The Dunsfold Collection. 17th to 19th June

We loaded the Freelander and set off to collect the caravan, then away up the M4 to Reading, before turning South and heading towards Guilford and beyond.
All was well as far as Guilford, before we met a traffic jam. One hour to cover two miles.
Eventually we found the site, it was marked by 4inch square signs that were difficult to spot.

We were the first of the 'Landytowners' to arrive, so we found a campsite, and set up in the long grass. no electric hook up here. Mal arrived at about 8.00pm

Saturday morning saw us up early effecting the club stand, we had the 'Camel Trophy' lot opposite us.

Frog, the Flumps and Griff all turned up, and it began to get very muddy.

An amazing number of Landrovers on the site. This is the Dunsfold collection after all which has examples of every Land Rover ever built.

There were some horrific showers during the day and it got muddier and muddier. 900 Land rovers on site.

An excellent auction in the evening.

Sunday was a much better day weathwise, but major parts of the site were roped off as they were so muddy.Over 700 Land rovers on site.

Moving the vehicles from the display area back to where we were camped proved to be an interesting drive, but as usual the freelander showed just how good it is in adverse conditions.

Cleared up and attached the caravan. As the field was so muddy we had to do a figure of eight in the field to make sure we were lined up with the gate to be able to tow the caravan out without damaging it.

An excellent weekend

Photos to follow

Photos to follow.

Start Bay. 29th May 4th June

Well we collected the caravan and set off for Start Bay Caravan Club site. Emily and Zoe came with us, although for the first night they stayed with Emilys mum and Andy at Bee Sands. We all had dinner on the first night down at Start Bay.
Monday dawned wet, although it soon brightened up. We went to Bee Sands and then into Salcombe for a light lunch. Salcombe was unusually quiet for the time of year.

The weather became very warm, so the girls spent time on Tor sands where that were able to play in the sea.
We spent all day in Salcombe where the girls really enjoyed crabbing.

On Thursday, Jade and James came down to join us. They stayed in the tent, whilst the girls moved into the caravan with us. Fortunately the weather was very good, so plenty of Barbecues and lazing about.

Tillshead, salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain  “8^th April – 2^nd May

This time we were heading for a more rural Setting. Tilshead, on Salisbury Plain.  Took the Disco this time and, with its new rear shock absorbers fitted, towed like a dream.   Pitched up and later Cathy and Rob arrived.  Lots of other Landrovers on the site.

Friday was royal wedding day, so we went to Salisbury to do a bit aof shopping, and were able to watch the Wedding Highlights in Waitrose. Went for a run over the ‘Plain’ with Mal and some of the others.  The ground was so hard, that we pulled out after about 8 miles as we feared damaging the Disco. Zoe drove some of the easier sections!

Saturday was again warm and sunny, so we set off for Thruxton to see the Touring car Championship  as well as some other races.  Were able to get in and had almost free range of the circuit, including the pits.  Lewis Hamilton was there.

We were woken by bright sun on the Sunday, so after  getting the papers and a bit of shopping, we spent the day on site, reading and the odd glass of vino.  We did om and ah about going laning but Rob had damaged the Range Rover, so we quickly dismissed that idea.

A leisurely start on Monday, and we packed  up for the journey home, via Mal’s to drop off the event shelter.

A brilliant hot sunny weekend with excellent company.

Off Roading in France

Well just to prove that a Freelander2 can do it, here follows a few shots of us Offroading in France. Admittedly we only lasted half a day as it began to get very scratchy and we did not want to do any damage to the vehicle.

Now that was an easy bit. The lanes became steeper and much more enclosed!

 We were following Cathy and Rob so got some idea of the angles that we were going to be at. Cathy took the photos, (Thanks)

A rather tight lane as you can see!

Well after that we left the rest of 'Landytown' to it, and had a gentle drive back though the stunning French countryside to the camp site.

A couple of days later the girls joined the other Landytowners at an off roading site. Grateful thanks to Greg and Nigel for letting them drive their vehicles. A couple of shots follow!

Keep following us.  More France to come , and then Salisbury Plain!

We crossed the Oggin 2 - The campsite

We got back to Les Chevaliers Campsite after a gentle drive back from seeing Andy and Anne at about 3.00pm on the Saturday and quickly began to establish our base camp for the next 8 night.  Mal and Julie had already arrived and had established themselves in their chalet.The awning was soon put up and everything put into its proper place. Pretty hot work this as the weather was bright sun and a temperature in the shade of 24C.

Kettle was soon on and we sat back to await the arrival of everybody else.  Meanwhile the site was also filling up with French motorhomes, so it was rather a busy site.

Robert, Cathy and the boys soon arrived.  Robert did exactly the same as us and spent ages thinking about how he was going to organise his site. Meanwhile Lizzie made them all tea.  They were soon setting up their site, whilst suprise, suprise, Lizzie and Iwent to investigate the site bar.  This was also a little shop and small restaurant.  We sat outside watching the rest arrive.

This is Robert and Cathy's superset up. Sankey trailer kitchen and Aus tent

Landytowns mobile headquarters ( a gazebo with sides) was errected amongst the chalets, to a provide a meeting place for all. Good job it was mobile as  it was moved to this more convienient location on the Sunday morning.  This is it being used for a group BBQ towards the end of the week,

The girls soon investigated the site facilities, swings, Wiff-waff, trampoline, swimming pool ( that opened on the Monday, six weeks earlier than usual.

Racing round on these pedal powered go-karts soon became great fun for all.

Sunday afternoon proved to be the time when every body got together, with an Easter egg hunt, Egg and spoon races and Easter card making. This was followed by everybody collecting in HQ later in evening prior to the Greenlaning the following day .

Lining up for the Egg and spoon race.

Preparing for the Easter egg hunt!

During the week there were some get togethers, mostly un-planned.

Although there were some more formal get togethers such as this meal, held in the camp restraunt.

Off course we had to have a formal gathering of Landrovers.

Well that is some of what we did during the week.

More will follow over the next few

days as I write up the green laning.

We crossed the Oggin!

Sometime early last Autumn Landytown announced that there was to be trip to Normandy over Easter 2011. Lizzie and I looked at the invite and thought for at least 3 milliseconds before signing up to go!
We started planning, and first decided our route to Les Chevaliers Camp Site at Villedieu-Les Poules.
After sometime working on a spread sheet of Driven Mileages and cost of Ferry Crossings, it soon became obvious that the route was Poole Cherbourg.  Time was spent getting all the paperwork sorted and various insurances taken out.

Oh and new Barbecue, a Cadac, which is the absolute Bees knees in Barbies. It barbecues, griddles, Fries and is also a Wok. More later on this gadget.

Emily was coming with us as well on this trip, so I borrowed a tent from Scouts, a super new Vango.

Whilst we were planning I got nattering with Andy, and we decided to extend our trip down to see him and Anne in their winter quarters at La Roche Bernard in Brittany.

The time came for the off!  We left home at 7.00am on the 14th April aiming to get to Poole by 10.00am, ready for the 11.00 Ferry.  The rest of Britain must have known that we were  on the road as they were deserted, and we arrived at our destination by 9.20.  Time for a mug of char and a bacon buttie.

Security was interesting as they inspected the van and the Freelander.  The woman security lady looked at me and asked if we had any bombs on board!  No, just Andy's frozen Haggis.

We were soon aboard the Brittany Ferry Barfleur, sailing towards Cherbourg.  Four hours or so later we landed and set off towards our site at Villedieu-Les Poules.  French roads are absolute bliss to drive on, and less than two hours later we arrived. Then the fun started, the town was full of road works and the road to the site was no entry. After a couple of false starts we eventually got in The warden looked at our caravan and said, that's a very big van, (it is not by English Standards) you need to be on a bigger site.  We were put on site 40, and the neighbouring one was reserved for Cathy and Rob.  Camp was soon established, and we were told that tomorrow when we left, we could leave what ever we wanted on the site.

The following morning we were away at about 11.00 heading for La Roche Bernard and Andy and Anne.  A couple of hours later we pulled in to the site we had booked there on the water front. Andy and Anne were waiting for us, so we set up up, showed them their shopping and then went for a walk around a beautiful little French town, before finding a small bar,

Dinner that evening was Duck in a Calvados sauce, all washed down with a few bottles of the local brew.

La Roche Bernard is an amazing marina, with thousands of boats moored there.  Just a few shots.

Lots more still to come, all about our week, Greenlaning, and Normandy.

March 19th. Stafford indoor Landrover Show.

Picked up the caravan from Storage on Friday afternoon, to give it a good check over ready for the off in the morning.  We were on our way to an Indoor Landrover show at Stafford show ground where Landytown had a stall.
Left at 11.00am, for tyhe showground.  This was to be somewhat of a 'first for us' as it was our first session with no electric hookup!

Met up with Cathy and Rob,. Mal and Denty, who were all in tents. Everything worked well and every one gathered in our awning for Saturday evening.  The fire went out overnight, so it was a trifle chilly in the morning.

Zoe and Emily had a shock in the morning when they realised that there was no 'hook up' to power their hair straighteners,  but being determined they set off round the site to find a plug socket which they did.  They also spent most of the weekend in the woods, building a backwoods shelter out of branches.

Drove home on the Sunday evening recording 27.0 mpg.

A happy weekend, but the show was not particularly special, so probably will not go next year.