G
Guest
Guest
Hi All,
I have been looking into the various options for organising a weekend
event for Landcruiser owners and I think the best option (and probably
the cheapest) would be something along the following lines:
We would aim to book a campsite in somewhere like North/Central Wales
for the weekend and then from there either have pre-organised laning
trips or trips round a nearby 4x4 off road coarse.
The focus for the weekend would be the social side of things with the
laning and/or trip to a 4x4 course being more of a side show. I would
want you to feel comfortable bringing your families along so would be
aiming to find a campsite with suitable showering facilities, etc.
The assumption is that if you have a caravan you would be able to bring
that along, otherwise it is out with the sexy new roof tent or the ?2
army surplus Bivouac from ebay!
You would have to be relatively self sufficient food wise, although we
would aim to put a guide together of local hostilleries who do good
food.
Depending on the helpfulness of the campsite owner we can look into
organising extra stuff like a hog roast or other entertainment on site.
I have looked at trying to base ourselves at an off road centre,
however it gets expensive having to add sufficient facilities for
camping.
Yes we could find a campsite near an existing off road coarse but if we
were to essentially take over the offroad coarse for a weekend things
like insurance, marshalling, medical backup, etc get expensive.
If we can't find a suitable campsite the next option would be to find a
friendly land owner with flat fields and then hire in the loos and
showering facilities - I suispect this may be a wee bit more expensive,
but would provide greater flexibility in terms of what we do on the
land.
I was initially inspired by what the Jeep club do, which is to take
over the Tong off road course for the weekend and have a few trade
stands and entertainment, etc, however it is expensive (last years
event cost ?15k for 200 odd vehicles and also a hassle to organise - I
had a long chat with the chap who organised it and he thought it took
about 2 months of his time - he is fed up with the hassle and the cost
and so is no longer going to run it).
I think that if we just organise booking the camping side of things and
then sort out putting people into groups for laning as we have done for
Salisbury Plain it should be relatively straight forward. If there was
a local off road centre that people could use we could provide
directions and possibly negotiate a discount, but it would be up to the
centre owners to sort out the marshalling, insurance, etc.
At the moment I am thinking along the lines of a weekend towards the
end of the summer holidays, close enough to school term dates not to
interfere with family holidays but also not to clash with school dates.
We could even try to go for the August Bank holiday so you get the
extra day to recover.
Rather than storming ahead and organising something I would like to get
some feedback from you lot on the following:
* I've chosen North/Central Wales on the basis that there is some great
scenery there and some pretty good lanes - do you have any other
suggestions? Hell we could even wander over to France!!
* Do you have any views on when to hold it?
* If you know the North/Central Wales area, do you know of any suitable
camp sites and/or off road centres?
* Would any of you from outside the UK be willing to come over?
Please give it some thought and then let me know what you think, either
by replying to this thread or dropping me an email directly.
So fire away!
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
Mobile: 07971 540362
Cirencester, United Kingdom
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift
I have been looking into the various options for organising a weekend
event for Landcruiser owners and I think the best option (and probably
the cheapest) would be something along the following lines:
We would aim to book a campsite in somewhere like North/Central Wales
for the weekend and then from there either have pre-organised laning
trips or trips round a nearby 4x4 off road coarse.
The focus for the weekend would be the social side of things with the
laning and/or trip to a 4x4 course being more of a side show. I would
want you to feel comfortable bringing your families along so would be
aiming to find a campsite with suitable showering facilities, etc.
The assumption is that if you have a caravan you would be able to bring
that along, otherwise it is out with the sexy new roof tent or the ?2
army surplus Bivouac from ebay!
You would have to be relatively self sufficient food wise, although we
would aim to put a guide together of local hostilleries who do good
food.
Depending on the helpfulness of the campsite owner we can look into
organising extra stuff like a hog roast or other entertainment on site.
I have looked at trying to base ourselves at an off road centre,
however it gets expensive having to add sufficient facilities for
camping.
Yes we could find a campsite near an existing off road coarse but if we
were to essentially take over the offroad coarse for a weekend things
like insurance, marshalling, medical backup, etc get expensive.
If we can't find a suitable campsite the next option would be to find a
friendly land owner with flat fields and then hire in the loos and
showering facilities - I suispect this may be a wee bit more expensive,
but would provide greater flexibility in terms of what we do on the
land.
I was initially inspired by what the Jeep club do, which is to take
over the Tong off road course for the weekend and have a few trade
stands and entertainment, etc, however it is expensive (last years
event cost ?15k for 200 odd vehicles and also a hassle to organise - I
had a long chat with the chap who organised it and he thought it took
about 2 months of his time - he is fed up with the hassle and the cost
and so is no longer going to run it).
I think that if we just organise booking the camping side of things and
then sort out putting people into groups for laning as we have done for
Salisbury Plain it should be relatively straight forward. If there was
a local off road centre that people could use we could provide
directions and possibly negotiate a discount, but it would be up to the
centre owners to sort out the marshalling, insurance, etc.
At the moment I am thinking along the lines of a weekend towards the
end of the summer holidays, close enough to school term dates not to
interfere with family holidays but also not to clash with school dates.
We could even try to go for the August Bank holiday so you get the
extra day to recover.
Rather than storming ahead and organising something I would like to get
some feedback from you lot on the following:
* I've chosen North/Central Wales on the basis that there is some great
scenery there and some pretty good lanes - do you have any other
suggestions? Hell we could even wander over to France!!
* Do you have any views on when to hold it?
* If you know the North/Central Wales area, do you know of any suitable
camp sites and/or off road centres?
* Would any of you from outside the UK be willing to come over?
Please give it some thought and then let me know what you think, either
by replying to this thread or dropping me an email directly.
So fire away!
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
Mobile: 07971 540362
Cirencester, United Kingdom
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift