A 2017 meeting

[Chris]

5 hours for me too but I do think that sharing at least one meeting around per year is a nice thing. We have done The New Forest. Maybe time to do something more North. I doubt there's anyone been to every meeting we've had. But there are some who haven't had the chance to come to any so far. No reason we couldn't have one down on the South Coast at some point either.

 

[mussy]

Would love to to a meet, it's a bit of a journey from the Alps but I like to be in the 80...

 

[Chris]

Mate, stop there, we'll come to you!

 

[silvercruiser]

Only 6hrs 48mins for me (according to google maps) I would of come if i hadn't just driven back from the cairngorms plus im driving to the south of france in july. the wife would kill me if i broke the LC weeks before going

 

[hamba]

Just under 5 hours for me with 2+ hours stuck on a ferry.

 

[Chris]

I will make some tentative enquiries with my guy up there. I just don't think we'll be able to have a large group in convoy, that's the issue. Some places won't matter a bit, it's just working out an interesting route for a day that takes in those areas as one interesting drive. None of this is damaging stuff (gravel, forest roads) and is the closest to green laning Scotland that you'll get. It's pretty damn picturesque. It's be awesome if we could wild camp in one of the sections by one of the lochs for instance. Let me see if he could put something together for us. He doesn't work for free of course, but if all he has to do is lead for a day and open the odd gate and not have to worry about us, our vehicles, abilities and feeding us etc then he should be open to acting as guide for us.

I wouldn't suggest that this is necessarily a replacement for Lincomb, it's simply an additional club meet just like Salisbury Plain and suchlike.

Like this

 

[Chas]

Chris, you make that sound so attractive I think I'll have to make the effort.

 

[Chris]

Nothing set in stone yet Chas, not even sketched in soft mud. I don't know what he can do but I've mailed him to see if he can do a full day trail of some of the best bits for the biggest number of vehicles with a nice lunch stop, good views and a potential wild camp in the hills. Even when we lane in England there's a limit to a convoy. I could run a second one an hour behind perhaps if I had the routes and the permissions etc. But he's worked very hard to get these access rights and if we stuff them up, effectively we stuff up his business. So he might not be receptive to that. D&G is a registered Dark Park too and he's a guide for that so if we could park up and stay somewhere we could be in for a real night sky treat.

 

[Roy Duffy]

Im up for meeting up. Might take the troopy for a wee play

 

[Chris]

Well I've had a very positive response from up Noorth but I still need to talk it over with them. But in principle, they could handle a larger group on selected trails with a non camp-site overnighter.

Don't rule out any other ideas at this point as this is still very much a case of kite flying.

 

[AndyCook]

Thanks for looking into it Chris
Would this be in July ? Off to Alps and Massif Central again in June

 

[Chris]

Not a clue Andy. Sorry. KB offered mid June earlier in the post. We'd need to work out what they could do, any limits on when, then decide out of those who are genuinely interested what dates they could make.

Not being funny, but if the purpose here is to try and cement relations with our Northern chapter, the dates have to suit them first. Fine wanting to come up from Dorset and Essex etc but they can't really dictate the terms if yah feel me. We do also have to consider the pesky midges.

 

[AndyCook]

Oh no, I forgot about midges, assumed they were too soft to venture out of the Highlands... they appeared on 1st June this year

 

[SpinDrift]

Depending when, I'd be interested

 

[Rosy]

After all the awesome photos from @AndyCooks Scotland thread a while back I'd be up for a venture into the highlands.... walking distance to a distillery would be perfect

 

[StarCruiser]

Sorry Chris, you've just convinced me, we need to be on this one. Midge free ideally or Lynn will be most upset, she's the decoy you see!
We would probably be the longest drive but hey, I can almost certainly sell Scotland to Lynn with a mid way stopover.

 

[Chris]

Long way for a long weekend though Rich!

Important not to get too ahead of ourselves though. Once and if we get a plan together, we'll have to have a register of interest and firm commitments. But for now there's really nothing to sign up to other than an idea.

 

[StarCruiser]

One heck of a long way for a weekend Chris, so we would need to do other things, visit other places afterwards and make a week of it.
It's the midges that are concerning me. Presumably to catch it before they come out you have to go there before it warms up. If it's too cold or midge riden it could put Lynn off camping, and as she's very new to it I don't want to do that. The poor thing just attracts mozzies and midges, we would be ok cos they would all head for her, but that wouldn't be fun at all for her.

 

[Shayne]

I might be in Lanzarote but otherwise Dumfries is about 6 hours for me . On Google maps not UK roads !

And so as i regularly travel up to Heysham i would be keen to travel the lump of the journey after 9pm perhaps spending a night in the Lake District or the Dales so i wake an hour or 2 from my destination .

As i say its too soon to tell for me but i thought this may open up possibilities for others .

 

[GeekOKent]

We were up there last year and it was literally the 1st june or something when the little beasts came out. They only seem to be around at dawn and dusk though (or maybe we didn't notice them too much during the day? ).

There is always spray and midge net hoods.