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Tours in 2003

Here is some news and a selection of photos from the tours we operated during 2003.

On October 1st we finally had some rain which continued intermittently over the weekend, turning Mike's Range Rover from sparkling clean to very muddy over the weekend.

Jonathan and Mike came out for the first weekend in October in two Range Rovers. Mike had the first modified P38 (series 2?) Range Rover 4.0 SE we have seen. It was fitted with a winch and underbody protection, and a set of Mud Terrain Tyres. Jonathan had a Range Rover Classic Vogue SE with air suspension, underbody protection and Mud Terrain tyres. The rain had made the lanes very slippery, and gave us a chance to try out our Colway Mud Terrain tyres which replaced our trusty Michelin XCL "Mud Slicks", which would not have lasted through the winter.
Early on Day 1 a slippy adverse camber saw Jonathan slide gracefully off the track into a field from which he managed to extricate himself without help. Mike equalled the score the next day when he slid into a large hole in a sunken lane, but after checking that it was only an earth bank to the right with no large boulders hidden in it he powered his way out.
There was sufficient rain during the weekend to ensure that both went home happy with very muddy Range Rovers

On September 25th Brian and Hazel from Dorset, and Martin and Alison from South Wales came with a Range Rover diesel and a V8 Discovery. We still have not really had any rain, just the occasional shower, but there was still a little mud left in the Bois de Gauche.

Nick and Jenny came with their ex military Defender 90 on September 18th. The same weekend Fred came with his TD5 90 complete with front & rear winchs and a roof tent. Bob & Jenny's 4x4 had a serious breakdown on the Sunday before they were due to come, so they came in their Subaru Impreza, which although it has four wheel drive, did not enough ground clearance, so they hired our Suzuki Samurai for the week end.

Roger and Lisa came from Norfolk in their Discovery V8, and survived the collapsing bushes in the hedgerow without any damage. The extremely dry summer followed by ploughing close to the top of the bank had loosened them, so we will have to pay a visit with the chain saw and clear the lane.

In June, Tom and Ashley came in their 90 TD5 Truck cab, James and Angus came in their 90 TDi soft top, complete with fold down hood, both from East Anglia, and Paul came with Nuala from Dublin with their 90 TDi Hardtop. They had had the two extremes of our weather; as one put it in the guestbook, "from Desert to Swamp in 24 hours. Fantastic!! "

The first day we had brilliant sunshine with temperatures up to 30°C, and we toured the lanes to the West leaving clouds of dust in our wake. However on Saturday morning everything had changed. We awoke to a violent thunderstorm with torrential rain. Rain continued intermittantly throughout the day, with another storm in the afternoon. This made the lanes very muddy, and with the chalk/clay mix very slippery. Even at 10 kph (6mph) it was difficult to drive in a straight line, with Land Rovers sliding down the camber and off the track.

During June a Range Rover and a Defender from the Camel Trophy club of Holland called in to see us with a view to bringing a small group for some greenlaning in Autumn.
The day before they came students from one of the colleges in Cambrai were washing cars at the Cora supermarket to earn funds for their summer activities, and they bravely tackled one of our 110s.

This series of photos was taken on a very overgrown lane, and at the end of it they had to remove the "roof garden" from the Range Rover roof rack.

In early June, John and Pauline joined us in their 1979 Land Rover Series 3, together with Nicholas and Isabelle in their Discovery 2 TD5 automatic.