Trip report : Adventure Overland show (UK)
Here are a few pictures from the Adventure Overland show in the UK. I think this was the 2nd year this was run. The organiser caught us browsing around the German show in 2012 with Joerg68 and invited us to come alone, but we couldn't do it that September as we were due to be in Morocco with the camper.
Roll on 2013 and we decided to go along for the weekend and have a look.
We drove to the show Friday evening and on the entrance to the exhibitors field were greeted by Sundowners (on this forum occasionally) - first time I've had someone recognise my vehicle and greet me by my forum name :C
Like Overland Expo in Arizona the show is nice in that once you are inside camping you are in the show, so everyone mingles around - exhibitors, vendors, attendees camping. This creates a better atmosphere than the Bad Kissingen show in Germany where everyone has to queue for a bus to take them to the official show ground, then get the bus back to the campground afterwards.
Sally talking to a couple who were planning to drive their newly equipped Land Rover down to South Africa. They had put a lot of work into preparing the vehicle but had only gone on local camping trips so far:
Quite a number of truck campers of various sorts (generally European), though to be honest I suspect everyone in the country with one had brought it:
This was a very nicely renovated camper - the truck is a '86 - you can tell from its registration (license) plate:
And whose is this? Why it is Nigel and Pamela's (Sundowners) - really nice to see them over the weekend:
Some traditional expedition trucks - I've driven these old army trucks before - would be a slow uncomfortable journey across Africa I suspect - good solid truck though:
I've seen this on display in Germany. Very nice, but well out of my budget:
A friend said the camper pod on one of these was around 200k GBP before you mounted it on a truck, and these military trucks look expensive too. I reckon you'd be talking half a million (in GBP) to have everything fully equipped and ready to go as per these examples - a lot of assets to lose if it all goes wrong somewhere in Siberia or the Congo (e.g. some corrupt official at a checkpoint decides El Presidente would like your truck as a gift :E).
Ultra short-beds on these small double-cab compact trucks aren't very good in terms of centre of gravity:
The latest model of the South African built Ford Ranger (only has the name in common with the US compact truck) - so this is the latest incarnation of my truck but with double instead of supercab:
Sally got a free demonstration from some medics of field dressings and resuscitation - they were happy to find someone to demonstrate their knowledge to:
Not quite a truck camper:
A truck camper in the making?:
Looking inside a friend's military pod:
Our immediate neighbours:
Travelling light?:
I would have loved to party with the other campers in the centre that night, but I had a thumping headache and Sally had caught a virus, so we went to bed early. Sally making toast on the Sunday morning:
We were camped with a load of Iveco 4x4 light trucks - these are starting to be popular as they are a light commercial truck, so strong and reliable with good parts availability. Not particularly quick / powerful I imagine. Eagle-eyed truck spotters will recognise an Australian OKA amongst the Ivecos:
A bit of sun in the afternoon:
And then we were ready to pack our stuff away and head home:
We'll probably go next year too.
Steve.
Roll on 2013 and we decided to go along for the weekend and have a look.
We drove to the show Friday evening and on the entrance to the exhibitors field were greeted by Sundowners (on this forum occasionally) - first time I've had someone recognise my vehicle and greet me by my forum name :C
Like Overland Expo in Arizona the show is nice in that once you are inside camping you are in the show, so everyone mingles around - exhibitors, vendors, attendees camping. This creates a better atmosphere than the Bad Kissingen show in Germany where everyone has to queue for a bus to take them to the official show ground, then get the bus back to the campground afterwards.
Sally talking to a couple who were planning to drive their newly equipped Land Rover down to South Africa. They had put a lot of work into preparing the vehicle but had only gone on local camping trips so far:
Quite a number of truck campers of various sorts (generally European), though to be honest I suspect everyone in the country with one had brought it:
This was a very nicely renovated camper - the truck is a '86 - you can tell from its registration (license) plate:
And whose is this? Why it is Nigel and Pamela's (Sundowners) - really nice to see them over the weekend:
Some traditional expedition trucks - I've driven these old army trucks before - would be a slow uncomfortable journey across Africa I suspect - good solid truck though:
I've seen this on display in Germany. Very nice, but well out of my budget:
A friend said the camper pod on one of these was around 200k GBP before you mounted it on a truck, and these military trucks look expensive too. I reckon you'd be talking half a million (in GBP) to have everything fully equipped and ready to go as per these examples - a lot of assets to lose if it all goes wrong somewhere in Siberia or the Congo (e.g. some corrupt official at a checkpoint decides El Presidente would like your truck as a gift :E).
Ultra short-beds on these small double-cab compact trucks aren't very good in terms of centre of gravity:
The latest model of the South African built Ford Ranger (only has the name in common with the US compact truck) - so this is the latest incarnation of my truck but with double instead of supercab:
Sally got a free demonstration from some medics of field dressings and resuscitation - they were happy to find someone to demonstrate their knowledge to:
Not quite a truck camper:
A truck camper in the making?:
Looking inside a friend's military pod:
Our immediate neighbours:
Travelling light?:
I would have loved to party with the other campers in the centre that night, but I had a thumping headache and Sally had caught a virus, so we went to bed early. Sally making toast on the Sunday morning:
We were camped with a load of Iveco 4x4 light trucks - these are starting to be popular as they are a light commercial truck, so strong and reliable with good parts availability. Not particularly quick / powerful I imagine. Eagle-eyed truck spotters will recognise an Australian OKA amongst the Ivecos:
A bit of sun in the afternoon:
And then we were ready to pack our stuff away and head home:
We'll probably go next year too.
Steve.
