setting out the Croydon RTV.21. Croydon RTV report23. Norfolk green laning weekend.

27. LRM advert.28. A Land Rover experience.30. Thetford trip.33. The FP guide to...Irony.34. Orcadian odyssey.39. ‘Shiny Thing’ trailer hire.40. Trials results.41. Events calendar.42. Club shop.43. Discount suppliers.44. Spot the difference.45. Enamel grill badges.

Contents

Front Cover : Tenth Birthday Bash.

This Page: It’s written in the sand.

FP Autumn 2011 -

th Editors Intro

Welcome to my last edition of FP. After 10 years on the clubCommittee I’ve decided it is time for a break and to catch up withother parts of my life that I have been neglecting.

In many ways the last 10 years have flown by, but then whenyou look at what has been achieved in this club themilestones soon start adding up. The initial excitement of afew mates sitting round a coffee table thinking what a great club they could create, thenthe frustrations of trying to get membership up to the golden number of 25 so that wecould get recognition by the MSA to run competitive events, coincidentally only onemore than the number of new members listed on page 7 of this issue.

Very soon membership raced on to the 100 mark and now number 800’s membershipcard has just been issued. Recently there has been the development of the 4x4Response section and the on-going enthusiasm to find new ways to enjoy our vehiclesand each other’s company.

The club has had its tough days, in fact there was a year from hell when a disgruntledmember tested the committee, but even that episode made the club wiser andstronger, leading on to the trade-marking of the tri-colour logo which in turn opened upnegotiations with Land Rover for our ‘Approved’ status.

These were great achievements, but a club is only as good as its members, the recent10th Birthday Bash celebrations revealed what an enthusiastic family BHCLRC hasbecome and long may it be so.

I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me in the last couple of years as FourPlay editor with articles and photos, in particular to the person I would like to describeas my ‘Chief Whip’, Heather Parkinson for her constant support squeezing wordageout of the green laning community and to Hayley for keeping my spelling in check .

I’m handing over FP to the lovely BethHinchliffe, who will bring fresh blood andnew ideas to the publication to take it on tothe next level; I wish Beth the best of luckand urge you to support her in the quest ofmaking your club magazine even better.

This edition includes reports fromDerbyshire, Norfolk and Thetford greenlaning trips, the Whitwell FVT andCroydon RTV. Colin tells us about his‘Land Rover Experience’ and Heather hasan Orcadian odyssey.

There is a brief eulogy to the 10th BB butthere will be lots more to read about theweekend in the next edition.

Departing Four Play Editor

- FP Autumn 2011

Griff’s Groan, Secretary saysBoy its been busy since the last edition, I’ve been to Billing show fora long weekend on our club stand, Stoneleigh LRM show to marshalthe off road course with Charlie Thorn, where a punter nearly wiped meout on the off road course when his Disco decided to disengage thetransfer box on a hill and he decided to save his Disco rather than avoidthe marshals, close one that! I also met a very nice man doing thephotography, called Griff!

Then there was our 10th Birthday Bash this past weekend organised by our subcommittee who exceeded everyone’s expectations with a well organised and executedplan for 4x4 fun and celebrations – well done all. A full report will be in next editionwhich I feel will be a special edition. It was a great delight to see everyone working sohard in the ‘Sandcastle competition’ on a 4x4 fun weekend, just wait for the photos!

I’m not sure if this will be last report as I’m stepping down as secretary at the next AGMin November, but if it is then I would like to thank you all for putting up with me over thepast three years and wish my successor all the best. On that point don’t forget that allpositions on the committee are up renewal every year and as far as I know a fewcurrent members of the committee are not intending to stand again so come on guysand gals step up and take the club forward to the 20th Birthday Bash. GRiFF

Pete’s Pondering's, chat from the ChairA lot has happened since the last issue of Four Play, the Birthday bash was a greatsuccess and turned into what is probably the largest club event ever(congratulations and thanks to the 10BB committee for organizing a greatweekend), also a lot of members marshalled the off road course at the LandRover Max Show in August, plenty of Greenlanes trips have been going on andwe’ve had some well attended trials.

Looking at the future, we have the Autotest at Codicote in September, a great laughfor anyone who hasn’t attended one before, myself and Avo are planning a Scaletrixevening for the December Club night,plenty of track and cars to play aroundwith and raising money for Macmillan,and finally we have the club AGM inNovember, and just so everyoneknows, all committee posts are up forelection by the club members, somecurrent committee members will be re-standing and others won’t, so if you feellike putting your name forward for acommittee position, all you need issomeone to second you on the formthat will be coming out soon with theAGM notices.. Pete

FP Autumn 2011 -

Hi Everyone, well didn’t we all have a great time at the 10th Birthday Bashweekend! From a greenlanes point of view we organised three differentroutes and eight groups went out at different times over the weekend. As wellas that it’s been another busy period since the last issue of Four Play.We’ve had four regular trips to Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire,Bedfordshire and Thetford and our annual greenlaning and campingweekends to the Derbyshire Peak District and Norfolk.Earlier this year 4x4 Response supported a competition run by Central BedfordshireCouncil offering a prize of a day out greenlaning with the club. The competition waspart of the ‘What would you do if…?’ campaign aiming to help people living or workingin Bedfordshire and Luton to prepare themselves for emergency situations. Thewinner was Rosanne Mackness who lives in Bedfordshire. She wanted to experience

her local lanes so we delayed her trip until Junewhen the Bedfordshire lanes are open. She camewith her granddaughter Rachel and they both had agreat day out. They spent the morning in the backof our 110 and in the afternoon Rachel sat in withDick Greaves in his 90 and Rosanne with EricProwse in his Series. I think that we take thecapabilities of our vehicles and the lanes we candrive for granted sometimes. Rosanne sent us athank you note saying that they had both had a

fantastic time and that she was going to persuade her husband to buy a Land Rover!

Keith and I were away at the time of the Thetford trip so we asked for volunteers tolead. Roger Jefferson kindly stepped forward to lead for the first time – and you’ll seefrom his article that it wasn’t too bad at all. Hopefully this will encourage some moreof you to have a go!

We had fifteen vehicles on the Derbyshire trip and twelve on the Norfolk trip. Thanksto those who led groups on both trips. We had the usual mixed windy Peak Districtweather but the sun shone on us in Norfolk (apart from over the Beaumont’s tent –Karen was convinced it had rained all night in her corner of the field!). Greenlaning inthe Peak District and Norfolk are completely different but we all had a good time onboth trips - out laning and enjoying evenings round the fire. Have a look at SarahCahill’s article about Derbyshire and Emma &Paul Jones’ article about the Norfolk weekend.

Now a word of warning – even shallow fords canbe very slippery at this time of year. A group outon a club run in Hertfordshire recently found thatBarwick ford which is on a road and has a nicesmooth concrete base was covered in algae andwas more exciting than they expected! AnnaTaylor managed to slide in the water putting twowheels over the edge and almost hit the bridgewhile Ian Parsons and Chris Mayo found it veryhard to keep their footing while rescuing her!

Heather’s Green Lanes

- FP Autumn 2011

If you are going to come out greenlaning regularly we recommend that you get a CB.Not only can you enjoy the banter that goes on during the day but it’s really helpful tobe able to contact others in the group when something happens – even if its only tosay you need a ‘comfort stop’! It helps the leaders as we can quickly alert everyone tohazards on the road and means it’s easier to sort everyone out on the rare occasions(!!) that we take a wrong turn. They don’t have to be expensive and there are lots ofknowledgeable people in the club who will happily give advice on what to buy, how tofit it and how to get it working properly.

If you want to come on any a trip please book your place and very importantly if youaren’t going to be able to make it for some reason please let us know so that someoneelse can take your place. To book your place email [email protected]. If youdon’t have access to email please telephone 01234 826677.

We send out regular update emails – if you don’t receive them then contact us [email protected] and we will add you to the mailing list.

See you all soon Heather

Colin’s Competition CornerI have just about recovered from the brilliant 10th Birthday Bash andmust take this opportunity to thank the organisers of the weekendand all those who helped over the weekend. We had a very well attendedFamily Vehicle Trial and Punch Challenge more of which will appear in thenext edition of .

Since the last edition we have been busy with a Family Vehicle Trial at Whitwell, anRTV at Croydon and Heath & Reach, and a Pay and Play day at Yarwell. In additionthe club had a stand at the Whitwell Steam Fair where Terry kindly lent us his see-sawto demonstrate in the arena. I would also like to thank those who turned up for a verywet Codicote Village Day to help with the road closure.

The trial attendances continue to fluctuate with 13 at the Whitwell, only 3 at Croydonand then 10 at Heath & Reach – please help promote the events as much as possiblethrough discussions with others and by writing articles for Four Play.

All events are publicised on both the Forum and via our Facebook Group called ‘BedsHerts & Cambs Land Rover Club’ Did you know that you can configure the Forum tosend you an email when a new topic is created in a specific area? If you log onto theforum and then select the ‘Whats On’ section, this will display all the recent posts inthis part of the forum. If you move to the bottom of the page, you will see ‘Subscribeto this forum’ If you click on this you will be subscribed and you will then automaticallybe sent an email any time someone adds a new Topic. You will not be overloaded withemail as there are less that 10 new topics per month.

Finally just to remind everyone that the AGM will occur at the pub night on Thursday 3November. As always all committee posts are up for election so if you think you canhelp or do better please put your name forward or contact anyone on the committeefor more information.

See you soon Colin

FP Autumn 2011 -

A warm welcome to all our new members since the last FP

Name From VehiclesChris Howells Stevenage Fourtrack

Mark Woodland Harlow Defender

Steven Woodland Harlow

Ian Cleary Wisbech 110 SCSW 300 tdi

Gaye Minney Kempston

Simon Robinett Yaxley Discovery 300 TDI

Andy Tilbury Bassingbourn Discovery 300 TDI

John Cargill Codicote Range Rover

Jon Waller Haynes

Keith Shuttleworth Luton 2.5 DHSE Range Rover

Con Hogan Hainault, Ilford Range Rover Classic,Range Rover Vogue

Harry Lessman SouthOckendon Discovery 2 V8

Pip Hughes Wigginton Discovery 300TDI

Mike Price Duxford 1978 Series III

Louise Robinson Cambridge Discovery TD5

Dom Allder Watford Discovery 1 3.9EFI,Discovery 1 300 TDI

Mark Johnson Dunstable Discovery 1 300 TDI

Aaron Smith Tebworth Defender

Colin Joyce Hinckley

Harry Twigger Nuneaton

James Hislop Great Offley Defender 90

Kelly Wright Toddington Suzuki Vitara

Graham Grover Dunstable Series III

Paul Cook Bassingbourn Discovery 300TDI

- FP Autumn 2011

LATEST FROM media.landrover.com

Land Rover Confirms All-New Defender Land Rover DC100 investigates the potential future direction

of the iconic Defender

Demonstrates the future of Land Rover capability and versatility

Functional and purposeful design delivered by Land Rover design team, led byGerry McGovern

n Land Rover confirms its intention to launch a new Defender in 2015

The Land Rover DC100, a modern interpretation of the iconic Land Rover Defenderwill make its debut at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Land Rover also confirms today, that production of a new Defender is intended for 2015.

Commenting on the Land Rover DC100 concept car,Gerry McGovern, Director ofDesign, Land Roversaid:"Replacing the iconic Defender is one of the biggestchallenges in the automotive design world; it is a car that inspires people worldwide.This isn't a production-ready concept but the beginning of a four-year journey to designa relevant Defender for the 21st century."

John Edwards, Global Brand Director, Land Roveradded: "Loved the world over for itssimple, honest and distinctive design, we are determined that the new Defender will betrue to its heritage, while meeting the requirements of a changing global market.

We plan to engage with existing and potential customers to help us finalise the detailsof the new vehicle. One thing's for sure, it's goingto be an exciting journey, and we can't wait to getgoing." LR

Reading the forums the response to the newconcept has been very Marmitey, with most hatingit, but I remember a similar reaction to a Defenderconcept in the 80s. Time will tell but I hope therewill be an outpost somewhere in the world thatcarries on building the ‘classic’ Defender once theproduction line is ripped out of Solihull. Russ

FP Autumn 2011 -

Land Rover Funds Response Units For The British Red CrossGaydon, Warwickshire, 25 August2011 -As part of Land Rover'sthree year global initiative of'Reaching Vulnerable PeopleAround the World', the first pair ofcycle response units (CRUs) werehanded over to the British RedCross at the Guy Salmondealership in Knutsford yesterday.

This September will see thebikes rolled out across theUK,as part of a vital newnationwide fleet of 26 cyclesfor the British Red Cross. They will help strengthen the ability of the Red Cross torespond to emergencies and people in need of assistance.

Developed with 2x2, Land Rover's bicycle manufacturer, the 26 bikes (which will workin pairs) have been custom built and will be fully equipped to save lives. British RedCross first aiders will be geared up for emergencies and the 13 pairs of CRUs will beable to effectively navigate urban and crowded areas, reaching people faster in timesof emergency with life-saving care.

Each CRU is fully equipped with a defibrillator, advanced first aid kit and resuscitationequipment, enabling first-aiders to respond to incidents swiftly.

Colin Green, Managing Director of Land RoverUKsaid: "We are absolutely delighted tobe able to contribute to the long term support of the British Red Cross in our homemarket. By installing defibrillators in both the 30 donated vehicles and in these cycleresponse units, it will significantly enhance the British Red Cross' ability to treat peopleat crowded events and areas where vehicle access is limited, whatever the terrain orconditions."

"It's been great seeing the bikes here at Knutsford - knowing they will be helping tosave lives right across theUK. By equipping our 2x2 cycles with life-saving equipmentmeans that The British Red Cross is even better prepared for emergencies - especiallyat the forthcoming Chester races and Tatton Park Triathlon in the north west," addedJason Emanuel, Managing Director of Guy Salmon, Knutsford.

Richard Hankins, Head of Events First Aid for the British Red Cross said: "LandRover's support for this project has considerably enhanced our capabilities to get topeople much faster and to provide that critical care. This could play a defining factor insurvival to a variety of medical emergencies, such as cardiac arrest - whereby it canbe the difference of saving a life if treatment can be delivered to the patient within theinitial minutes of the arrest."

The collaboration between Land Rover UK and the British Red Cross is part of themajor global partnership between Land Rover and the International Federation of RedCross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), announced in August 2010. It involvesLand Rover supporting national Red Cross societies in 15 countries, with each countryadopting a priority programme. LR

- FP Autumn 2011

10th Birthday Bash August 2011 By Owen Rogers.

I’m 34. That’s not my age(anymore); it’s mymembership number. Ipretty much joined afterthe original committeemembers founded theclub. I’ve seen it growfrom a small bunch ofmad enthusiasts puttingthings together at theAirman, and in variousliving rooms to what it hasbecome to-day. I movedaway from the area, andreturned for the Gaydonmarshalling in 2008. I had

to get approval to break the family holiday up early for this year’s event, so I hoped theboy and I wouldn’t be disappointed.

My son – Toby – was 9 when I joined. He used to sit in the middle seat and changegears. He quickly progressed to sitting on my lap and steering. He got his own backover the years and particularly over this weekend: I was rarely allowed to move fromthe passenger’s seat: up to Yarwell, during the pay and play and the extreme punchchallenge.

We had no idea what to expect. Arriving from Wales around 9 p.m. it was getting dark.The scene was similar to a Billing, an Eastnor or Stoneleigh – tents and caravans asfar as the eye could see. The organisation was just as professional; a meet and greetupon registration and directions provided to the all important, heavily subsidised bar.

Saturday was a scorcher. It must be true that the sun shines on the righteous. With thesafety announcements over, the site was open for play, for the whole of the day. Withholes, hills and humpsgalore together with a fewcheeky water areas, therewas plenty to occupy thetraybacks, Series, 90s,110s, Discos and Rangies.The air was filled with thesmell of fuel and thefrequent roar of a V8.

Some of us took a break tohelp out with prepping theveg for the 17th Centurybanquet, and many thanksto James Addy and hiswife for dishing up a

FP Autumn 2011 -

stunning three course meal to over 120 campers. A disco closed the end of a fabulousday.

Sunday morning started early, not least thanks to a bit of thunder and lightning atsunrise. This did at least cancel out the snoring we endured near our tent over the twonights. With scrutineering underway from 8 a.m. two punch challenges were open toall. We took the extreme option and went back on course hunting for 10 punches,hidden in some very challenging and well hidden spots. The challenge was mileagebased not time based, so every foot let alone tenth of a mile wasted was critical.

With our 200+ mile journey home to look forward to, we spent the last hour in themorning watching Russ Beck attempt parts of the site no man had ever attemptedbefore – all in a Series with leafs! – and then said our farewells.

Much had been put into this weekend. Many hours of tireless preparation, by manypeople: booking the site, setting up the camping area, the loos, the beer tent, the realale brewed for this unique event, the entertainment, the food, the cake, the hot waterpermanently on supply, the Tyro, the punch challenge, the greenlaning, the sandcastlecompetition and the children’s treasure hunt. The list was endless and the enjoymentabsolutely fantastic. Many many thanks to all those who helped make the BHCLRC10BB a resounding success. If you were there, I’m sure you had as much fun as meand the boy. You might have even driven your own vehicle for more than a fewminutes without your son beating you to the driver’s side more often than not. OwenThe next issue of Four Play will contain full coverage of this event with lots morearticles and pictures.

- FP Autumn 2011

10th Birthday Bash - A Big

Thank YouThe BHCLRC 10th Birthday Bash sub-committee would like to say a really bigthank you to the following club members for their donations or supply of

goods/services to the Birthday Bash:

Diane Sheppard – Birthday CakePete Newman (Mick George) – Skip

Steve Draper (City of Cambridge Brewery) – Real Ale

and also toVivienne & James Addy

for their menu planning, preparation and cookingof the Saturday evening meal.

We would also like to thank everyone for helping set up on Friday, providingor transporting equipment, marshalling, greenlane leading, helping the chefs,

organising and running the bar, helping “newbies”, writing articles for FourPlay and clearing the site on Monday.

10th Birthday Bash Sub-CommitteeChris Bongailas Mark GooldJason Pegg Neill BlakeJayne Treutlein Paul VernonKeith Parkinson Terry Dennis

FP Autumn 2011 -

Whitwell FVT May 2011 By Ian Trudgett.

The latest Family Vehicle Trial was held at Almshoebury near Whitwell on Sunday 22nd

May which at first glance looks like a fairly ordinary paddock. But with some great use ofthe tree line and border into the next field by Colin & Avo, was transformed into a veryinteresting Trial.

Over a dozen vehicles turned up tocompete, and after a quick safety checkand explanation of the rules started onthe first of seven sections.

Section 1 was a “simple” do you knowhow long and wide your Land rover is,well a great deal of us didn’t includingmyself as demonstrated by Avo who

could still walk between my front bumperand the cane!

Section 2 to 7 got progressively worse(for a family trial) with some deep ruts ,angled climbs and well placed gates togive even the seasoned Trialersomething to think about.

The God of weather was kind to us apartfrom one almighty downpour, and afterchatting to both driver’s families andmarshals a great time was had by all.

As a first timer myself I would like tothank all those that offered me advice

especially Colin, Avo and Pete it wasmost appreciated. And to those clubmembers who made it all happen.

Special congrats go to another first timerNige White who won the event in hisstandard Disco with some great driving.

Can’t wait till the next one………IanResults on page 40

- FP Autumn 2011

Derbyshire Trip May 2011By Sarah Cahill: Photos from everyone on the trip.

This Whitsun we were back in Derbyshirefor some good lanes and lots of gossipround the campfire. The hardy amongst uscamped at their usual location at nearly400m altitude on the edge of TideswellMoor; Andrew and I brought the caravan toa small but sheltered site in Bradwell. Mikeand Anita would have camped too, excepttheir tent poles didn’t make the trip so theygot to play motel roulette instead.Although the comfort (and warmth) wasnice, the fire alarm in the middle of thenight put a dampener on it!

Our ‘new’ piece of kit for the trip wasa little gas stove with inter-changeable plates to grill, griddle,BBQ etc. Unfortunately it only reallyworked with an upturned frying panas a lid over the food! It wassuggested that in future we do a trialrun of our toys at home instead of inthe middle of a field while hungry. I’minclined to agree…

By the time our dinner wasfinished, the fire was going well –it had been expertly built and lit byRichard with his clever fire stick –and it was time to teach some ofthe younger members of the party(and Keith!) about thedeliciousness of S’mores: meltedmarshmallows between twochocolate digestives – and muchbetter than the American version.Needless to say they went downvery well, although they also had a strong attraction to loose hair, to one or two girls’dismay.

Saturday started with us one tent down; however we were also missing its occupantsand their vehicle – it turned out that Morné had received a phone call at 2am about a

FP Autumn 2011 -

water leak at home and they had decided toreturn home to sort it out.

Once the drivers’ briefing was complete, theterritory was roughly divided between the threegroups. We led a group on the north half – thiswas a good thing as I wasn’t too sure where theother half was, or how you could divide twohalves between three groups…

The first lane of the day was to thewest of Bradwell, from there weheaded to the steep rocky lanedown though the quarry south eastof Castleton. Some mountainbikers coming up the hill broke ourgroup up temporarily, but banterover the CB kept us on the righttrack. A bit on the road via Hopetook us to the long track up onto

Abney Moor – of course we had to turn backonto the road at Abney to avoid the sectionthat can no longer be driven. Another shortroad section via Hathesage took us to thelong byway across Burbage Moor and westopped for lunch near the end of the lane,gaining some shelter from the trees at LadyCanning’s plantation.

A loop north of Ringinglow took inanother short lane before headingtowards the ‘good bit’ of the day –the fabulous Stanage Edge. Ofour group, Mike and Anita hadn’t

- FP Autumn 2011

driven it before, we have done but notin the Disco, whereas theexperienced hands of Russ andBryan – enough said. I still haven’tbeen in a vehicle going down theexciting rocks as I was needed forspotting again. Andrew struggledmost as the Disco had the smallesttyres in the group – and no diffguards, which made things ratherinteresting. Russ was next and in hisSeries skipped over the rocks like amountain goat. Then we got Mike

down quite easily, and Bryan camedown in such a way that I barelymanaged to get a photo…

After a little lane near Bamford weeventually reached Rushup Edgeand the lane past The Roych. Butunfortunately around the first cornerthere was a stand-in protest blockingour way. We gently edged the Discoforward and slowly they backed

down and cleared the lane - lettingus on our way with a defiant“Moo!” Following the one-waydown the rock steps meant theywere not too great a challenge,although a few towbars madesolid contact. After going throughChapel-en-le-Frith, we took thetrack past Rowter Farm backtowards the campsite.

Round the campfire that night thecraic was flowing (at speed as thewind was blowing straight off themoor again). Bryan was drinking

Titanic Iceberg beer – apparently “it goes down well”… Neil passed his glass of whiskyto his son while he went to their tent. However Duncan had not chosen the most stablepiece of ground on which to place his chair and it keeled over, but like a goodScotsman he made sure not to spill a drop! And Keith got kissed by a german calledFritz (who fortunately was half springer spaniel).

Sunday saw our group doing lanes to the south. One of the first was Monksdale Lane,tight between the dry stone walls. After an ice cream stop at the old station at Millers

FP Autumn 2011 -

Dale, we followed the long lane to Monsal Dale. Along here we met some walkers whowere happy to open a couple of gates for us – jokingly they tried to charge us a pound– EACH! Then via the track to Great Longstone, along which we stopped for lunch. Aninquisitive squirrel seemed to find us very interesting and obligingly posed for photos.Russ and Gaye took over leading, taking the group via the lovely village of Ashford inthe Water. A lane at Taddington appeared no longer accessible, so we followed analternative south and picked up a lane towards Monyash. Andrew knows the cornerwhere this lane rejoins the road well – during a motor club scatter whilst at university,a fellow competitor crashed his car here!

The next lane saw a race between the group and more cows as we hurried to getthrough a gate before the chasing bovine mob caught up and escaped! This was as farsouth as we got as for the next couple of lanes we turned east. The lane back towardsMiddleton had plenty of gates – at its start Russ stopped and gave us a souvenir – alink of chain dug out from his tyre! A couple more lanes led us to Bakewell, picking upan interesting lane which took the group to Chatsworth. A loop round Beeley includedanother lane before heading back through Chatsworth to Rowland (the obligatory cowsholding up traffic again). The lane here passed through disused quarries before joiningthe road to head north to Calver. A tight and interesting climb up from Stoney Middletonled us to the last lane for Mike and Anita – a short, very steep and entertaining downhill.The rest of the group followed two lanes around Bretton and then the final lane of theday between Great and Little Hucklow.

Sunday evening saw much of the same campfire gossip – at Russ’s suggestion, thefire pit was moved, getting it out of the wind and keeping everyone much warmer.Strangely enough it also was much closer to his tent! As so many people had broughtmarshmallows and there were thankfully enough biscuits, we were able to have moreS’mores and it was my turn to get marshmallow in my hair. However, I didn’t seem tocare!

As usual on Monday, a group headed home laning south from the campsite, but wedecided to give it a miss this year as we thought it might be not so easy with ourcaravan! Sarah

- FP Autumn 2011

Croydon - Setting out the trial By Bryan Moss.

There has been much debate about the value of trials within the club during the last year.Hopefully, I will now explain how important these events really are.

A quick bit of background to my involvement in BHCLRC. Having Green laned a fewtimes, including Wales and the Peak District, I moved to Hong Kong on a 2 year workplacement. While there, I looked into the 4WD possibilities locally, but only found theHong Kong Land Rover Club. After looking into their activities, I decided that it wasn’treally right for me, their activities being humanitarian rather than 4x4 related (don’tmisunderstand this – I fully support what they do, but my general feeling was why usea LandRover for this? – I could get a sports car through that terrain. Since theOff-Road driving style that I enjoyed didn’t seem to exist there, I rented an apartmentin Discovery Bay, where cars are banned! My stay in HK was cut short at 17 months,but in that time, I only saw 2 Defenders, and no Series vehicles – well one seriesvehicle, and if I had been living there long term, I would have bought and restored it –it was a 1952 SI that was rotting in a garden on South Lantau Island.) Anyway, Idigress. When I came back to the UK for a holiday, I was keen to use my truck as muchas possible off road, and so took it to the RTV trial at Croydon. Due to my earlierexploits in the club it was assumed that I knew what I was doing and so no-one told methat I could compete as a novice! That day of competition got me hooked, and I havecompeted in every event that I have been able to attend to since.

Setting up doesn’t require any real addiction to competition, though it does help if youare willing to marshal the event as well. However, if you aren’t familiar with competitiveevents, it is worth doing your first setup with someone who is. On this occasion, thesetup team was Mark Goold, Andy Restall and myself – all experienced competitiondrivers, though with varying levels of driving ability.

The Croydon site at first appearance doesn’t look too challenging. Anyone who hascompeted there will tell you that appearances can be deceptive. Setting out a trial atthis site is very challenging, but can be extremely rewarding (especially when thedrivers that have been beating you all season get a 10 on what you thought was arelatively easy section!)

So the setup for this event. We arrived at the site for 10am. Using an extremely rarelevel of foresight, we decided to set out a section using the muddiest area of the sitefirst. The first 4 gates were placed in about 10 minutes. Then the fun began – the fifthgate was to cross the mud. Sound simple? It took nearly half an hour to extract mytruck. Enter the mud with a bit more speed – result, another half hour extracting mytruck. Try a different route – more time spent extracting the truck! Only one morepossible route – and the truck got seriously stuck again (this time requiring 2 vehiclesto extract it!) 2 ½ hours after starting, we still only had 4 gates positioned, but we wereall laughing! Having concluded that the mud was unpassable, we set up the next 6gates, allowing people the option of hanging themselves by trying the mud run. It wasgratifying that this worked on the day catching a very experienced competitor. The finalgate on this section would have ideally involved a different area on the mud section.There were two options for this. As the most experienced driver of the group, Andydrove into the first, and duly came to a halt in the mud. After a relatively easyextraction, he tried the second … and came to a halt. After failing to extract him usinga single vehicle failed, we hooked a second vehicle on …. I couldn’t see what actually

FP Autumn 2011 -

happened, but apparently it was a bit like a cork out of a champagne bottle! After that,we put the final gate as a tricky exit from a hill climb and went to the second section.The first section had taken nearly 3 hours to set up.

The second section was to make use of the ruts at the bottom of the field, but asalways, we wanted to use them in a way that no-one had done before. After a fewminutes experimenting with ways of making this challenging, Andy came up with theanswer. The section crossed the ruts at difficult angles several times before finallydropping into them, then requiring climbing out of them at one of the most difficultpoints. It concluded with a hub finish that required a stop as the rear wheel was partway down a drop.

Section 3 was set out on the wooded slope. We started with the biggest, steepestclimb on the site. This proved to only be possible while following the ruts – so wedeliberately made the gates wide enough for people to try other routes, and drive downit out of the ruts - happily, this tactic did work, and one competitor tried this route – onlymanaging the climb when they accidentally dropped into the ruts! We tried to followthis with the first obvious descent. My sideways descent of this slope resulted in muchjoking (and very nearly the requirement for some clean trousers!). When Andydescended in a similar fashion, we abandoned this route and took the next availableoption. This was steep drop and required a careful access route (the gates werepositioned such that an approach from an unsafe direction would result in a pointsscore and the marshals yelling STOP), and was followed by a side slope then a climband a tight turn into another drop between the trees. The final challenge was a steepclimb, to a one gate that wasn’t aligned with the obvious route.

Section 4 used the bomb hole (note – this hole is actually the remains of a cellar fromthe time of the great plague!) After starting people on a steep downhill slope, they weretaken into the hole, and out through the easiest route. After a sharp turn, they werethen taken back into the hole between the trees (this caused some concern when

- FP Autumn 2011

setting out, but after Andy had driven his Disco through with a foot clear each side, weconcluded that there was enough space.) The exit from the hole was the same routeas the original entrance (experimentation had shown this to be the more difficult of thesafe exit routes.) The following selection of climbs and descents was extremely difficulton the setup day – it just shows how much a site can change overnight that they wererelatively easy during competition.

Section 5 – AsClerk of the Course,I would love to takecredit for this one,but credit has to goto Andy. Thesection started witha weave betweenthe trees – thiswasn’t particularlytight, but did requiredrivers to take thecorrect line. Therethen followed thetraverse of a sideslope – again, notparticularly tight butrequiring a very

careful (and not particularly obvious) line. This ended with a steep climb, which had tobe negotiated without any run-up.

The final section was set up in the far corner of the site – a very deceptive area. Adifficult climb at the start was followed by a steep descent, then another climb. Thecanes were again positioned to allow competitors to hang themselves by taking thewrong line while staying within the driven line. As we had on previous sections, weopened up some new areas of the site, bringing the course over some rotting logs asit came across the slope. A few turns at the top of the slope, allowing competitors tohang themselves if they weren’t paying attention and a hub finish concluded this section.

At the end of the day, we had set up 6 sections, all of which could be reversed withsome minor modifications. This may not sound much for 8 hours work, but we hadfound plenty of areas that either weren’t safe to use or couldn’t be driven.

While it’s a lot of fun competing, there is also a lot of fun available during setup. Wehad a full day of driving and recovery work while setting out something new for thecompetitors.

Changes in the conditions for the competition made some sections easier, and somesections more difficult. In one case, we had to make several modifications whenreversing a section before it was actually possible, while on another section it becameconsiderably easier when reversed. We even had one section where the standard SIIIshowed everyone how it was done.

Thanks to Andy and Mark for making it such a good day.

Bryan

- FP Autumn 2011

Croydon RTV By Gaye Minney.

Trial day at Croydon loomed bright and sunny – not just the weather, but the enthusiasmand sunny smiles when we were met by our two course builders, Mark Goold and BryanMoss. It was just so sad there weren’t more drivers willing to take on their cleverly setsections; nevertheless, quality amply made up for the lack of quantity.

Each trial venue has its own peculiarity and Croydon is no exception. This is a fieldlike no field I’ve ever seen – a lush meadow on the side of a small mountain with aspring bog at it’s base, a few trees and bushes thrown in for good measure furtherup and, on a very warm summery day such as this, it is buzzing with wildlife.

Before the day began, Russ Beck pointed out a spot where he’d become seriouslystuck on a previous occasion. In a small hollow there were remains of a few brickwalls below the surface where once there had been habitation. We were told therehad been houses on that site but the occupants had been wiped out by the plague. Itried to source some more history but sadly found nothing relevant.

On this day we had only three drivers – John Ralphs in his Series 2a hybrid, EricProwse, an up and coming novice driving his Series 3 and Russ in his Series 2a (withme, Gaye, as his passenger ... still learning and watching with a view to having a go atthis as soon as I feel ready).

Our intrepid course builders had plotted six sections, some of which would then becompleted in reverse. At the request of the farmer we were to tackle the mud hole firstas he wanted the thick, gooey clay-like mud to stay in the field! So we started bycrossing the ruts by the mud hole and over the deep gully which caused Eric to getcross axled on his first attempt. The section looped around the mud hole, bypassing

- FP Autumn 2011

the deepest and stickiest area butforming a steep climb to the 1 gate.No-one cleared the section. The nextwas done slalom style – crossing rutson the flat part of the field and endingwith a difficult hub-through finish.

Section 3 took us back to the first mudhole in reverse, but to achieve even the5 gate proved impossible - manyattempts were made to drive that gatewith approach adjustments being madeall the time. Eric almost turned hisvehicle over ... twice!!

The next section was at the bomb hole– passing through it twice, but with noreal problems. Section 5 was justabove the bomb hole in the woodedarea. Here John mistimed his turn andended part way up a tree resulting inthe usual adjustments to be made tothe nearside front wing. The nextsection was at the highest point of theescarpment with a long traverse acrossthe side slope. I have to add here thatall along, Mark was giving valuableadvice and encouragement to Eric,

offering him alternatives should he feel in need – this being one section in particularwhich held dangers for a novice. To give him credit, Eric took the challenge head onand it almost proved his undoing when he stopped halfway down and quick thinkingmarshals prevented him from rolling his vehicle.

The far right hand corner of the site took us to Section 7 which, again, proveduneventful but interesting when Russ took quite a large tree branch with him and brokehis roof lights. Finally the last Section of the day was 6 in reverse and, amazingly, Ericwas the only person to go clear – his first clear for the whole day ... well done!

When the trial was finally finished,Russ and I were very hot, the LandRover was caked in mud and we feltthe day was still young enough to goGreen Laning down Violet Lane on toStandon ford, then Latchford ford inorder to find enough water to make anattempt at cleaning up the undersideof the vehicle. This is how we endedour day . .

In the River Rib at Hanging Wood.GayeResults on page 40

FP Autumn 2011 -

Norfolk Green Laning Weekend By Paul Jones. Additional photos by Emma Jones, Heather Parkinson and Ian Parsons.

It was a dark and stormy night .... Alright, it was a sunny and blowy day in July. Emmaand I were off to ride the greenlanes again. This time we were going to manage it withoutbreaking something, bending something or going home on the back of a trailer.

We got to the camping site at Great Bircham inthe afternoon of Friday 22nd July, just as the ladyon site was opening up the back paddock forcamping. We were the second vehicle there(Bryan was first) so we got our pick of the flatspots in the bowl shaped field. After setting up thetent we went for a wander around the windmilland had a cake in the shop – cakes from the shopbecame something of a theme over the weekend.

Over the course of the next couple of hours theother vehicles turned up and set up and peoplesettled down around the campfire in a box. Slowlythe alcohol and dinners got consumed. Thealcohol perhaps a little more freely than it should.We brought what we thought would be enough forthe weekend and drank it all on the first night.

The followingmorning everyone was divided into 3 groups andallocated to areas/routes where we would belaning that day. We left as soon as the cake shophad opened and everyone had stocked up on cake.Our group was led by Ian with Bryan in his 90 andtwo South African guys in a Disco. We’d finallymanaged to get a working CB so this time we couldtalk to everyone as we bounced along.

The first lane we hit had obviously not been usedsince last year. There was very little sign of the laneunderneath the overgrown weeds. We had to drivepractically in the hedge because there was a ditchsomewhere on the other side underneath all theplants.

At one point we crossed the Wells Wallsinghamsteam railway. There were no barriers across the line so Ian went first. The SouthAfrican guys were second and as they started up the bank to the railway there was thesound of an approaching train. The guys say they looked up for the train and stopped.Then they looked down for it and then further down. When it trundled past a few feetfrom their bumper the train was only about 4 feet high. If they’d been on the line a crashwould probably have caused more damage to the train than to their Disco.

Shortly afterwards we stopped for a drink by the side of the lane. We were on aconcrete platform used by farmers to pile up their straw. We’d been there for a few

- FP Autumn 2011

minutes when an Isuzu truck came barrelling up the road towards us. A guy jumpedout and asked us what we were doing. It turned out that he was the local farmer andsomeone had reported some suspicious characters hanging around in vehicles on thefarm track. A few weeks before someone had nicked a bird scarer for scrap metal andthen someone else had set fire to a barn.

Back at the camp that evening the campfire was set up again. I had a severe bout ofenvy and really want to get a Coleman Lantern.

The next day dawned bright and clear and seriously windy. Packing the tents away forthose of us that were heading off was certainly an interesting experience.

The first lane started slowly. There was awhole flock of juvenile pheasants runningdown the track in front of Ian. The stupidthings kept running ahead of him instead ofjumping off the side in to the bushes. Therefollowed a series of tracks just slightlysmaller than the vehicles. Everyoneacquired a few new scratches on the sideof their Defenders / Disco and we gotparticularly worried with the low branchescontinuously clanging off our roof rack.

Some time was spent on Peddars Way –much to the annoyance of the walkers. Bryan had it best at the back. The walkers werefrowning when the first car went past, but a series of smiling and waving drivers meantthat by the time the last car passed it the walkers were feeling guilty that they were sogrouchy and started to wave back.

Finally, we stopped to look at aruined church near Bewsey StJames. The puzzle with the placebeing that usually there would bea village attached to a church.The Time Team even came to tryand find it, but found nothing.

Oh, and we did lose a bit of thecar. The aerial on our CB lost itsend at some point. We’ll give Ianhis spare back when we see himnext. Paul

- FP Autumn 2011

- FP Autumn 2011

A Land Rover Experience by Colin Argent.

I know not everyone is a Facebook fan but it did recently get me a free half day LandRover Experience (LRE) day. For those fb’ers out there, I had ‘liked’ a group called LandRover who occasionally had posted details of the free LRE days which I normally onlysaw several hours too late. Whilst recovering at home from my hernia I logged on (I wasworking hard – honestly!) and saw a new post that was offering these and it had onlybeen posted 18 seconds earlier. I rang up and I was in! Now for my second surprise,there was a LRE centre at Luton Hoo, only 8 miles from home.

I arrived at the LRE site to find a row of silver Land Rovers, 2 110’s, 2 Discovery 4’s, 2RR Sports, 1 ‘Proper’ RR and 1 Freelander – note to self – if buying a second handLand Rover that is silver – check who the previous owners were – it might have donea lot of off roading! One of the old Luton Hoo estate barns has been converted into aplush reception centre showing LR promo videos with nice comfy sofas and tea andbiscuits on tap.

We were introduced to Paul, our instructor, who asked what we were hoping to get outof the day. Paul was a former police driving instructor who got into this job after goingon an LRE day himself after he had bought himself a 110. I had wondered whether toplay dumb (I’m very good at that) and turn up in a car to see how they explained thevehicles but decided that would be boring so turned up in my 90. We had chosen the110 as our vehicle as, apartfrom a short drive in HayleyBrown’s Puma, I had notproperly driven the new oneand if I was to ever changemy 90, it would probably befor a 110 (not a silver onethough!).

Paul gave us a very quickoverview of the vehicleskipping most of the details

FP Autumn 2011 -

as he guessed we knewwhat the levers andbuttons did. First wewent for a road testacross to Redbourne,through the fords atRedbournebury Mill,into Harpenden andback towards thecentre. Once near thecentre we turned onto atrack across thefarmland to a smallwood and open area

where some obstacles had been constructed – according to Google maps, the totalsite is just over 15 acres. Paul first drove us round the obstacles which consisted of;a concrete bowl designed to demonstrate side slopes and get a wheel to lift into theair, a rocky path to drive along, a couple of large humps and then some offset lumpsto test the articulation. The woods had some tracks through then using the gentle hillsand tree roots to good effect. Dad and I drove the vehicle around the site.

Those who want hard-core off roading will be disappointed, the aim of LRE is todemonstrate the capabilities of the vehicles as standard, they all have road tyres andonly the Defenders are modified, having winches fitted. Looking at the expressions ofthe people in the other vehicles, they were very impressed.

Once back in the receptionbuilding for more tea andbiscuits I spoke with RichardBeddall (those who go toGaydon will know Richard asthe commentator for theheritage run) who runs thisfranchise. Richard previouslyran the centres at Ashford andMilton Keynes which haveclosed and been merged intothis centre. The course wasdesigned by Land Roverthemselves and is the templatefor all new LRE centres aroundthe world – indeed the dealer offroad training for the Evoque isdue to be held here. In additionto the demo days, the LutonHoo centre also offers winchtraining, trailer handling and will soon be offering BORDA certified instructor training.

If you want a visit yourself then keep an eye on the Facebook group or if you showinterest at a dealership and ask for an extended test drive, they will give you a LREvoucher. Colin

- FP Autumn 2011

Thetford June 2011 By Roger Jefferson: Extra photos by Mike Rees.

I’ve been on a few greenlaning trips in the past, including a couple with BHCLRC earlierthis year. When Heather & Keith put out a SOS call for leaders I thought I would give it ago. Unfortunately my passenger for the last two trips declined to navigate, anothercolleague with laning experience had a previous engagement, but third time lucky, mycousin Robbie agreed to be in the hot seat.

Having offered to lead, Keith assured me that the Thetford area was an easy area fornovices and that he would ensure that we had experienced people in our group.

To give us a chance, I installed a compass which had been languishing in the garagesince my classic had gone to the recyclers. (Pause for a moment while I wipe away thetears). I also have a Garmin etrex GPS which we could use to give us a map referenceto confirm our position.

So, on the morning of 25 June we headed off to the meeting point at the picnic areajust NE of the fiveways roundabout at Barton Mills. We arrived early in order to get themaps and plan the route.

The club maps have all the lanes highlighted which means that they stand out veryclearly, making it much easier to plan a route. Ian Parsons gave us an excellentbriefing on the lanes in the area which Robbie remembered verbatim, which was justas well as my short term memory is …where was I? Anyway, Ian said he would startto the North (I think) so we decided to go East. We didn’t plan the entire route, onereason being as this was our first stab at leading we didn’t really know how many milesof lane we would cover. We decided (well Robbie did really, I was working on theprincipal that if it all went wrong it was his fault, and if it went well WE had done a goodjob!) seriously though, we planned the first few miles of lanes with some thoughts onwere we could go next and would firm up on things when we stopped for a cuppa andlunch.

So the time of departurearrived, and we set off,Robbie & me in my RangeRover/Series 3 100” Hybridfollowed by Steve Draperand John Patton in DiscoOnes with Dick Greaveswatching our backs in hisPuma 90 – a small but selectbunch. We returned to thefiveways roundabout andtook the A1101 towardsESE, turning off at WestStow Country Park where wejoined our first lane, theIcknield way path runningNNE up through The King’sForest virtually straight forabout 4 miles. We looked for

FP Autumn 2011 -

North Stow Hall to theEast but could not see itthrough the trees. Wejoined the B1106northwards for a shortdistance and then headedWest on the Duke’s Ride.As we got to the corner ofBerner’s Heath we couldsee the War Memorial onthe A11 near Elveden.This memorial is where itis because it is at thepoint where three Parishboundaries meet,(Elveden, Eriswell &Icklingham) and theParishes clubbedtogether to pay for thememorial. It is reputed to be the tallest war memorial in Suffolk. We turned SSE at thispoint towards Icklingham and stopped for a break just before the A1101.

Suitably refreshed we joined the A1101 and again headed to West Stow Country Park,but this time continued on the B road to Brockley Corner where we turned NNE alonga lane running along the eastern edge of The King’s Forest and followed this trackaround the forest to pick up another track running NNE past Triangle Plantation wherewe took the right fork towards Barnham. We had planned to do an investigatory lap ofBurnham, but the A134 was very busy and we decided that it would take a while forfour vehicles to turn right across the traffic, so we turned left and left again at the lightswestwards along Elveden Road to New Barnham Slip. We stopped for lunch along this

track near to where we stopped forsupper on the night laning trip.

After lunch we continued southwards toBarrow’s Corner where we turned leftback to the northern edge of the forestwhere we turned left again up the tracktowards triangle plantation, but this timeturned right after half a mile across to theA134, going south about 200 yards andthen turning sharp left up Euston Drove.After going through Euston we cameonto the Rushford Road.

After about a mile we turned right onto atrack for about a mile to join a B road,Spalding’s Chair Hill, then on toShadwell, Brettenham & Bridghamwhere we took a double left to headwestwards to the Peddars Way. Spottinga car park at the end of the Peddars

- FP Autumn 2011

Way, I drove in to stop for a cuppa, but none of the others followed, in fact, when Iparked I could see Dick parked in the lane the other side of the fence. None of theothers could get under the barrier into the car park without removing roof bars or CBaerials! We left the car park and joined Dickfor afternoon tea then continued upPeddars Way, across the railway line,turning left (west) on the Hereward way forabout 3 miles. Half way along, just aftercrossing the A1075 is Langmere Lake, andhere we found a simple stone memorial toDr Sydney Long, who founded NorfolkNaturalists Trust in 1926. Carrying on tookus to a B road to the A134 which wecrossed over onto the Harling Way. Wearrived at the end of the Harling Way, justnorth of Brandon about 4.45 and with two ofthe group coming from Hertford it seemeda convenient point to say our goodbyes anddisperse.

The weather was dry and warm, all of thelanes were straight forward and we onlyhad to stop and check our directions acouple of times. The GPS certainly helped,but in dense woodland we occasionally lostthe signal. Robbie and I enjoyed the dayand hope the others did – they all had CBsand we didn’t, so we have no idea whatthey were saying about us! Roger

FP Autumn 2011 -

The Guide To....Irony

- FP Autumn 2011

Orcadian Odyssey By Heather Parkinson.

We planned our Orkney Expedition as a ‘shake down’ trip for our white 110 and all itsmodifications and for us to experience living in the vehicle including wild camping andmoving on from place to place, planning as we went. The plan was two days travel to thevery north of Scotland, three weeks in Orkney, and two days driving back.

The ferry from Scotland was booked for 9.30am on Sunday 19 June so we planned toleave when we were ready on the Friday and split the 640 miles over two days.Unfortunately all sorts of things transpired against us, not least that Keith was fittingtwin batteries to the 110 on Friday morning, and we didn’t leave until 7.30pm. Wemanaged 170 miles and stayed in Harrogate. That left 470 miles for Saturday whichtook us 11 hours thanks in part to torrential rain and slow trucks we couldn’t pass onthe A9.

Orkney consists of about 70islands of which 18 areinhabited. The majority ofthe 20,000 population liveson the largest island calledMainland – about 9,000 ofthose live in Kirkwall, themodern capital and about2,500 in Stromness, theancient capital. Thesouthern tip of Orkney isless than 10 miles from thenorth east corner ofScotland. The islands arecompletely different from thehighlands of Scotland – nogaelic is spoken and their

history is more involved with Norway, Iceland and the Vikings than the Scottishmainland. There is still a Norwegian Consulate in Kirkwall!

Our plan was to travel in the Land Rover to and camp on as many islands as possible– I don’t think we did badly! We went to:

ü Mainland – with road links over the Churchill Barriers to Burray and South Ronaldsay

ü Stronsay

ü Eday

ü Sanday

ü Hoy

ü Rousay

ü Westray

ü Shapinsay

FP Autumn 2011 -

In total we took 14 ferries with the Land Rover and Keith and I went on a passengeronly boat to Papa Westray for the day.

We didn’t make it to North Ronaldsay as the ferry timetable would have required a fourday stay and the ferry is hoist on and off which we weren’t sure about!

The ferries were fun, small Ro-Ro vessels withsome only taking half a dozen vehicles whereyou stay in your vehicle. We had to reverseon, which was fine for us but not so easy forsome of the commercial vehicles and largecamper vans. Commercial vehicles werechained down and our wheels were chockedon some crossings, apparently they don’t trustDefender handbrakes. On our trip toShapinsay we were closely packed betweenthe side of the vessel and a huge gravel lorry.I was worried we wouldn’t be able to get out inan emergency. The crewman assured me Ineedn’t worry - they would just jiggle thevehicles around a bit. Very laid back!!

The inhabited islands are primarily used foragriculture – cows (beef herds), sheep, barleyand potatoes. Like Iceland there are virtuallyno trees. Apparently as a result of climatechange and burning the rest in the Bronze Ageand it’s too windy for them to grow back

- FP Autumn 2011

properly. Other than onMainland, communitiesstruggle to survive. We werevery sad to see that almostevery other shop, hotel or pubis for sale. And yes we weretempted! Eday seems to haveit right. The population ofabout 150 has formed EdayCommunity Enterprises whichruns everything and the islandseems to be thriving. Dieselat the community shop was£1.68/litre!

Most of the islands havesandy beaches and wildrugged cliffs several hundred feet high with stacks and arches, inland are rolling fieldsand wild heathland. The exception is Hoy which has cliffs of 1000 feet in the north andproper mountains.

On the smaller islands we saw loads of seals and eventually worked out how todistinguish between commons and greys. Common seals look like Labradors whenthey are watching you from the sea. There were masses of seabirds and we eventuallysaw a colony of puffins (once we’d been told where to look) flying in from the seastraight into their burrows at the top of the cliffs.

We only had two problems with the Land Rover. Over the first few days we becameaware that the second battery wasn’t charging. On our first Tuesday afternoon we

were camping at Kirkwall andKeith decided to do a temporary fixso we could use the fridge from themain battery. While doing this hedropped a nut down between thebatteries and discovered that themain connection between the twobatteries wasn’t connected!! Nowonder it wasn’t charging. Theconnection was made and it allworked beautifully for the rest ofthe trip. Moral of the story is ofcourse not to leave major jobs tothe last minute – but we all alreadyknow that don’t we?

We noticed a pool of condensation under the mattress of the roof tent after about aweek. We have since established that this is par for the course in ‘cooler’ climates andhappens to all roof tents – the answer is to go on trips to Australia and South Africawhich of course is where most roof tents come from! Keith emailed Chris at Boab whilewe were away and he advised that we need to ensure that air circulates under themattress (now sorted with the purchase of a special mat designed for the same

FP Autumn 2011 -

problem in boats – much cheaper than Boab’s option). Chris also advised that we usenatural fibres for bedding and gave examples – down, wool, cotton and leather! That’sa new one to me.

We camped in some amazing places but also returned to the council run site at Kirkwalla few times. It wasn’t the most scenic location but was convenient for the ferries toother islands, Tesco and the restaurants in town and the site had brilliant showers,laundry and washing up facilities. We could see three lighthouses and harbour lightsfrom the roof tent when camped at Stromness. We stayed on small out of the way siteswith fantastic views on Sanday, South Ronaldsay and Birsay on Mainland. We wildcamped by the sea on Eday, Stronsay and Hoy and inland on Hoy too, there being nocampsites on these islands. We ate out when we came across somewhere that lookedOK but mostly cooked ourselves and discovered that waffle boards are combustiblewhen Keith used one to support a disposable BBQ.

We did a lot of walking; the best walks were probably to the cliffs across from the OldMan of Hoy and a 9.5 mile route from the campsite at Birsay that took us round thecoast and over a rocky causeway to the Brough of Birsay. We had to check the tidefirst.

One of the main reasons tourists visit Orkney is its wealth of archaeology. The reallywell known locations are on Mainland and together make up the ‘Heart of NeolithicOrkney World Heritage Site.’ These are Skara Brae, Maeshowe, Stones of Stenessand the Ring of Brodgar. Skara Brae is a Neolithic village about 5000 years old. TheRing of Brodgar was originally about 60 stones in a circle of which about 30 are stillstanding. These locations were very busy (by Orkney standards) with day bus tours

- FP Autumn 2011

from John O Groats. You have to pay and there werewardens to make sure you didn’t go where youshouldn’t. We found the sites on the smaller islandsmore fun to visit. We visited Mid Howe on Rousay (asgood as Maeshowe) and Knap Howar on PapaWestray. Both were free, unattended and we had themto ourselves. Knap Howar is the oldest standingbuilding in northern Europe; it is a house and aworkshop dating from 3600 BC. We could sit at thefireplace and imagine what it would have been like tolive there 5600 years ago.

There is also the role Orkney and particularly ScapaFlow played in both the first and second world wars.I’m not particularly interested in modern military stuffbut there is a fantastic museum about Scapa Flow inboth wars at the ferry terminal on Hoy. Unfortunatelywe only spent an hour and a half there as we had tocatch a ferry but one could spend hours there. Loads

of information and human stories. We bought some books to read instead.

We had ‘good’ weather for Orkney. I was surprised how windy it was (and pleased howwell the roof tent stood up to it) but it was mostly dry. Daytime temperatures werebetween 13 and 23 degrees C with a fair amount of sunshine. The air is clear and whatwith the wind as well one needs plenty of sunscreen. What we weren’t prepared forwas how light it was in June and July. The sun sets about 11pm and rises again at3am so it never gets completely dark. I didn’t need my torch once. On Hoy we walkedto the beach and could take pictures at midnight. The downside was that the seabirdswere up early – we had them stomping about on top of the roof tent eating bugs at fourin the morning!

We met all sorts of interesting people, both localsand fellow travellers. We met a Welsh couple ina Disco 2 who had done the Mac in 2008, whenwe first did it – they were doing an OrkneyExpedition but didn’t move their huge tent fromnext to the utility block on the Kirkwall campsitefor the whole time!! On Sanday we met a couplein an old white 110 3-door from Orkney Mainlandwho were chilling out after a stressful week atwork in Kirkwall. On Mainland we kept bumpinginto a young couple from York in an ancientlightweight. We were regularly stopped by localsand other travellers to discuss the vehicle andwhere we were going. The locals kept sayinghow pleased they were that we were making theeffort to visit the smaller islands – they said thatmost visitors come to Mainland for a few days andthink they have seen all of Orkney. Local farmworkers were happy to suggest good places forus to camp.

- FP Autumn 2011

The Land Rover was great and took us downtracks we couldn’t have driven in a car but itwasn’t an ‘off road’ holiday. But of course we hadto drive the wide expanses of white sand that arethe beaches on Sanday!

Would we recommend a trip to Orkney?Definitely yes but only if you are prepared to takethings as they come, including the weather, andaren’t looking for too many commercial touristattractions. We had a great holiday walking,enjoying the scenery and wildlife and exploringthe archaeology and modern history – but if thatisn’t your sort of thing you’d better give it a miss.Heather

- FP Autumn 2011

Heath and Reach RTV24/06/2011

Name

Cla

ss

Poin

ts

Ove

rall

Pos.

Cla

ss P

os.

James Deeks SP 1 1 1

Mike Deeks SP 8 2 2

Vanessa Ralphs SP 11 3 3

Simon Perry SP 21 6 4

Simon Day SP 24 7 5

Ed Lee STD 12 4 1

Russ Beck STD 18 5 2

Andrew Deeks STD 25 8 3

Breck Heeps STD 57 9 4

Steve Fifield STD 62 10 5

Croydon RTV26/06/2011

Name Cla

ss

Poin

ts

Ove

rall

Pos.

Cla

ssPo

s.

Russ Beck SWB 20 1 1

John Ralphs SWB 36 2 2

Eric Prowse SWB 73 3 3

Trials Results

Whitwell FVT22/05/2011

Name

Cla

ss

Poin

ts

Ove

rall

Pos.

Cla

ss P

os.

Nige White Adult 11 1 1

Ian Trudgett Adult 14 2 2

StephenBranman Adult 17 3 3

Sue Restall Adult 18 4 4

Breck Heeps Adult 19 5 5

Bryan Moss Adult 26 6 6

Paul Keen Adult 28 7 7

Rebecca Argent Child 36 8 1

Ciaran Goold Child 36 9 2

Ollie Stapleton Adult 38 10 8

Ian Hamilton Adult 40 11 9

Paige Restall Child 51 12 3

Events Calendar

- FP Autumn 2011

National 4x4 magazine editors please note. -Please do not publicise our Green Lane events in your magazine as they are

often already oversubscribed by existing members.Events can change at short notice, for automatic updates on all events and possible

last minute changes ring the Information line 07999 553146

RTV's & Tyros - Scrutineering 8.30am - 9.30am Trial starts 10.00amIf you are not in the scrutineering queue by 9.30am there is the possibility you may

not be able to compete.

Green laning - If you want to come on a trip please book your place and very importantly ifyou aren’t going to be able to make it for some reason please let us know so that someone

else can take your place. To book your place or to get on the green lanes e-mailing list pleaseemail [email protected] or call 01234 826677.

Date Event Location10th - 11th Sep LRO Show Peterborough

Tue 13th September BLEVEC Training ChicksandsSat 18th September Autotest Codicote

24th - 25th Sep 4x4 Festival (Back On) Abingdon30th Sep - 2nd Oct Wales trip now FULL WalesSun 2nd October London to Brighton Run London & BrightonSun 2nd October 4x4 Vintage Spares NewburyTue 4th October BLEVEC Training ChicksandsThu 6th October Pub Night White Horse, Southill

Sun 16th October Green Laning Oxford/BerkshireSun 16th October RTV Weston UnderwoodSat 29th October Green Laning Hertfordshire

Tue 1st November BLEVEC Training ChicksandsThu 3rd November Pub Night White Horse, Southill

Sun 13th November Green laning CambridgeshireSun 20th November RTV Twinney WoodsSat 26th November Green laning EssexSun 27th November Pay and Play Day YarwellThu 1st December Pub Night White Horse, SouthillTue 6th December BLEVEC Training Chicksands

Sun 11th December Green laning Thetford

Events Calendar

- FP Autumn 2011

BHCLRC Club ShopFleece £35.00

Polo Shirt £12.50Hoodie £14.50

Kids Polo Shirt £6.50Kids Hoodie £12.50Kids T-Shirt £7.00

Nylon Tow Rope 4.5m 12 tonne * £25.00Strop 8m * £23.00Strop 4m * £17.00

Strop (tree) 2m * £12.00Shackle 4.75t * £6.00

Shackle 6.5t * £7.00Jate Rings (with bolts) £17.50

Hand Chainsaw £10.00Hi/Vis Case (for above) £2.00

Fire Extinguishers £20.00Mugs £4.00

Sticker 60 x 700mm £3.50A4 Sticker 205 x 285mm £5.00

A7 Sticker (small) 75 x 105mm £1.00Enamel Vehicle Badge 54 x 75mm £18.00

All the above items that are marked with a * are rated for lifting with a 6:1safety factor. For hauling the WLL is 2.7 times the lifting SWL.

Testing certificates are available for inspection.

Shop Contact: Neill Blake Email: [email protected]

Tel: 07530 397059New members:- Please feel free to contact me with any questions you have.

FP Autumn 2011 -

BHCLRC Discount SuppliersMake sure that you have your membership card to hand when contacting/visiting.

Company Web Site Phone Contact Discount4x 4 Partsmaster www.4x4partsmaster.com 01206 391350 Duncan Mansfield Variable4x 4 Touring Gear www.4x4touring-gear.com 01234 742029 Mark Brooks VariableA Flux Insurance www.adrianflux.co.uk 0844 888 5544 4x4 Department 10%AC Supply www.acsupply.co.uk 01462 481806 David VariableAJS Tyres www.ajstyres.co.uk 01737 246073 Andy VariableAll 4 Wheels www.all4wheelsgear.com 01353 667044 Kevin VariableAlpha 4x4 Funerals www.4x4funerals.co.uk 01234 720936 Jacqui Dewer VariableAshcrofts www.autoconv.com 01582 496040 David Ashcroft VariableAuto Land, Dunstable www.4x4service.co.uk 01582 866680 Andy 10%BBA Reman www.bba-reman.com 01634 230055 Nick Swan 10%Bedford Battery 01234 340661 VariableBlackcircles Tyres www.blackcircles.com 0845 620 2000 Paul McHenery VariableDesigna Chassis www.designa-chassis.co.uk 0870 066 0343 Pat VariableDingocroft www.dingocroft.co.uk 01494 448367 Tim Britnell VariableElmacs O/R Store www.offroadstore.co.uk 01462 815404 Phil Elmore VariableFootman James Ins. www.footmanjames.co.uk 0845 458 6782 David Youngs 10%Jake Wright www.jakewright.com 01943 863530 John Wright VariableKranzle www.kranzle.co.uk 0800 970 9292 VariableLancaster Insurance www.lancasterinsurance.co.uk 01480 484801 Up to 25%Land Rover Gear, MK 01908 679161 10%Llama 4x4 www.llama4x4.co.uk/ 01938 85038 David 10% +Mansfield Motors www.mansfield-motors.com 01206 396644 Colin VariableMarshall of Bedford www.marshallweb.co.uk 01234 355655 Clive Thompson TradeNoel Dazeley Insurance www.noeldazely.co.uk 01276 25996 Paul Heyden 13%R and C 4x4 Cranfield 07860 792317 VariableRCV www.land-rover-parts-shop.com 01302 880001 Hugh Smith 5%Richards Chassis www.richardschassis.co.uk 01709 577477 3%Rocket Radio www.rocketradio.co.uk 01462 675481 VariableRockingham LR www.rockinghamlandrovers.co.uk 01536 770078 10%Rogers Of Bedford www.rogersofbedford.co.uk 01234 348469 Alan or Mark VariableRPI Engineering www.rpiv8.com 01603 891209 Chris VariableRuftraks www.ruftraks.co.uk 0141 563 7972 Andy 7.50%Skytag Vehicle Tracking www.skytag-gps.co.uk 08453 886062 64%Terrain Master www.terrainmaster.com 01206 391350 Mike VariableTinley Tech www.tinleytech.co.uk 01954 267515 VariableTyres Direct www.tyresdirectuk.co.uk 01582 585845 VariableWilburyland www.wilburyland.co.uk 01462 459658 Mike Bunton 10% +

- FP Autumn 2011

Congratulations to the winners of the Summer STD, John Norton This STD has 10 differences, get spotting.

Send your answers to [email protected] titled STD

FP Autumn 2011 -

BHCLRC EnamelGrill Badges

75 mm x 54 mmIndividually bubble

wrapped, five colourenamel badges.

They come completewith mounting post,

nut and pennywasher, can be

mounted on grill or onbodywork via an 8 mm

Price: £18 via Neill atthe club shop, or if youwould like one posted toyou send a cheque for£20 made out toBHCLRC to:BHCLRC BadgesColesden Lodge CottageColesdenBedfordBeds.MK44 3DA

We only have a limited numberavailable, so if ordering by postplease phone Russ Brown first on01480 212717 to reserve one.

Copy Deadline for Winter Edition – 23rd November 2011Members Advertising Rates - Non-members add 33%

Full Page - £30 per edition (4 Issues = £90)Half Page - £15 per edition (4 Issues = £45)

To book space contact Russ Brown on 01480 212717"Beds Herts and Cambs Land Rover Club" is the operating name of Beds Herts

and Cambs Land Rover Club Ltd a company limited by guaranteeregistered in England no. 5139940 Registered Office:Colesden Lodge Cottage, Colesden, Beds MK44 3DA.

Printed by: The Lavenham Press LtdArbons House, 47 Water Street, Lavenham, Suffolk, CO10 9RN

Contact: E-mail: - [email protected] Phone: 01787 247 436Ordnance Survey maps are reproduced under license.

The Parting Shot

A lesson for all of us: Sometimes you need to let alittle of what you have kept inside for years, out.

bhclrc magazine

Documents

great club

club magazine

club shop

club themilestones

fp autumn

hisland rover experience

edition of

number of new members