Friday
Guy woke up and stuck his head out of the tent to be greeted by a blanket of snow, mm lovely. Slowly but surely people started arriving. I turned up around 3pm with Sideez in tow shortly followed by Toppa, Dave-H and mazzyjane.
Tents were pitched without too much hassle as the ground was nice and soft. Good to see some old faces and a couple of new faces already on site. The weather was good and it was already shaping up to be a good weekend.
More and more people turned up and the camp site owner's idea of confining us between the two tracks went a bit Pete Tong as there was what seemed to be a constant stream of Land Rovers of all shapes and sizes coming through the gate..
A few runs down the chippy and everyone was getting ready for a quiet and enjoyable evening meeting new people and having a couple of drinks. Then the heavens opened…. Never have I seen so many hastily-constructed shelters from tarp, bungee cords, ratchet straps and land rovers in all my life, but boy did they go up quick.
The rest of the evening was spent chatting amongst friends and getting to know some new faces and generally hiding from the lovely Welsh weather. A good evening was had by all, although the temperature did drop dramatically and many people had a poor night's sleep..
Saturday
The Saturday morning air was filled with the smell of full English breakfasts and Geo bread, the weather was quite clear and the sound of Landies being started filled the camp.. After watching a few people leave a few people started asking where the meet point was, I got the location from Dave-H and led a procession of ten or so Land Rovers along the winding roads to what I thought was the meet point.. All was going well until we spotted the organisers parked up in another car park.
A quick U-turn and a few apologies and we were at the meeting point. Slightly better than one unlucky owner who did not even make it to the meeting point after the power steering gave up the ghost just outside the camp site, better luck next time JJ.
The treasure hunt map was put up under an awning and people started feverishly copying down the clue locations, and then the warden arrived following a few calls from the locals and the police regarding a large number of 4x4s in the area..
Guy and Lewis went through the routes and the warden was quite happy with the planning that had gone into the event and that we weren’t going to be causing any trouble, and that was the last we saw of him which can only mean we were well-behaved J
Groups were quickly formed and there were Land Rovers going off in every conceivable direction…
The next few hours were spent pootling about (or not in JJ’s case), looking for clues and driving through some fantastic scenery, passing other teams occasionally and being verbally abused over the CB by your competition (yes I'm looking at you Toppa).
The group I was in stopped off at The Crown in Rhayader for a pub lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the good food there. Then it was off to 1700ft looking for more clues on some of the best lanes I have ever driven. After a mad dash back to the finish point there was a distinct lack of people.. Were we in the wrong place? Was it too early?.. Nope everyone else was late, the organisers made it with seconds to spare before the 4:30 deadline.
By about 5:30pm we started going through the answers and marking up the question sheets…
First place : ROB 110 HICAP and team - Scooby doo
Second place : Hippy Happy’s – Whiskey
Third Place : Paul Humphreys and team
Bling award : AJC
Best Series : Rich_P
Best Non LR – Dave and Lins for their Skoda.
Most breakdowns : ex-member JJSaul
Best Team Name : Paul Humphreys – “The car in front is a Toyota”
Absent friends trophy : AJC
After the results had been announced it was off to the camp site for the Brothers Grimm famous BBQ, not without some squeezing in a few more lanes on the route back.
Bob in his yellow 90 had an interesting journey back to the camp with two knackered shocks, but at least got off better than SCHREIBER who was towed back into camp with electrical problems.
Back at the camp site the weather was still sunny and holding up, but makeshift shelters and gazebos were erected just to be on the safe side, as it turned out it stayed fairly dry until early in the morning…
After what seemed an eternity the food was ready to be served at the famous Brothers Grimm BBQ. As usual the food was spot-on and steaks disappeared rapidly, another box was found and there was a mad dash for the last few.. On the menu were steak, pork, chicken, burgers, $hit on a stick, curry and a good supply of condiments.. The BBQ raised over £300 with many people donating generously.
A large crowd gathered around the BBQ for warmth for the next hour or so with a few smaller groups bumbling off to their makeshift shelters for beers.. the night was long with stories of the day being told and many drinks consumed, bad jokes and worse stories seemed to be the order of the day and laughter rang through the camp.
Every now and then you would get a visit from the drunk wanderer (Rich_P
) who is advised to bring his own lagers next time. A good evening was had by all and the dry and warmer night ensured that most people got a better night's sleep than the previous night.. or was that the drink?
Sunday
Most of the Sunday morning was taken up with people packing up and saying their goodbyes, we had a chuckle at the AA man trying to locate a rotor arm for SCHREIBER's 2a on a Sunday morning, and then a greater chuckle as the winners of the ‘best non LR’ award tried to leave the camp site in their Skoda.. after a few photos a couple of people got stuck in and pushed the Skoda onto solid ground, only for it to get stuck again when Dave was saying goodbye to Ada.
All in all a successful hunt that went off with no problems for us or the locals. A tribute to the fantastic planning and organisation of the event and of course the conduct of the attending members.
Guy woke up and stuck his head out of the tent to be greeted by a blanket of snow, mm lovely. Slowly but surely people started arriving. I turned up around 3pm with Sideez in tow shortly followed by Toppa, Dave-H and mazzyjane.
Tents were pitched without too much hassle as the ground was nice and soft. Good to see some old faces and a couple of new faces already on site. The weather was good and it was already shaping up to be a good weekend.
More and more people turned up and the camp site owner's idea of confining us between the two tracks went a bit Pete Tong as there was what seemed to be a constant stream of Land Rovers of all shapes and sizes coming through the gate..
A few runs down the chippy and everyone was getting ready for a quiet and enjoyable evening meeting new people and having a couple of drinks. Then the heavens opened…. Never have I seen so many hastily-constructed shelters from tarp, bungee cords, ratchet straps and land rovers in all my life, but boy did they go up quick.
The rest of the evening was spent chatting amongst friends and getting to know some new faces and generally hiding from the lovely Welsh weather. A good evening was had by all, although the temperature did drop dramatically and many people had a poor night's sleep..
Saturday
The Saturday morning air was filled with the smell of full English breakfasts and Geo bread, the weather was quite clear and the sound of Landies being started filled the camp.. After watching a few people leave a few people started asking where the meet point was, I got the location from Dave-H and led a procession of ten or so Land Rovers along the winding roads to what I thought was the meet point.. All was going well until we spotted the organisers parked up in another car park.
A quick U-turn and a few apologies and we were at the meeting point. Slightly better than one unlucky owner who did not even make it to the meeting point after the power steering gave up the ghost just outside the camp site, better luck next time JJ.
The treasure hunt map was put up under an awning and people started feverishly copying down the clue locations, and then the warden arrived following a few calls from the locals and the police regarding a large number of 4x4s in the area..
Guy and Lewis went through the routes and the warden was quite happy with the planning that had gone into the event and that we weren’t going to be causing any trouble, and that was the last we saw of him which can only mean we were well-behaved J
Groups were quickly formed and there were Land Rovers going off in every conceivable direction…
The next few hours were spent pootling about (or not in JJ’s case), looking for clues and driving through some fantastic scenery, passing other teams occasionally and being verbally abused over the CB by your competition (yes I'm looking at you Toppa).
The group I was in stopped off at The Crown in Rhayader for a pub lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the good food there. Then it was off to 1700ft looking for more clues on some of the best lanes I have ever driven. After a mad dash back to the finish point there was a distinct lack of people.. Were we in the wrong place? Was it too early?.. Nope everyone else was late, the organisers made it with seconds to spare before the 4:30 deadline.
By about 5:30pm we started going through the answers and marking up the question sheets…
First place : ROB 110 HICAP and team - Scooby doo
Second place : Hippy Happy’s – Whiskey
Third Place : Paul Humphreys and team
Bling award : AJC
Best Series : Rich_P
Best Non LR – Dave and Lins for their Skoda.
Most breakdowns : ex-member JJSaul
Best Team Name : Paul Humphreys – “The car in front is a Toyota”
Absent friends trophy : AJC
After the results had been announced it was off to the camp site for the Brothers Grimm famous BBQ, not without some squeezing in a few more lanes on the route back.
Bob in his yellow 90 had an interesting journey back to the camp with two knackered shocks, but at least got off better than SCHREIBER who was towed back into camp with electrical problems.
Back at the camp site the weather was still sunny and holding up, but makeshift shelters and gazebos were erected just to be on the safe side, as it turned out it stayed fairly dry until early in the morning…
After what seemed an eternity the food was ready to be served at the famous Brothers Grimm BBQ. As usual the food was spot-on and steaks disappeared rapidly, another box was found and there was a mad dash for the last few.. On the menu were steak, pork, chicken, burgers, $hit on a stick, curry and a good supply of condiments.. The BBQ raised over £300 with many people donating generously.
A large crowd gathered around the BBQ for warmth for the next hour or so with a few smaller groups bumbling off to their makeshift shelters for beers.. the night was long with stories of the day being told and many drinks consumed, bad jokes and worse stories seemed to be the order of the day and laughter rang through the camp.
Every now and then you would get a visit from the drunk wanderer (Rich_P
) who is advised to bring his own lagers next time. A good evening was had by all and the dry and warmer night ensured that most people got a better night's sleep than the previous night.. or was that the drink?Sunday
Most of the Sunday morning was taken up with people packing up and saying their goodbyes, we had a chuckle at the AA man trying to locate a rotor arm for SCHREIBER's 2a on a Sunday morning, and then a greater chuckle as the winners of the ‘best non LR’ award tried to leave the camp site in their Skoda.. after a few photos a couple of people got stuck in and pushed the Skoda onto solid ground, only for it to get stuck again when Dave was saying goodbye to Ada.
All in all a successful hunt that went off with no problems for us or the locals. A tribute to the fantastic planning and organisation of the event and of course the conduct of the attending members.
