Time for what is slowly becoming my yearly post on a trip away. Beware this post could send you to sleep, if you don't want to read my verbal diarrhoea as i do realise in the world of instagram posts like this are a bit....self indulgent....just scroll to the pics
So after going to the 50th Anniversary Show in Brussels last year, i decided that in 2018 i'd go to Le Bug show and see what all the fuss was about. A plan was hatched with Hans and at christmas i booked the ferries, and for once didn't book a hotel, i was going to have to camp
i hate camping.
It has to be said that I am ones of the worlds reluctant travellers, which considering where i've been to in my working life, everywhere from West Africa to the Northern Territories of Australia this is a bit weird. I generally have a good time (even working) when i get there, but the ball ache of lists packing etc at times, put me right off leaving home.
In preperation for the trip i plumbed in an external oil cooler, with a nice combined thermostat and filter housing combined, had the ignition curve re-profiled on the MSD and with 2 weeks to go, felt quite smug that for once i had everything sorted with plenty of time to go. However the UK and Europe are going through some of the hottest weather for decades and as time got shorter, the temperatures showed no sign of dropping. So with a week to go i decided to fit a fan and thermostat control. A few hours at work had all the bits ordered, and the weekend before the trip i got it all fitted and wired in, my 3 yo son gave me a some help, of the kind only a 3 yo can
.
So thursday rolled around and it was time to get on the ferry, due to my amazing planning, lists and packing as i rolled up the ramp into the ferry safe in the knowledge i had prepared for every eventuality my phone started ringing....my wife.....I answered..."you what? what black bag? where is it? don't be silly it's in the car......oh crap it's not"
So apparently i had managed to leave my Camelbak bag, filled with the phone chargers, travel plugs etc, thankfully i only live 20 mins from the ferry terminal so Sarah very kindly brought it down to the ferry, informed me i was a dick and left.
So a few beers, 14 hour crossing and i was back in Holland and heading to meet up with Hans, unfortunately he wasn't bringing his Grey 67, but it was still party time. It should be noted that the temperature was starting to creep up as we left his and headed to meet up with the Folks Repairs crew and friends. So at about midday we headed south in convoy, heading first to Antwerp then down to Spa. All windows were down, pop outs popped and i baked behind the wheel as we headed south, engine oil temps slowly crept up 85c..90c, then held there until Antwerp and traffic jams...arrggghhhh. I think we spent an hour negotiating stop start traffic, I was glad of some of them as it allowed me to reach under the rear seat and adjust the thermistor so that the fan kicked in at 100c. After that oil temps never got any higher. With Antwerp behind us we had a couple of breaks, and cruised south with a few more aircooled VWs appearing on the road. Then we hit the Ardenne, and the road went...uuuuppppppp, and down with some big hills, half way up one hill there was a group of classic Cadillacs parked up with the hoods open too cool down, but my Riche built 2276cc, brapped along with out a worry...well it wasn't worrying i was though...it's what i do
.
So we arrived negotiated the tickets, got onto the camp site and very quickly you realise if you're going to go camping go with the Dutch, one huge race awning and an outside shower meant that even I was thinking camping was going to be ok.
We had a friday night walk around, 10:30pm the temperatures had dropped to 27c,
, and looked at some of the cars already on show, then hit the booze.
At about 1:30 i got to bed,...7:30 i was out of it as you can't waste a day on a small thing like a hang over. Plus the amazing wake up tune of Guten Morgen Sonnenschein ringing out was enough to make you bound out of the tent....now sure what the rest of the people around us thought....but it was such an uplifting start to the day
The rest of the day was spent, re-hydrating, avoiding sunstroke being amazed at the shear number and quality of the cars on display, taking part in the parade lap and then finally heading back to the campsite for a much needed shower.
Some how due to Hans we had an invite to the DFL 20th anniversary party, so off we headed and didn't get lost once...well maybe just once, a little bit and pulled up outside the house they had rented for the event....this looked considerably better than my tent.
. It was a great evening meeting new people, catching up with others, and making sure the DFL club had a bit of Geordie memorabilia. pics below:
My mate knocked me up a Geordie related Cal look rendering which can be seen above. Below is it in all it's glory:
Sunday, was quite quiet
, spent most of the morning pottering around, seeing the best of show parade. Looking in the race pits, i am raging i missed Flakey Jake. then far too quickly it was time to head home.
The temps still hadn't dropped but the bug coped fine as we blasted up via Eindhoven, oil temp held steady at 90c despite the high ambient temps.
That night we headed to Happy Italy, i managed to get a wasp sting to the lower eye lid.
, but rounded the night off with a killer ice cream sunday in Dordrecht.
Next day Hans had to drop his borrowed bug back at Volks Repair, and i got to have a look around, what a place, really really amazing, and it was a battle to keep my wallet in my pocket. A small breakfast in Scheveningen by the beach and then it was time to say bye to Hans and thank him once again for his hospitality and head to the ferry.
The trip once again has highlighted to me, how lucky I am with the people I know, their generosity with their time, knowledge and friendship makes trips like this special. From everyone who has been involved in building and helping to maintain my 67, it's not quite showroom fresh any more, but it was made to drive and it does that well. To the Volks Power guys, Edward, Dennis, Nick, along with Ivan and Pieter who made the camping a blast. The DFL guys Georg, Tobi, Dokke and all the rest who let me take part in their 20th anniversary, along with everyone else i met.
"Easy going, loving your car, no frills, relaxed......California Guys"
The Cal-look Lounge
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