News '06
06/02/07
Where did January go?? It's a cold and wintry February and Heidi and her gang are all having a bit of a rest as we wait for the spring to come. Various bits and pieces with our "normal" vehicles means the military side of things takes a back seat for a bit.
Lorraine and I are members of the East Anglian Fighting Vehicle Group. We went to the club's annual meal in January and were both very surprised to win the Sarah Oliver Annual Award. It looks really good on our sideboard. The night's other winners were Phil Copeman for the best American vehicle and David and Lindsay Smith for the best British machine. Daughter Georgie got a congratulatory kiss when she was handed the trophy (he he).
The club will, once again, be helping to sort-out the vehicles for Colchester Garrison's open day, so I'll be there helping with that one. This is the time of the year when we decide which shows we'll be attending, hence the extra dates in the dates page today.
Til we meet again in the twilight zone...
16/12/06
A quiet time of the year for Heidi and her green friends. For the first time in 9 years we'll be at home for Christmas, as opposed to taking a trip with Heidi to find some snow. So, this means that Heidi has been enjoying a well-earned rest from all this bombing-about. Grisselda is tucked-up nice and warm in her shed (she'll re-appear in the spring) and the Mog is keeping dry in the barn. We took the Mog for a spin last weekend, just for a blast, and everything's cool there. Getting to the barn isn't quite so straightforward, though: there are 2 roads in - one's a concrete road and the other's a muddy, pot-holed track. If we go to the barn in Heidi we just go along the track, but the other day we were in our little orange X1/9, which really doesn't like pot-holes. This meant we needed to drive along the concrete road, but the friendly farmer from next door decided it was HIS road and parked his tractor there. Hmmm, the little Fiat isn't a match for a tractor - so we had to give-up on that one. I did try talking to him but he was having none of it. Ho-hum!
01/11/06
Our October holiday took us down to Oradour sur Glane, near Limoges. Oradour really is a place like no other: during the second world war, the town was the scene of a terrible massacre. As a memorial to the victims, and as a reminder to us all, the ruins have been left just as they were after the war. Some pictures are in the "other photos" section, but you really need to go there to understand.
After that, we headed on up to Harskamp in Heidi's homeland to see our friend Jim. We sampled the delights of the barracks' canteen and then had a huge Chinese meal in the evening. We were hoping to pick up some parts for Heidi from another contact, but it wasn't possible this time.
Back into France to stock-up on croissants. We then went to see some of the cobbled roads that form part of one of the most famous (and most gruelling) cycle races: Paris Roubaix. The race runs every year in the spring, starting at Compiegne and finishing in Roubaix, crossing many cobbled sections on the way. The forest of Arenberg is one of the toughest sections, as is Orchies and Carrefour de l'Arbe, so that's where we went. It all seemed very tranquil in October - very different from how it is in April.
We then went to Ieper (better known as Ypres to the Brits) to see the last post ceremony in the evening, followed by frites, fricandels and Belgian chocolates. Back home, and Heidi's odometer had another 3455 km on it.
01/10/06
All quiet on the western front... Now that the show season is over we're back to normality (I think I can remember what that is). Heidi has had some fresh oil in her transfer box, but you're not really interested in that are you? The Mog's had a new rubber thingy for holding the air filter flap in place - the other one perished, which isn't bad going for a 39 year old piece of rubber. Grisselda, our Moto Guzzi, is tucked-up nice and cosy in the shed for the winter.
We used the Mog last weekend to move some of Barry's things, including a double bed, which we are looking after for him while he's off around the world. So: how do you get a double mattress into the loft? Well, polishing-off a bottle of Bollinger first certainly helps! View Barry's blog here:
17/09/06
Just got back from Shoreham airshow. Allways a good airshow, with money raised going to the RAFA. We decided to take the Mog because it's a good viewing platform for airshows - the extra height helps us to see over the tops of all the other stuff on the ground. The Mog is also better for camping at airshows, because airshow organisers generally don't like tents, and the Mog is a tent-on-wheels, so we just park it where they want us and sleep in the back. As it happens, we decided (for a number of reasons) to come back home after the first day, so we didn't need all that room in the back for our mobile hotel room.
It was nice to see the Sea Vixen flying, as well as one of my personal favourites: the Sea Fury. So the £130 in petrol for the trip down to Shoreham and back was, err.....
20/08/06
New pictures in the photos sections include a new rear tilt panel for our Unimog, which we bought at Wings and Wheels, and Heidi's egg-holders in use (at Sedan). Lorraine has written a report of our trip, it's quite a long one, so Ive had to split it into sections. Read the full story here
28/07/06
Must be the heat....
When we first got Heidi, one of the first things we did was take out the bits and pieces that were added by the Dutch Army. There wasn't much, but little bits for radio connections and fire-extinguisher holders etc. We put in some sound-proofing and carpet - and there she was: a nice user-friendly car. Now we're thinking of putting it all back again! Like I say: it must be the current heat-wave we're having here in England. Going to so many vehicle shows invariably finds us looking at various bits and pieces for sale, and every now and then we find something for a Dutch Land Rover. This happened at this year's Beltring show, where we came across the convoy filter for the headlight, a case for this filter and a cover for the MAG barrel. These were duly snapped-up, thanks to the lads from Warhorses, and off we went looking pleased with ourselves. Now then, if we've got all these parts for Heidi we really should think about fixing them on to her. So what about all the stuff we removed all those years ago? Hmmm.
16/07/06
Colchester Garrison Open Weekend has been & gone for another year. Bloody hot it was too: most of us have gone home with sunburn! We had a really good cross-section of vehicles there - ranging in size from bikes(4 of 'em) to Antars (2 of 'em) and in age from WW2 to 21st century. Heidi finally had her aerial fitted and, being our local show, we got the entire gang down there. Next up: War and Peace
12/07/06
Show fever has struck! We've been to quite a few this summer, not many free weekends now the hot weather is here. Did I say hot weather? Amazing, isn't it? Always a good excuse for a bit of topless driving.
The big one will soon be here - The War and Peace Show. Before that we've got the Garrison Open Weekend at Colchester, where all of Heidi's gang will be on show. At most shows we have to choose which vehicle(s) to leave behind but Colchester Garrison is one of the few shows that we are able to get all three machines to, so it's one we're really looking forward to! Photos soon.
03/05/06
The UK's first Unimog gathering took place over the weekend. "Mogstock" was the brainchild of Jim Proctor who, after restoring an orange Unimog, decided to see how many other British Unimoggers were willing to come out and play! The full story (and photos) can be seen in Lorraine's report.
19/04/06
Just got back from a trip to Belgium. Driving the green lanes around Leuven with Danny and Carinne in their Unimog. What a sight to see - 2 Unimogs playing in the mud! Although some of the tracks were steep, the ruts were deep and the mud was sticky the Mogs took it all in their stride.
01/04/06
We had hoped to be able to do the Mog's clutch without removing the cab. Carefully following the instructions in the workshop manual, all seemed OK until the instruction to "use special tool number..."
Well, that knocks that one on the head! Off comes the cab, with the help of a posse of customers who just happened to come into 4x4 Partsmaster at the right (wrong?) time.
She's now being put back together after a successful installation of a new clutch.
25/03/06
Our Unimog is currently being looked after by Colin at 4x4 Partsmaster.
On our way home from a trip out at the weekend we managed to break the clutch! No room at home to fix a Unimog, so Colin offered to do the job (for a small fee, of course). He had to buy himself a Mercedes-Benz hat though...
13/02/06
Wow - a new year and we've been so busy there's been no
time to look after Heidi's web page (excuses, excuses!).
We've been decorating our kitchen - "so what's that got to
do with Land Rovers?" I hear you ask. Well, how else can
you get an entire kitchen's worth of cabinets home in one go?
