Unofficial Northern 101 Meet
Co. Durham
May 31st - June 1st 2003
Wow, what a weekend! Where to begin?
Late on the Saturday morning we set off for a scenic and leisurely
drive from north Manchester to Barnard Castle via the Yorkshire
Dales. It was a beautiful day and the boys enjoyed having the
tilt rolled up. I have decided that a 101 is the perfect vehicle
for the Dales because you can see over all those drystone walls.
After a picnic lunch we continued with Steve driving and me navigating
a course as directly due north as possible giving no regard to the
steepness or width of the roads, luckily there were no really tight
constrictions. Unfortunately a problem with the LPG reduced our
power so by alternating with (expensive) petrol we arrived at the
campsite at about 5 o'clock, put up our vintage tent (older than the
101 by a couple of decades), brewed up and waited for the return of the
greenlaning party. Eventually we heard them before we saw them (well
what do you expect with all those big engines?) and a convoy came in,
with a few more arrivng later on.
It was great meeting all the people that until then had just been names
on the 101 group on Yahoo. The boys were very taken with all the
vehicles, I don't think they realised how many other 101s they would
see that weekend and were excited to see the other variants.
After eating and talking the boys eventually went to sleep leaving us
to drink beer and carry on talking until late.
Sunday morning dawned bright and clear and there was soon plenty of
activity as everybody got ready to head up to Weardale Off Road
Centre. We had a hiccup when Bob wouldn't start as the tidgy
fridge had drained the battery (won't do that again) but Martin came to
the rescue and we were soon off and away. After another pleasant
drive (but I have never
seen so many flat rabbits) we arrived at the off road centre and on
driving in found the most amazing playground for a group of 101s.
We had a great time attempting varied terrain with the help and
encouragement of more experienced drivers in particular Ron, Andreas
and Rich
Here are Andreas and the Animal:
There was one particular problem that only the madmen attempted,
including us, but without the boys who went to visit Tiggurr
instead. After the Detroit locker we need to fit a proper roll
cage and four point harnesses for the little guys.
Discussing the problem
|
The first three up
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Tiggurr's turn
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William and Jonathan enjoyed it too, even if Jonathan got rather muddy, when it splashed in over the side,
however even driving round an off road course didn't stop him falling asleep for part of the afternoon.
We had lots of fun in our 101 and learnt a lot from everybody
there. Next time we get together we'll have our Detroit locker
fitted so there will be no stopping Steve, and I will definitely be
leaving fingerprints in the heater duct.
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