Landy Rally reconnoitre

Lets hope shes doesnt read this thread or she really will have something to moan about!!

About Bonnie and the LR, shes proper bricking it! She worried about little things like driving, map reading, sleeping arrangements etc etc. I think a reasurring phone call would go down a treat

Yes me again. Know I'm knackered and 15 minutes ago I was falling asleep at the keyboard, but Deano and Bling's posts have woken me back up. Think I'll celebrate with an ice cold San Miguel, purchased in Spain of course, and a chaser of Cannabis-flavoured Absenthe, smuggled I mean "removed from Andorra for recycling".

Tom Mc wrote:

a chaser of Cannabis-flavoured Absenthe, smuggled I mean "removed from Andorra for recycling".

Thare's your answer Sylvia why Kieran didn't see you - he was still spaced out on another planet somewhere!!!

Ah, say no more. I'll get on to it tomorrow.

Sorry Captain Chaos, our recce was great fun mate but this was by far the best recce so far with acurate trip readings, good descriptions and Kieran's legendry tulip diagrams, so all this will make the 2009 Road Book the easiest to follow yet. She'll have no problem, providing that is she doesn't listen to that highly-misleading Sat Nav.

As for sleeping arrangements, I'll hopefully have the RR camper so not a creepy crawlie in sight - just me and a reputation for snoring the house down; poor girl!

Mmmm, more of our exit from Andorra anon. All I'll say for now is - as Landy Rally highlights go, this is up there in the top three ... and at that stage the bottles were sealed!

Truly, utterly amazing!

Cheers Tom it was great fun week!!
only one fire ...

i will put more on tomorrow i am abosultly fruitcaked and have had to be working on pinky all day today after driving it broken back from coventry (steering bar seriously bent up onto axle and rear hub seal from new axle ( i didnt check it before fitting ) leaked seriously!! and poor old pinky hasnt done anything other than gather dust all week,

I can safely say i think this years route will be the best route so far, theres just soooo much mountain driving !!

once again, cheers tom

kieran

p.s me and jo will be at manby

Good to see you guys back safely


Keiran.....1 fire.....you are letting yourself down!

cool. Glad all's more or less gone to plan.

I cant wait!

Pleased to hear that you are back safe and sound Tom. I was thinking that you deserve a medal for putting up with Kieran for that length of time, however after your comments about my youngest lad then I'll have to eat my words !

So far he's been very good and not said much about were we are going or not going other than there was more snow in the Alps and the Pyrenees. But then he was fairly shattered last night.

Those of you who know my Rangie will also be aware that ever since I bought it about 18 months ago, despite it being very reliable mechanical-wise, I have always had to fill the header tank with water on a daily basis. This everyone assumed was merely down to a porous block, a common occurrence with aluminium blocks. No problem as water is cheaper than petrol, and as the RR came with an LPG system fitted, why look a gift horse in the mouth? Especially for £800 all in! With this vehicle I have managed one Landy Rally reconnoitre in June `08 and the actual LR`08 last September. In between it has zapped me at pace all around the country, not to mention umpteen towing missions and greenlane/off-road forays. This scenario could have gone on for years to come, however it appears the speed of a Belgium autoroute proved a step too far last week. On Day One of the Landy Rally recce, the water pump fan belt snapped causing instant overheating (a ‘normal’ cooling system may have coped in the short term, but my iffy system had no leeway) resulting in a blown top hose – not split note, but completely BLOWN wide open! With a warped head inevitable, sure enough water poured into the pistons. Game over!

So, time to see exactly what cover I’d get for my £180 per year 12 month membership of RAC Europe*. Quite a bit as it happens. First a low loader from a local garage turned up. A great bloke, he tried his hardest to build a top hose from three car hoses (a brilliant job he made of it too), and in his workshops found a replacement fan belt. All fitted the Rangie did indeed start, but the tell-tale steam bellowing from the exhaust said it all – not to mention the fountain of water emitting from the Rangie’s middle exhaust box. I kid you not, the column of water was as if the exhaust was having a pee; bizarre! Game well and truly over.

A few phone calls later saw Kieran and myself being transported to a local hotel, that was after tucking up the RR in the mechanic’s workshop of course at 3am or some ridiculous hour. Next problem, it was Sunday, so although the RAC said we could have a hire car for a week, finding one was proving difficult. Eventually they found one, so they provided a taxi to take us from near Liège in Belgium to Avis at Brussels Airport – approx. 50 miles away! This was excellent news in our book, for a least we could catch up on some much-needed zzzz’s en route.

As I said previously, we didn’t need an MPV because apparently they are not that great on fuel, so a hatchback seemed the prudent choice. The RR was different as it was using half price fuel in LPG, so an MPV would have been more costly over the 3,000 miles to come.

Oh, I nearly forgot. The deal I struck with the RAC - instead of being taken to a local garage (their usual policy) that I didn’t know, I asked if the RR could be transported to Jean-Luc Guyot’s Land Rover/4x4 workshops in Calais. They suggested the period of one week for the hire car. I of course did ask for 9 days but they weren’t having any of that … wonder why? You gotta try! They refused, stating that it must go to a local garage. I then said, okay, the only other alternative is repatriating the RR all the way back to my house in Bedworth near Coventry. Shock horror, especially as to reach the UK they would have to travel through – you guessed it – CALAIS!!!

“I’ll ask my Manager and get back to you”.

Five minutes later, the deal was struck as I had requested. RR to Jean-Luc’s for repair, we would have a Peugeot 207 for 7 days. Collecting the Pug, we headed south. Reaching roughly Luxembourg, I had another call – RAC Europe again. “

I’m sorry Mr McGuigan, we’ve just found out the cost of the car (wait for it – a whopping 107 euros per day!!!!!!!) so we can only supply free hire for three days not seven”. You can guess what I thought. Very calmly I pointed out that was a classic case of ‘moving the goalposts’ and it wasn’t on. Had I known previously, I would have gone back to Calais with thr RR. This way I would to find best part of £500 to cover the remaining 4/5 days of hire when their commitment ran out. Asd Del Boy would say … “No way Pedro!” Moreover, I didn’t take the Mick and chose a little hatchback as opposed to an MPV. Gawd knows what that would have cost!

“We’ll get back to you Mr McGuigan. By the way, where are you now?”.

“South of Luxembourg approaching Germany”. Opps!

Low and behold, they came back to me the next day stating it was okay after all, it was all approved. Bovered? Kieran and I were by then were well into Italy playing catch-up by driving through the night, or rather I was as Kieran being under 25 couldn’t drive insurance-wise. Just goes to show, had I been weak I would have only had three days worth and it would have cost me an arm and a leg in extras hire charges. There’s certainly a moral to this tale!

As for the actual Landy Rally route, it was as good as ever, but, Andorra proved to be a whole different league. Exactly what occurred will have to wait until my next exciting and final instalment tomorrow. That way you will know before we meet up at Manby this weekend. Frustrating I realise, but I'm knackered too and falling asleep at the keyboard (again) so sorry - it'll have to wauit until tomorrow. Actually, if I send Kieran a couple of photos tonight, hopefully he can post them tomorrow.



* Don't panic folks, RAC/AA/GreenFlag European cover @ £180 is a lot cheaper for just 14 days, but nowadays I elect to get 12 months as in effect I have two Landy Rallies to travel per year!

Yes our experience of the RAC was pretty good in Spain although it cost us two nights extra at a decent hotel, whilst they sorted out what they were doing we think it saved us about 3K in repatriation costs etc.

Kieran can't post at the moment as we've just changed internet providers and the new one is not set up yet. Keith seemed to have got sidetracked by a combination of Pinky and the Frontera both needing a bit/lot of TLC last night. (Jo and I sat and watched them with a can of Carrefour lager in hand )

Quote :

Jo and I sat and watched them with a can of Carrefour lager in hand

Don't be embarassed, that cheap Carrefour larger's okay!

never a dull moment when your about tom,,,,,,,

Mmmmmm, could say that Tuggy. Come to think of it, exactly the same could be said of you mate! You know what? They can say what they like about us, but one thing's for sure, we never stand still.




Okay, here we go - the final instalment. But to continue, first we have to go back to the beginning - quite literally. You know the plan was that most of the teams would arrive in Calais or Dunkirk then head up the coast to Eindhoven in Holland for the start of Landy Rally 2009 from the “4x4 World” Show? Well, now it has all changed on this front as “4x4 Wereld” is now not taking place this year. Whether this is due to the economical climate or any other reason is very unclear at present, as despite numerous emails and attempted phone calls, nobody from the organisational team has bothered to reply. That is why having landed in Calais, Kieran and I made our way immediately to Eindhoven. To cut a long story short, it seems the “4x4 World” Show has been replaced by a winch challenge event, and even then this is not located in Eindhoven. It is wholly apparent therefore that to start Landy Rally in Holland could and would turn out to be a total fiasco. If the organisers can’t even return my emails, what chance have I got of arranging something concrete. Have a look for yourselves. Their website is www.4x4wereld.com Have a look on the lefthand side. As of June 2009 it still lists the 2008 show complete with traders floor plan, etc. I have even tried a translated page of this site, but still can't make out what's going on; wierd!

This is why I have decided to return to the usual format and start and finish Landy Rally 2009 in Calais. More of this anon, but this is a final decision regardless of what I may hear back from the Dutch. Enough is enough.

So, Kieran and myself now found ourselves back in Calais at all the usual haunts – Le Sybilien restaurant, Camping Municipal and of course Café de Paris. So now we finally begin … from Calais! Heading once again towards St Omer (as per LR`07) we travelled through every country in the itinerary including – wait for it – a drum roll please – build up the tension – HOLLAND. Yep, we managed it after all, thus we are still tackling 11 countries as announced.

Skipping on all the way down to Andorra via the much-heralded Stelvio Pass in Italy, the aim was always to find a ‘interesting route’ out of the Spanish principality. This we managed on a route that in all the time associated with Landy Rally, this for various reasons was the best yet! Spectacular or wot? It was truly amazing, not just because of the stunning views, but because the whole experience was so unexpected. Exactly what took place can be related around the camp fire at shows this year, but it certainly is not for public viewing on an open forum such as this. All I will say is you’re gonna love it. It is for the moment our ‘secret route’ and will remain so until the LR`09 teams have driven it this September. Intriguing eh?

As for the rest of the journey, the route was packed with wonderful scenes and personal memorises far too numerous to mention, suffice it to say I feel that Kieran and I have plotted an excellent route this year, one that you are guaranteed to enjoy.

Last but not least, on the penultimate night the teams will be calling in to a campsite very close to where my friends Wayne and Tracey now live near Bergerac. Whist there getting smashed on Cannabis-flavoured Absinthe purchased in Andorra (as you do), Tracey told me about a friend, another ex-Pat, who regularly travels back to the UK as part of his business. Phoning him to find out the route he drives back to Calais, even from a restaurant table where he was eating out he told me of the precise route he takes to avoid the many expensive péage autoroutes. It is because of this chap you will now be paying not even £20 this year in toll charges, as opposed to nearly £100 last year! That’s what a reconnoitre is all about I suppose, but it’s still a great result when things like this happen. Reckon we all owe that guy a beer!!!

That’s it, as you can see the recce was let’s say … somewhat interesting. First a disastrous start as we realised the Dutch start in Eindhoven was never going to happen, then the Rangie didn’t want to play so we lost one and half days sorting out the Range Rover repair plus organising a hire car, then we managed to plot a route through Holland after all, then after recouping the day and a half by driving through the night - a lot - finally got back on track and managed to finish the entire route as planned. And thanks to my good friend Jean-Luc back in Calais (he’s the guy who made sure Kieran’s ‘Pinky’ Land Rover 90 started last year) we even drove back in my RR. What an adventure, but just wait until September, ‘cause it’s going to get even better – you mark my words!

Okay, here we go - etc etc etc...



Tom, I think it's magnificent the effort you put into organising the Landy Rally, no really!
Sorry to hear of the RR probs and I guess with the Dutch situation added to that you must've been wondering what else can go wrong.

Whilst I'm sure you thoroughly enjoy doing the reccy it nevertheless doesn't detract from the fact that it still costs time and money.

I am amazed at your efforts to be honest and certainly appreciate what you're doing for all parties involved in the LR'09, not to mention Kierans involvment with you on this.


Oh, just out of curiosity, Jo and I are taking part in an annual event known as the Landy Rally, this year being the '09 event. We shall be travelling through 11 countries in just 9 nine days, yep you heard right, 11 countries in just 9 days. The event , a charity event, involves both on and offroad driving.... I'll cut to the chase...would you like to sponsor our Landy TD5 Discovery for fuel?

What?
Why not?
Well I'm sorry but that's not good enough!

JC

I'll strike a deal with you - you pay for our fuel and we'll pay for yours !

On second thoughts as we have an old Discovery, a Frontera and whatever Kieran and James take between them either a 90, an ambulance or a 110 perhaps not such a good deal from your point of view !

Last year Kieran managed to get quite a few sponsors for ferry costs and fuel costs in exchange for some advertising on Pinky - So it is possible.

I can't wait to get the camera ready for these great shots in the Pyrenees.

See you either at the start line or before if you go to one of the shows.

sounds good tom,,,,wish i could make it,,,,,

maybe you could do one to end up in gib or start in gib,,,or just pass thru gib for next year,,,, :bball:

SJ

I couldv'e sworn I responded to this once but obviously it didn't get through! (more likely I hit preview again instead of send!)

I see my TIC comment to Tom went down like a sack of King Edwards!

I think I will pass on your generous offer regarding fuelling on this occasion but thanks anyway!

Sponsorships are going very well and to be honest for what we have secured to date would actually equate to more than fuel costs so we can't complain, and shan't, and to be honest we never expected to get fuel sponsorship anyway even though businesses have been approached. Not giving up yet on that one.

Jo and I have pencilled Billing in and will be hoping to make an appearance on the Sunday as the Saturday is likely to be taken up with recieiving/applying the graphics from our graphics sponsor.

The latest -

Just got back From Calais ... again! What happened was Jean-Luc, my friend with the independent Land Rover garage in Calais, phoned me late Wednesday evening this week. It appears that the day before on Tuesday, the police stopped Jean-Luc for some petty traffic offence, demanding that he produce his Land Rover's registration documents (the very same docs that vehicle owners in France must carry with them at all times). To cut a long story short, he couldn't produce them because yours truly still had them in his bag from the recce in June. The morning my Rangie was being transferred to Jean-Luc's garage by the RAC breakdown truck, Jean-Luc had lent me his Defender 110 to run about in, so handed me the vehicle's registration papers. He and I both forgot I had them, hence the Old Bill impounded his 110 there and then.

Not only that, if Jean-Luc could not present the registration docs at the police station by Saturday, he (or ultimately me) would incur a 300 euro fine.

Tried to UPS them on Thursday, but by the time I found then at 4pm, the last pick-up had passed (this being 3pm). Monday would have been the earliest, that's why the mad dash to Dover.

Cost was good though. The day trip with P & O Ferries mit RR and two people cost only £19.00 return. Mind you, sailings either one hour earlier or later would have cost £70.00 Just goes to show, look around!

A brief thank you JC for the encouragement. I'll go out of my way anyway to assist folk whenever and wherever possible, but in this case as 'Organiser' I also have a responsibility to provide the best possible, hence a recce is a must - along with all the problems it can throw up. That's life! Every cloud though, you should see the wine and beer I brought back! Wey hey, did someone mention a party???

Sunday is great as I was planning to visit the LRM Max Show at Newark on the Saturday. See you Sun then!

Me I'm off to get some shut-eye!