At approx 1000hrs we decided to head out in the defender. We chose this vehicle as it was probably best suited for carrying all the stuff we'd buy at the stalls etc. I was looking for another roof rack, to replace the one I tore off by hitting a tree (another story from long ago).
As we approached the site we saw that there was also a VW camper van festival or something going on in the same park. I didn't realise how big this site was. Until coming today I didn't even register it as being there.
At the final left turn down the public road to the site, were some people in yellow tabbards trying to stop the traffic to talk to them. As I was being followed by quite a queue of traffic I decided to drive straight into the left turn. This one girl got most upset that I didn't stop, and I saw her in the mirror pointing at me and obviously shouting at somebody higher up the food chain. Sorry love but it was a public highway and you've no right to hold up the traffic, even if you think you do.
The lady at the car park however was a different matter. Wouldn't ignore her even if she was on the public roads. Not a lady to be trifled with. It cost me £20 for the car parking, which covered the Sat-Mon.
After parking in the very uncluttered car park we headed up the marquees etc which had been set, up in the hope of seeing the vendors for all our land-rover needs. How disappointed we were. No stalls at all. All we had was a couple of burger vans, a beer tent and a couple of people showing systems for upgrading a few small bits. Oh well I thought, never mind, at least the RTV (Road Taxed Vehicles) trials will be good.
The RTV competition consisted of small little stages dotted all over the forest. Each course had its own features. Some had extremely steep descents/ascents, very adverse cambers, lots of trees and/or water hazards. All of them had some very narrow gates to get through.
Unfortunately even these were not as exciting as I'd initially thought. There were some very tricky conditions and some excellent drives by some of the competitors. There were no maps showing where the stages were, even roughly, which meant we wasted quite some time just trying to find them.
All through this, the drizzle get on coming down. In amongst the trees this wasn't really noticeable but once back at the refreshment tents did get a little annoying.
Towards the end of the afternoon we went to look at the team recovery event. We had to stand at the top of a steep incline to look down at the pit where the event would take place. As the viewing area looked quite narrow we decided to go in early to stand at the front. They were at least 45mins late starting. What time they actually started I have no idea, as by this time the land owner had turned up in his D3 wanting to park where we were stood. At this point I decided I'd had enough and went off to head home.
I decided I was too tired after dropping off the guys to head over to Jane's for dinner and went to bed early.
If I ever go again it'll be on one of the other days which offers a bit more excitement.
All in all a wasted day really.
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