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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2076   
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Time for a quick update on our latest trips - we undertook the Northumberland 250 last week and had a fab time touring the county up and into the Scottish boarders as part of the route.
see https://northumberland250.com for more route details We visited castles, forest trails, Abbys, beaches, Hadrian's wall, islands and a bookshop to die for ! The map of the route was not very easy to follow, but gave us key places to point to along the way. Poppy was perfect with all the set up working well. The weather was damp at times but not too wet. Camping was a mixture of free camping and staying on allowed camping on some of the council car parks for about £12 per night. Here are a few snaps of the trip --  Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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11th May 2023 10:18am |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2076
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As part of the Devon and Cornwall 4x4 response team, we supported the 10tors event on Dartmoor, with over 2000 teenagers took part in the challenge carrying their equipment and navigating by map and compass over 48 hrs on the moor. The event is ran by the military with an input from all the services, including x2 merlin helicopters which were used for positioning equipment out on the moors then medical evacuation of injured/ill participants to the medial teams/hospital
I was paired up with my partner and our role this year was to support the Dartmoor rescue team by providing logistical support in getting them out to patrol the moor and back after their deployment. other team members had scrutinisers to transport, fire defence duties and traction assist for the boggy carpark! We had a ‘hurry up and wait’ sort of tasking which suited us as we had time to cheer on the various teams and watch the event from strategic positions. it was a fantastic thing to be part of and gave us the opportunity to drive up on the moor on the roads normally only permitted to the military. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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11th May 2023 10:49am |
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| Timcat Member Since: 20 Jul 2016 Location: Tanzania at the moment Posts: 1014 
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Nice write up Gary, truck looks well
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12th May 2023 12:33pm |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2076
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Ok , so another catch up from a 15 day summer trip where we visited Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and transited through France, Begum, Holland and Germany.
Click image to enlarge We have some family on the East Coast of Sweden who’ve had children recently and my partner wanted to go and visit them. So a plan was made to catch a ferry from Dover to Dunkirk and drive up to Sundsvall in Sweden. I had to drive home from work in Aberdeen, arriving home early on the Thursday morning, set up the landrover for the trip, pack and get on the road to Dover The set up was not too complicated and the longest job was to swap out the main lifting struts on the pop top for the stronger ones that would support the boxes I was putting on the roof with the awning sides and various spares and extras in. After that it was just a case of filing the water tank and loading the food and clothes and we were away by 12. Click image to enlarge We arrived at Dover and were able to bring our crossing forward so arrived in France early in the morning getting well north before the rush hours stated, however every city we transited had some form of road works ongoing so we got used to sitting in traffic jams again ! Crossing Germany on the auto-ban we followed a lovely looking 110 puma who sped along with us behind at …. I followed them for a little while but eased off once the speedo reached 90mph !! Click image to enlarge The route took us over the Shorebelt and Malmo bridges which were fabulous to cross - if a little pricey even with the discount from pre booking and app use ... but my partner was happy as she was able to take many photos as we crossed, with clear blue skies and no mist or fog to mar the view. From there we entered Sweden and headed north along the E4 route that goes from Stockholm all the way and on up to Norcap - we found the road very easy to drive but had to keep on our toes as the speed limit changed from 50mph to 40mph often and then down to 19mph in some towns. The Cruise control worked superbly well on the open roads and the limiter helped with keeping the speed management in the slow towns. Click image to enlarge After a few days in Sundsvall we set off west and across into Norway. On the route we came across several Elk (Moose) who wandered down to the road. We heeded the warnings of potential animals on the road after that a kept a look out on both sided of the road as they are much larger than a UK deer so would be an awful thing to hit even at slow speed! The scenery was very pleasant in Sweden, with a vast number of trees, with regular lakes and rivers to break up the mass of green. On the way over to Norway we started to see some mountains which still had snow on top, which my photographic manager made the most of ! Click image to enlarge In Norway we headed to Trondheime on the west coast then headed south back into Sweden and towards Jonkoping, then back towards the Malmo Bridge and back into Denmark, where we headed over to Ribe in Denmark and spent a pleasant couple of days wandering around the lovely town. Then is was back on the road and south to Holland and over the long Afsluitdijk causeway - which seems to be having some major renovation work going on with more road works and closed viewing points. We kept close to the sea as much as possible on the run back to Dunkirk and once again managed to bring our sailing forward and crossed over the channel on our way home. Click image to enlarge So 15 nights, 4230 miles, 7 countries, 2 damp days, 2.5 wine boxes, several million trees and lots of photos. The speed limits kept us about 50-60 most of the time and the use of the cruise control helped us get some great range out of the tank - seeing 300 miles from a half tank was the normal rather than 230 which I normally get. Click image to enlarge All in all a great trip - even poppy was well behaved and gave us no trouble at all - but next trip will be different as we will have more time to enjoy stopping and exploring as I will have finished working offshore. Looking forward to the next adventure ! (Some better pictures to follow as mine are not as good as my partners - as you can see below ! ) Click image to enlarge View from the Malmo Bridge at 50mph ... ! Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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26th Jun 2023 6:23pm |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10547 
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What a great trip you both had, glad it went all okay with Poppy
1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper.
Clayton. |
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26th Jun 2023 9:33pm |
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| RoadForce Member Since: 17 Jul 2014 Location: Holland Posts: 324  
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Haha great that you mention the boxes of wine in the trip statistics!
 Defender 130 HCPU Td5 MY2000 |
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28th Jun 2023 11:34am |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2076
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We are away camping with the Landrover Charity group later in the month, so something to look forward too!
Last year we toured Norfolk and Cambridgeshire - below is a pic of Poppy set up for the camp site enjoying some lovely evening sun ... Tuff-Trek 270 awning with sided fitted, numerous flags and the top popped ... Click image to enlarge Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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16th Aug 2023 8:50pm |
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| Ianb Member Since: 25 Oct 2023 Location: Devon Posts: 228
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A really enjoyable thread!
Although, I'm a little worried, I've yet to source a Defender and your build thread has already got me writing up shopping lists!! The Yeti - 110 Camper https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic90308.html Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@YetitheDefender Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/yetithedefender/ |
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3rd Nov 2023 8:48pm |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2076
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Hi Ian
welcome to the never ending world of defender upgrades and modifications !! I have added some more tweaks recently and will be adding to the post later in the month - however there are some magnificent conversions on here which are inspiring and where i have got some of my ideas from - 
Take a look at Timcat on here who has undertaken an amazing build and has been traveling all over Africa for the last year or so - (and not with out some drama! ) - but now has an amazing vehicle designed to do the trip ! 
We are in Cornwall and your profile info says you are in the SW, so if you are near maybe we can give you the guided tour one day ! Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html
Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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3rd Nov 2023 9:39pm |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2076
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ok ... been a little time since my last upgrade so made the most of the lovely weather this bank holiday weekend and caught up with a few tasks that have been in the planing for a while ...
Firstly I gave the crossmember some TLC as it was getting a little tatty .. so it was out with the sander and then a splash of hammertite paint to keep it good - its not a show horse and the amount of abuse it gets the brush work keep it from deteriorating Click image to enlarge After painting, the next job was to add a swing away wheel carrier which has been on the list for ages - I bought a Mantec one as they seem to be quite robust and not overly expensive. It wasnt too hard to do and even my simple mechanical skills managed to fit it with out too much bother - but I was aided by the youtube clip from LR Live ... Click image to enlarge and lastly was an opportunity to upgrade the switches on the dash for the extra toys I have in the wagon - so mud stuffs own style parts to the rescue! The job was not too arduous after taking the first leap of faith and making the first cut! after that it was just fiddly clearing the waste plastic out of the hole. Then is was connecting up the switches - which went better than I has hoped with the work lights, dash cam and inside cab lights all connected and working fine ! I have a couple of spare switches which I dare say I will find some uses for in the very near future. Click image to enlarge so now we are all set for the next trip some time later in the summer! Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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5th May 2024 6:00pm |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2076
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Sahara Desert Challenge - Morrocco December 23 - Feb 24 ....
Click image to enlarge We took an extend trip down to the south of Morocco to celebrate by retirement from offshore work. The plan was to toddle overland down through France and Spain to Portugal then meet up with an adventure overland group going down to Dakar. Click image to enlarge We allowed ourselves 4 weeks to get to Portugal then we had 2 weeks with the Sahara Challenge group . We left UK on 1st Nov with an Australian companion, and toured south through France, stopping at lots of fabulous places - sadly in the wind and rain, but ending up crossing the Pyrenees in a snow storm - then sitting on the beach in glorious sunshine in Berlitz! Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge From there we wander across to meet some friends in Santander then headed across into Portugal where we had our xmas celebrations in shorts and teeshirts, before heading to meet up with the Sahara Desert Challenge team and start the adventurer! Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge We crossed into Morocco and headed south with lots of off-road driving though the desert ending up at Daklar in southern part of the county next to the sea and the Sahara ! Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge We chose to stay in Morocco and spent the next 2 weeks pottering our way up the east and centre of the county meeting lots of lovely people, tasting lots of amazing foods and enjoying amazing scenery before meeting up with the team to cross back in Europe. Click image to enlarge We then took a different route North through Spain and France and arrived home safe and sound after 8000 miles with lots of fab memories and over 1000 photos and videos to help up remember the trip ! Many thanks to Sahara Desert Challenge team for the fab event and all the participants who made it so much fun ! Just getting all the sand and dust out of Poppy ready for the next adventurer ! Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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5th May 2024 6:35pm |
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| AJC Member Since: 30 Nov 2015 Location: Lancashire Posts: 1336
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Great adventures indeed.
Can i ask, when in Europe. do you find it best findings sites to stay at over night or can it be quite easy to pull up and stay in an say a car park or near a beach. we have discussed doing a 2 week euro trip but unsure as to take the defender and camp or use the D5 and hotel/air bnb it. thanks |
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7th May 2024 12:09pm |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2076
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Hi AJC,
we normally use park for a night or find an area which is available to free camp in - there often camping spots for camper vans in most towns and villages in europe called ;Aires’ where we can park up for the night for minimal charge - and we may stay at a camp site for a night to have a shower etc .. but normally free camping suits us fine. There are apps like ‘park for a night’, I-overlander’ and Stellplatz - in france you can use France Passion which has overnight parks at vineyards and farms ... Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html
Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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7th May 2024 2:18pm |
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| AJC Member Since: 30 Nov 2015 Location: Lancashire Posts: 1336
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great stuff, very helpful that. much appreciated
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9th May 2024 12:53pm |
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