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Raid Asterix

Some very nice pics there.
 
I think my top tips would be to get a trip meter with a decent size display and remote zero button (ours was fine once we added the big remote display and button options) and you do really need a navigator (preferably one without numeric dyslexia :mrgreen: ) as I very nearly went solo which would have been a challenge to get round reading road books without running into things.
 
Looks like it was an great trip. Nic pictures too. France is a fab country and very picturesque. Some of the little rural villages and surrounding areas are fantastic. Hope tp go next year.

Anyone care to comment how the offroad biased tyres were on the long road trip sections? Just asking out of interest really. I see Gary's motor with a very chunky set.... :o
 
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Nice pics. Sounds like it was a interesting if not intially stressfull
 
Looks like it was an excellent trip. Nice pictures.
 
Thanks for the pics :) trip looks great and the lc's are looking especially good next to those LR's :p
 
Just don't ask Steve why his side step is missing ;) :lol:
 
I also have a redesigned side step from the rocks on day 2.

Looks like a surf board now.

Must look at some rock sliders.



Mal
 
Those rocks were a bit of a squeeze for my 100 but I have sliders so just picked up some scrapes on the wheels where they just wouldn't fit!
 
Jon Wildsmith said:
Just don't ask Steve why his side step is missing ;) :lol:
We were talking the day before, and I said that the side steps were just cosmetic realy and would bend :roll: The following day I found a large rock and pushed the step into my back wheel :oops: The section was very tight and I could not get out the truck and my navigater could not get down the side so had to drive 100 meters with the step jammed into the rear wheel. Said step is still in France and has now probably been recycled into something else :D

The up side is that the rock sliders I was thinking of doing is now a definate :D :D

Steve
 
My wheels and sliders got a good gouging through there and in places the higher rocks were getting close to redesigning body panels, no way I could have squeezed through with OEM steps in one piece. Not sure how Gary got on but I think he said his sliders got some abuse as well. Thinking back, I don't remember any warnings from Chris about how tight it would be, just that he wanted to follow the widest truck so he could watch.
 
OK – my take on the Raid Asterix !! (And note this is solely my opinion, and I have my wife's permission to say so!!)

The trip can be broken into two aspects:

1. The Organisation
2. The trip itself

In terms of the trip itself, Jon has it pretty much covered – great tracks, stunning scenery, some interesting villages, nice camp-sites, and mostly great weather – we had a little rain and some chilly days due to altitude.

All the LCs performed flawlessly, although Steve might have had a slight over-heating problem on the run down to Clermont-Ferrand on the AutoRoutes at speed and in the heat – he and Jon suspect an air-flow problem due to suspension lift etc. – investigations continue! In contrast, the only vehicle to pack up was the BOAB LR90, which experienced a front drive issue, and had to be recovered by Jon and Ray and reduced to a 2-wheel-drive vehicle for the rest of the trip – making the promised support and back-up non-existent! Good thing we didn’t need any of that, then. Hope he doesn’t have to recover anyone on the current trip!

Steve lost a running board on Day 2 – my Wildsmith sliders did what the manufacturer promised, and kept me well protected ;)

The organisation side of things I’m afraid was not what I was led to believe. It didn’t start well, with a moan about having to now try and remember all our names, having ‘just got rid of the last lot’ – how to make your clients feel welcome! Other comments about ‘this is work for me’ and ‘having to deal with @rseholes when at work’ didn’t help.

Nor did the instructions to arrive at the gite on Tuesday evening AFTER 18h30 go down well, when we did so, only to find everyone else hadn’t bothered, the guide was nowhere to be found, and we were left to flounder for 40 minutes trying to find out where he was, where our rooms were and what else we were supposed to do. The guide finally appeared, all freshly showered, and made it out to be our fault for arriving at the stated time, saying ‘we were about to come look for you!’. Not professional – especially when he did the same thing at the hotel, and then at the end of the final stage, when he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, and nor did he supply the final farewell drinks!

Also – if the site and adverts say: A 9.00am start each day is preceded by the days briefing at 8.45am, where you will be given your road book for the day. It would be useful if we actually had the briefing at the stated time, and not some arbitrary time thereafter!

And - even though the driving is diverse, from rocky and boulder strewn tracks, to crawling up mountains, crossing rivers, navigating through dense forest and worst of all French roundabouts!! We would still anticipate that everyone will have plenty of time for sightseeing, photography and picnics during the day. You can only do this if you drive like the Stig, and the navigator will see squat as they won’t be able to get their heads out the road book to look around! We tried to resolve this by driving in tandem with Jon and Ray, swapping the lead each day so that one navigator at least could take it a bit easier – that seemed to help - but 120km a day is just too much, really, to be able to enjoy the trip vs just drive ...

Then: camp sites are paid for and a few impromptu aperitif's, as well as an odd evening meal, and farewell drinks on the Saturday

So – the few aperitifs never really materialised, nor did the odd evening meal, nor the Saturday farewell drinks. If you’re going to advertise it – then damn well do it!

Lots of comments about prizes etc on previous trips – none of these materialised, and the one road-book that we had to complete sections of on our own for marking and comment weren’t collected ….

Any criticism / suggestions for improvement was soundly ignored – in fact, certain very competent members of our group were practically called ‘idiots’ much to my amazement!!

So – whinge over – here are some of our pics to share with you …

At Le Grange Fort campsite (€40 for all 6 of us and 3 vehicles for the night, and you could buy fresh farm bread in the morning, which was delicious!):

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The indoor pool:
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The original fort:
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The Doctor and the the FoxWing:

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Comtois Horses

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The little river crossing – enter the river, turn right and 70 metres later exit left …

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The damn bell in the monastery :lol:

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Took much more effort to get it to toll than I anticipated – accompanied by the quotes of ‘for whom the bell tolls - it tolls for thee’ etc.

Climbing the Massif – stunning views

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Dodging the timber lorries – Jon and I were stopped on a bridge because this guy came around a corner towards us. Some local yokel in his puggy wagon decided to hurtle around Jon’s truck – and very nearly had to change his skivvies when he discovered why we were pulled over – quite hilarious – his eyes almost bounced off his windscreen!

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The obligatory coffee stop!

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Windy little streets

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The fireplace in the dining room in the gite:

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Says 1657 on the metalwork !!

Some pics of the gite:

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Some of the Gorge du Tarn

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The obligatory coffee stop ;)

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Incredible chateau’s

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Asterix’ tomb – nearly my tomb !!

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The ‘must have a picture of’ water splash:

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And again…

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One way to wash the truck!!

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Lots of BJ40 and LJ70 cruisers everywhere – this one begging for a home

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The Last Supper

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Incredible fields of cultivated dandelions

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More stunning vistas

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Another obligatory coffee stop!!

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More views

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The farewell shot!!

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The Loire River campsite at Ile d’Or in Amboise

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Gary Stockton said:

erm.... that's how I 'lost' my number plate!

Out of interest what was the off road driving like... from the pics it's hard to tell how challenging it was?
 
Most of it was dirt forest track - one section had a pretty high 'middelmannetjie' (no idea what that is in English - doesn't really translate!!) that I could hear under the vehicle, but we didn't get hung up on. The 2nd day little gully was interesting, and I used low range just for the hell of it, not out of necessity. I didn't do 'the rock' part due the deep gullys and low overhang - we were advised that damage to the Roof Tent would result. In retrospect it probably would have been OK, but I decided to try and let brains win out over bravado, which happened, but I'm not sure I shouldn't have gone anyway - Jon reckoned it should have been ok if I picked the right line ...

Other than that, nothing really challenging (in the dry). Some bits would be more 'interesting' in the wet, I suspect, especially where active lumber harvesting was taking place :shock:

I clearly have my front number plate more firmly attached than you had - we did that splash bit 4 times for the fun of it :lol:

Even when we mis-read the road book and went 'off-piste' it wasn't too bad. Some of the roads were like good Namibian dirt roads, and you could do 100kph easily ...

Some weren't quite as good:

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I reckon we were in high range, open diffs about 98% of the time.
 
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