Landy Rally reconnoitre

It's that time again, off on the recce Saturday morning ... all 2,800 miles of it. Well actually, it will be more like 3,500 miles as the number of times we have to make detours due to road closures, new road systems, festivals blocking the route, MISTAKES, etc. It really is quite incredible.

Anyway, my co-driver this time around is none other than ol' conehead himself - Kieran! And before you ask, YES, we have all the essential supplies on board ...

Beer (lager)
Water fire extinguisher
Tent
More beer - Spitfire (when in Germany) and some Bishop's Finger.
Powder fire extinguisher
Sleeping bags
Fire blanket
Stove & gas bottle
Co2 fire extinguisher
Wine
Marmite/Primula/baked beans
fridge (for beer)
Fire-bucket full of sand ... just to be on the safe side!

Think that's it, well, maybe some more beer, but that's the essentials covered.

Can you think of anything else?

lots of toilet paper,,,soft,,,,,,marmite,,beans,,,ummmmm

Have you got all the essentials for Landy Rally
5 litres of water
breakfast bars
pen and paper(someone has to write down the directions ! )
and of course team spray !

I've only got one request ---- please avoid that ********* motorway around Milan in Italy for this years Landy Rally it was an absolute nightmare last year!!

Have a good trip.

Now i know this might be hard for u two but plz do try n take some common sense with u it will come in handy

Common sense?

I got caught out by that soddin' autostrada last year and like a few others ended up actually in Milan itself! Best avoided I agree.

Team spray is good Tuugy, both for armpits and other pits! Seems we're going start as we mean to go on - Kieran's bringing down a 'Naz curry' tonight so reckon it's gonna be a windy on the ferry ... and that's just INSIDE the ship!

Oooops seems the Rangie doesn't want to play!

Balgium is as far as the pair of them have got before a snapped fan beltad burst hose stopped them in their tracks !!

They are now waiting for the garage to open on Monday morning before deciding what to do.

me and tom went to the belgium national years ago,,,there are plenty of rover owners out there that would come to there rescue,,surely hes got some contacts out there,,,,

Tom Mc wrote:

Common sense?

I got caught out by that soddin' autostrada last year and like a few others ended up actually in Milan itself! Best avoided I agree.

Team spray is good Tuugy, both for armpits and other pits! Seems we're going start as we mean to go on - Kieran's bringing down a 'Naz curry' tonight so reckon it's gonna be a windy on the ferry ... and that's just INSIDE the ship!

we ended up in Milan i think!!!!......we got some funny looks when we needed a quick "pitstop" up an alley....of course there was nobody around when we started...but loads walked by as we did what we had to!!!

Apart from the Italian's appauling driving on the autostrada. We came off the autostrada and promptly managed to lose The Monstars as following their instructions to turn right which we did Roadrunners and Slow and dirty ended up on a road running parallel to where Monstars were ! Roadrunners then proceeded to lose Slow and dirty in the traffic taking wrong turns at traffic lights by which time it was an emergency dash to the "hole in the ground" better known as Gorgonzola station toilets "!

Happy memories

We managed to regroup before the Garvia pass !

Back to the recce:- The last text from Kieran mentione also a blown head gasket and the rangie being recovered to Calais (presumably Jean Luc's) and something about a hire car. I'd got a rather strange picture in my head of them trying to do the Recce in a Ford Ka or similar.



No doubt more news will follow

what motor have they gone in,,,,,

I understand it was Tom's blue Range Rover originally. Kieran's 90 still needs a bit of work doing to it to be ready for Landy Rally type expeditions yet. Now they've set off in a hire car but not sure what and had reached the Alps this morning !

Sylvia Johnson wrote:

I understand it was Tom's blue Range Rover originally.

That'll have black tape over all the warning lights and a service history that ends about 20,000 miles ago, then

Thanks for the updates, Sylvia.

Bloody gaskets! Had a couple of old bangers scrapped due to the same thing, not good. Good job they didnt get any further than Jean Lucs so on the whole could be a lot worse :pig:

Carry on regardless i say! :arrow:

Well we've had another couple of text messages ! They've made the Pyrenees and its hot and there are lots of lpg places going across the bottom bit of France !! So not giving much away other than its a Peugeot 207. Not sure how well that will go off road

I can recall one time when i was with dad about to leave for a 4x4 and my mum said and i quote 'dont u dare take the fiesta (1.1 popular) around any off road courses', well needless to say we had a go and planted the bumper well into the mud when going down to come back up. So maybe he will take the Pug off roading in Val d'sere, who knows :?:

Anybody heard how they're doin' or if the RR's been fixed yet?

They caught the ferry back at midnight. I've only seen Kieran from a distance at a set of traffic lights at lunchtime - think he was still half asleep as I drove past blasting the horn and he never even noticed his mum

Spoken to him and said he was a bit tired so by now he's probably tucked up in bed !

Apparently the 207 managed most of it with the Rangie being collected at Calais on the way back (Jean Luc must have waved his magic over it )

Good news about the Rangie - heaven help the person who buys the 207 when the hire company sells it on!!! Think there could be a few warranty claims on the suspension and clutch me thinks - if it still has a clutch!!!!

As for Kieran - maybe he was half asleep, but just be glad Sylvia that at least he was on the right side of the road!!

D

I'm glad he was on the other side of the road. That yellow bull bar would make a bit of a mess of my little red car.

He's now back on the drive putting Pinky back together again after Eastnor and 10 days feeling neglected at Tom's - something to do with a leaking seal and more oil on the drive !!

Yep, we’re back. That was certainly an experience. It all started to go pear-shaped in Liege in Belgium (about 50 miles SE of Brussels) when the viscous fan belt snapped on the 3.9 RR. This in turn caused the top hose to not just split, but explode. This at speed is obviously a disaster as you don’t have time to react. No watching the temperature gauge slowly rise, just very rapid over-heating!

Anyway, after it was clear we wouldn’t be going anywhere that night (Sat) the local RAC equivalent garage of the area took the Rangie back to his lock-up while the RAC provided us with a hotel overnight. Next day I struck a deal with the RAC to have the Rangie hauled back to Jean-Luc Guyot’s independent Land Rover workshops in Calais, while Kieran and myself toddled off to Brussels airport in a taxi to collect our hastily-arranged hire car – a Peugeot 207. Don’t laugh, a great little car as it turned out, but actually we had been offered a bigger motor to more match the RR in size – an Opel Zafira or VW Touran. Both there MPV’s may have been bigger, but as they were still both only two-wheel-drive, I figured the extra saving in fuel swung the balance in favour of a smaller vehicle. The ‘Pug’ it was then!

I’ll describe our travels more tomorrow, but for now let it be known that we completed 90% of the recce, travelled 3,684 miles in the process (I still believe 3,000 miles for the teams is a fair guesstimate – will know for sure when the Road Book is compiled and complete) and we are back safe and sound. The only bit we missed out on was the off-roading at Val d’Isère and a couple of intended routes in the Pyrenees, but this won’t be a problem as for the very first time we will have a Scout vehicle this year - in the form of Kieran and James in whatever Landy they will have ready by September.

Any tracks therefore that we didn’t manage to complete in the Pug will be driven on Landy Rally by K & J … 3 hours before the teams arrive! Here they will leave an orange ‘paper trail’ for everyone to follow, hence solving the problem instantly.

As for the off-road capabilities of the Peugeot, these are best left to those magic moments around the camp fire at Billing or wherever. Suffice it to say they are not exactly ideal, yet Kieran and myself managed to plot a route this year that I have no doubt is the “best route to date”.

As I say, more story-telling tomorrow, but for now I’m going to crash out for some much-needed zzzzzzzz time.

Nearly forgot – my blue RR is up and running again thanks to Jean-Luc and his magical powers, but more of that tomorrow too.

Night all!

Wanted to add this bit separately.

Kieran … THANK YOU, you’re a star mate. Never whinged once during the entire mind-numbing experience. Truly amazing for a teenager, it's even more amazing given that he sat next to me for nigh on 11 days.; absolutely bloody brilliant!

Playing ‘catch-up’ after losing the best part of 48 hours due to the RR’s problems would have killed off most people, but he stuck to it like a true pro.

Hope you read this Mr Bofa Bill. Read it and feel ashamed. A man at nineteen, shame you’ll never understand the concept.

Tom Mc wrote:

As for the off-road capabilities of the Peugeot, these are best left to those magic moments around the camp fire at Billing or wherever. Suffice it to say they are not exactly ideal, yet Kieran and myself managed to plot a route this year that I have no doubt is the “best route to date”.

Sounds great

Well done on your adventures sounds like a blast although a little taxing!

And well done Keiran i managed 9 days in the Rangie with dad last year so i know what its like and bonnie will have all the pleasure in september

Hey, you should be feeling sorry for me. Remember, it also works the other way as I have to put up with "Miss Moaner" for 9 days!

well done both - sounds like an adventure!

"Best route to date" - Makes me want to join in in Sept but just too many things on the go for this year but I'll def be back for 2010

I'll look forward to the stories at Billing...

PS Glad the Rangies sorted out