Back!

Well, as Samwise said at the end of Lord of the Rings, Im back. Sorry for the absence of a year….. blog resumed. I will carry on with updates this week

SW

In Aswan

Currently in Aswan, southern Egypt. Just waved off Bronwen and Gavin Ryalls in their Discovery who are headed for Rwanda, and today on the Wadi Halfa ferry to Sudan. No bloggery at mo – Internet isnt behaving much out here. Will update ASAP.

Cairo ahoy!!!

Going to Cairo in a few days and thence on to the rest of Egypt for a poke round and to revisit old haunts – I used to live there for several years.
Only trouble is, because of carnet prices, we cant take Elsa :/ Seems weird to be travelling back to Mama Africa without the old beastie, but there’s time for another trip when we get back… more later

LRO Show Billing

Well, that’s another Billing over with. And what a cracker! Despite worries about weather and Newark, after a relatively quiet start on the Friday, Saturday dawned to sunshine and crowds. Traders reported a quietish start that soon spiralled and by about 10.30 there were the usual happy campers trudging about with huge lumps of metal – usual, that is, for a show that’s working. Billing 09 most certainly was! And I take it all back about the loos – they were excellent. Very well done Andy and the Live Loo Crew – the addition of Portaloos was a good idea – took the strain off the larger ones.
As for me, I was nervous as hell at being in the arena – Simon, Chris, Dave and Matt shared my nerves on the Saturday as well, as we all trooped in and talked for 45 minutes about their overland trucks. Then a scheduled session for overland talks turned in reality into a series of small seminars, with Chris talking Iceland and hydrogen injection systems, me talking deserts and Dave talking Morocco. Sunday saw a similar arena event for me (equally nervous, trying to follow David Bowyer who makes it all look easy), with Mantec, OEC, MyWay, Adventure 4×4 and Nene Overland providing vehicles and products to showcase in the arena – despite a sudden torrential downpour!
Finally things drew to an end – seemingly we’d only just arrived and then had to start stripping down tents and packing cars. We finally got away at half six for the run back north – and now the start of planning for LRO Show Peterborough – even bigger!
Thanks so much to all who helped with overland presentations that weekend…. very much appreciated!

And on….

Rack’s on, roof tent and awning back on, HiLift jack back on, new sand ladder brackets on (old ones were an utter git to remove from old rack), reversing camera back on. Solar panel not on, not GPS mast, neither is new rack decking because I have only sealed the sunroof with one coat of Isoflex and want to apply at least three – so she is covered in a tarp now to make sure any rain doesnt spoil the first coat. So finishing straight is in sight for tomorrow.

Cooling system seems fine – came back over M62 at 60+ and temp was well under control even on the big climbs.

All seems in hand for LRO Show Billing, speakers for Sat/Sun organised, arena vehicle display for Sat organised, arena trade display for Sun organised (though Boab can’t provide any presence as they say they are understaffed, Devon 4×4 say they can’t extricate their vehicle from the stand, Mantec are struggling to find a vehicle that’s kitted-up enough, but are still keen.) MyWay, Venture Overland, OEC and Nene Overland are all on board. Tracks 4 Africa will also be there, which I am very chuffed about – it’s -the- standard for overland mapping software across Africa and their UK distributor is coming to Billing to showcase the kit.

Also at Billing are Lifesaver water filters, whose Lifesaver bottles are being snapped up by UK and US militaries, and who are now turning to the Overlander market. They tell me they are launching a big new product at Billing, I am hoping (thanks to hints dropped) it’s an in-line filter with a 12v pump at substantially less than existing items on the market….

All these guys will be on the Overland Exhibition stand, which is opposite the MyWay Safari Equipment stand in the trade area. MyWay are sponsoring the overland talks on Saturday and Sunday.

Anyway, I’m off. I’m jiggered.

Blimey – a week late!

A week’s passed since I blogged – sorry! Mad week though, end-of-term chaos at school, several geological-scale hangovers, quite a bit of work on the roof rack. It’s more or less done now, and I roped eight Y8s kids from school in to lift the old one off. Interesting how some of the galvanised feet on the old one have corroded (oxidised maybe).

Whilst the rack is off I’ll take the opportunity to seal the sunroof. About six years ago I was on the (then) single-track road between Fort William and Mallaig in the Western Highlands, to be confronted with a huge artic frozen-fish lorry of Milligans of Mallaig, heading down the road towards me who wasn’t even going to slow down, let alone stop. Anyway I bounced the Landy up onto the verge which then crumbled and flipped me upside-down into the ditch. Of course the artic just kept going. According to the cop (very helpful) who turned up, the Milligans trucks are known for driving like idiots (Id prefer a stronger word). At any rate, with a bit of deft winching off nearby trees I managed to get Elsa back on her paws, and drove back home, all unscathed apart from the top of the snorkel was knocked off and the sunroof popped a hinge out. This sunroof has leaked like a b*gger ever since, despite copious applications of silicon sealant. Anyway, now that the roof rack’s off I can get at the sunroof, and I’ve bought a big tin of Isoflex liquid rubber roofing paint (!) – that’ll fix the sod!

At girlfriend’s in Lancashire today so no work on roof rack. Going to confirm organisation for the two overlanders displays at the LRO Show at Billing and then bat on with a bit of writing I need to do.

Last roof rack jobs – spray chequerplate decking white to reflect sunlight, wire up solar panel and GPS mast.

Highly likely I’ll be heading for the Sahara in the next fortnight so I serviced the beast and flushed and cleaned her radiator out. The 200Tdi is arguably an over-cooled engine but I have a full-width intercooler across the radiator and in front of that a winch solenoid and two spot lights, so there ain’t much air gets to the radiator at the end of the day. Added to this, the engine is from a Discovery, with the turbo low-down, not high-up as on a Defender – so the engine bay heats up a lot quicker and cools more slowly. All in all, I’m a bit antsy about high engine temperatures whilst tacking big dune fields. In the past Ive had two Ring spots on the wagon nose, and two more plus two Hella spots on the roof. I’m going to try and score some Roo Lites (like LiteForce lamps but cheaper) at Billing and remove all six spots in favour of the four Roo Lites on the roof – and thereby also improve airflow into the engine. I do think extra spots on a vehicle look a bit “overdone”, and desert driving at night is a big no-no, but as I’m often in the situation where my truck is a sheepdog for less experienced travellers I’ve sometimes found the need to drive at night where a problem has emerged – and believe me in countries like Egypt where vehicles travelling slower than 30mph legally need no lights at all, and large trucks leave lights off to “save the battery”, there definitely is a need for extra lights at night, and as many as possible.

Progress….

Framework of rack done, surplus aluminium roof tent ladder added underneath to spread the load, Thule “Safari” roof basket added to hold Wolf boxes, aluminium chequerplate arrived for the decking so fast they must have used a Tardis for the courier. (from Aluminium Droitwich – excellent guys – recommended) Most of that has been rivetted in place and trimmed to shape – tomorrow evening add the solar panel, the last touches to the decking and a cosmetic neatening job, then on Thursday lift the thing up and swap the racks before bolting on roof tent, awning, hilift, sand ladders, etc. Phew. And the Billing overland programme is rolling along too!

Roof rack III (end of the night)

The rain stopped, so I managed to get a bit more done. Most of the frame’s in place – at least the bit for the Wolf boxes (two Thule bars). Just 4 more bolts to hold the frame in place for the “sun deck” and then ill call it a night!

Roof Rack II – 10 mins later

Rain rain rain. Sod off.

Roof rack

Angle grinders scare the whatnots out of me. All that power concentrated in a small cutting edge inches from bits I am rather attached to. Anyway Ive been angle grinding and drilling, chopping and modifying the new £2.20 roof rack, adding some Thule roof bars from Halfords, removing the heavy Brownchurch rack from the Landy (anyone want to buy a Brownchurch heavy duty for a 110 with one side rail cut off?) and its ladder (which meant taking a rear light guard off), adding a folding step instead of the ladder, blah blah. Its 9.10pm now and a thunderstorm’s just turned up to stop the operations (I am using the school car park!) which is a pain in the bum as I wanted the frame in place tonight. Some 3mm aluminium chequerplate is arriving tomorrow to be bolted on as decking so all has to be ready for it!

Essentially the rack will have a 1.4m roof tent at the rear, opening over the back door (cooking + shower space), then forward of that is about 50cm for Wolf boxes to stash clothes etc for inhabitants of the roof tent. Forward of that is an open deck about 1m long and 1.5m wide for a folding chair and a contemplative glass of whisky, and forward of that, overhanging the windscreen, is a large solar panel. Access is via three folding mast steps on the passenger side, or two folding mast steps up the back. Driver’s side access is restricted by the awning. Ooh, it’s all very exciting.

Has the rain stopped yet?