Off to Ireland!

After a gruelling on/off road drive, we made it to Holyhead by 23:00 for the early morning sailing to Dublin. It's not really the vehicle you want for steep, twisty roads at night. Not sure when we're supposed to sleep! The ferry crossing is only 4 hours - we've been going for nearly 17 hours now. Robin crept into the back with the blinds shut for a few minutes rest but with people revving their engines, it wasn't very successful.

Pinzgauer didn't miss a beat and has attracted a lot of attention, not
least from the ferry officials! After what seemed like an eternity, we were told to drive onto the ferry.

By the time we had parked and collected our things, the ferry was completely full of bodies - there was not a piece of furniture on it without some weary competitor stretched out. The floor, although carpeted, was not a comfortable bed, especially with someone snoring loud enough to cut glass

Our next set of instructions took us to the Sweet Lamb Rally complex in Wales. We were handed a set of grid references and an Ordnance Survey map. It was past dusk by this point but fortunately our side mounted (home made!) spotlights helped us to spot (some of) the code boards hidden in the dark, when we finally went the right way!

Our next set of instructions said: "Be at the ferry by midnight".

MacMillan Challenge - day 1, first leg

Leaving Britpart we were given instructions to follow various roads which led us to some green lanes. Unfortunately, some of the marshall's vehicles had got stuck on a certain section so we were re-routed - I don't think the Pinzgauer would have had a problem, being probably the most capable off-road vehicle on the event. We had to find code boards - pieces of numberplate that were hidden in the trees, the grass or whatever detritus was laying at the side of the road.

The Pinzgauer was still running beautifully at this point...

MacMillan Challenge - day 1

An early start saw us driving the Pinzgauer from Cheltenham, where we'd stayed the night, to Britpart in Craven Arms, Shropshire, for the start of the MacMillan 4x4 Challenge 2011. We got there just after 10 o'clock and lined up to wait for the other competitors to arrive. The excitement began to mount and it was great to see some familiar faces again. A small crowd gathered around the Pinzgauer and we were inundated with questions - most people had never seen one before and it was terrific to have so much interest.

Our celebrity contestant, Marisa Wayne, arrived and seemed very pleasant (which she was!).

After adding some more stickers (from www.freespirit4x4.co.uk - thanks Kieran) as well as our event markings, we waited for the driver's briefing. There were no surprises and so we started engines to wait for the off...

Ready to go!

All packed & painted. All 15 levels checked & ready to roll! Let's
hope she holds up for the weekend!!

It's curtains for us!

A good day today

Today, despite the rain, saw me cutting large sections of angle
aluminium to hold my blackout curtains on. Also found a spanner I'd
lost and didn't break too much either!