North East Offroad day / Weekend - this thing is available to RRS owners !

OK, by popular request, I have spoken to Ed at Weardale Offroad and discussed exclusive use. He has offered us the following :

The weekend of 18th/19th/20th May (Friday night to Sunday evening)

Exclusive use of whole site for £30 per vehicle for a single day visitor (either Sat or Sun) or £50 per vehicle for a whole weekend visitor

Free camping and caravaning on site for the Friday & Saturday night (the lane up to the farm is a bit tight but double axle rigs have made it in the past, loos on site but no shower block).

Plenty of local BB's up to 4* hotels available if prefered

Can set up a trial couse or 2 or 3

Can set up a bar-b-que for Saturday night

Can set up a treasure hunt, site trail, game thingies, night safari

All none damaging and plenty of choice as to how dirty or clean, difficult or easy you want to be !

Optional extras include quad biking trek (at £30 a head) and/or clay pidgeon shoot (at £30 a head)

Wives/Husbands and children optional but entirely welcome (there's lots of local for anyone who is lonely).

Dogs ok as long as not sheep eaters....

Fires ok as long as cleaned up afterwards

Guess this sort of weekend could be great fun and you could do as much or as little as you wanted. The local area has lots of quite challenging green lanes, so we could run a trip off site for anyone interested, or the site itself is more than big enough to keep an army of D3 and RRS owners happy. I can take my defender and get a few others to bring their off road toys if anyone wanted to try out something a bit less expensive than their shinny D3/RRS. Other vistor attractions in the area include Durham Town & Cathedral, High Force waterfall, Roman Wall and the bright lights of Newcastle.

The weather could make a very big difference though. On a clear day the site is drop dead gorgeous in Weardale (just like the Yorkshire Dales with a bit less Limestone), but on a wet, cold, windy weekend, it could be quite a "different" experience.

So all I need to know now is whether there is sufficent interest to make the weekend a goer (and I'll try the D3 forum as well). There is no maximum or minimum numbers, but guess we would need 10 or more to keep Weardale (and ourselves) happy and feeling like we are part of a big family...... RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
Disco 3 TDv6 HSE Tonga
Defender 200tdi, CSW, a mint, red one (can mint be red ?)

Last edited by Smarticus on Fri Mar 30 2007 7:40pm. Edited 1 time in total

We now have about a dozen D3 owners signed up for this event. Am I going to be the only RRS there ? If that's the case I'll have to take the wifes D3 so I don't feel too much like a lonely RRS driver.

Are there really no RRS owners who fancy a day or 2 at a really good fun (and non damaging!) offroad site, set aside for our exclusive use, for a weekend in May ?

If you aren't within easy driving distance of Weardale (near Durham) and don't fancy camping, caravaning or local B&B - you could stay at Slaley Hall Hotel. This is about 15 minutes drive away, accross some really scenic moorland, and is a 4 star leisure / golf hotel with great facilities including a brilliant offroad course. RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
Disco 3 TDv6 HSE Tonga
Defender 200tdi, CSW, a mint, red one (can mint be red ?)

Again dates are a problem for me - otherwise I'd be interested - sorry I cant make it  http://www.jkavonline.co.uk - 15% discount to rrsport.co.uk members (Discount Code: rrsport)

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Same here, i would love to come but w@&k commitments

penciled the 20th of may in smarticus

Smarticus

I think i may be able to make this and will let you know in due course. Sounds like a good couple of days.

Paul RRS TDV8 HSE. Stornoway Grey. Ebony Lthr. Privacy Glass. TV.

PaulL, any idea whether you can make it yet. We do badly need a few more RRS to balance out the D3's which are queing up to come along ...

Whilst writing, has anyone used their SatNav in Offroad mode yet ? I am working on a few "exercises" to play with at Weardale and would like to see whether we can use the Sat Nav system to do some night navigation or some off road orienteering. Any suggestions on what can be done would be gratefully received ..... RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
Disco 3 TDv6 HSE Tonga
Defender 200tdi, CSW, a mint, red one (can mint be red ?)

Smarticus, just heard that I should be home right up until mid June so please add me in for the weekend, I will have to confirm finally a bit closer as I have to have permission to be away from home after my leave has expired! A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road

That is great news Tim



your welcome to stay at home with us if you want at Slaley (about 15 minutes from site). Though I might stay over at the site (would be good to use the camper van which has sat on our drive for 3 years and only been used 4 times).

Will need your help setting up a couple of trails, RTV's, night navigation, pub runs etc. RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
Disco 3 TDv6 HSE Tonga
Defender 200tdi, CSW, a mint, red one (can mint be red ?)

I won't be bringing the RRS along as I have the Defender to scratch and dent/ act as a D3 rescue truck! A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road

Everyone - Tim and I are going to spend Friday 18th at Weardale setting up a trail and an RTV (and we promise to make it interesting but non damaging - no one is allowed to scratch, ding or otherwise bust their pride'n joys - although they are allowed to get a little bit stuck every now and then - half the fun is getting "rescued").

The site is just west of Wolsingham, off the A689 in Weardale and the post code is DL13 3BG. The turn off the main road is sign posted (GR055 369 - the OS map is Landranger No. 92 - Barnard Castle and maps 87 and 91 would be good to bring too if you want to go green laning off site at all) then take the lane, accross a bridge, sharp left, over a railway line, up a hill, right hand fork = Coves House Farm). The guy who runs the show is called Ed Todd (and his Dad helps out). They are the poshest hill farmers you'll ever meet and genuinely love offroaders. Carvans are most welcome on site but do be careful as the lane is a bit tight.

There are a number of good / very scenic and RRS friendly green lanes in the area if anyone fancies a trip off site over the weekend. My particular favourite is the Grasshills Causeway which is a lane that crosses from Weardale to Teesdale, from where you can easily visit High Force waterfall. On the Sunday there is another offroad site just up the valley that Ed runs called Rogerley Quarry, which we could visit if you fancy ...

As regards catering. There are no shops, cafes or pubs near the centre, although plenty within 15 minutes drive. Do people fancy a communal bar b que on the Saturday night or a trip to a local pub or do people want to do their own thing ?

A GPSor SAT Nav and hand held walkie talkie would be good to bring if you have it, as that allows us to play a few navigation games and keep in touch.

Any questions - just shout

 RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
Disco 3 TDv6 HSE Tonga
Defender 200tdi, CSW, a mint, red one (can mint be red ?)

Thanks

Can I go in a non land rover product? BMW 535d
Landcruiser VX 4.5

Doc, more the merrier. But your FFRR is a Landrover product ??? Go on, get it muddy, you know you want to .......

Seriously though, any non Landrover product is welcome as long as it is driven by a "true believer", but it is strictly forbidden that it can in any way outperform a land rover product, under any circumstances at all.

Landcruisers with their trick diffs can just occassionally have an edge as I know well from my stag do. We took 18 "lads" offroading in some of Solihull's finest (all hardened offroad prepared vehicles with winches, snorkels and Mud Terrains). One guy turned up in his shiny Land Cruiser and after a touch of mild encouragement, he lept in his LC and drove straight into the deepest, steepest, rockiest and knarly section of offroading in the place. He did fine until he got to the trees, where the width of a LC becomes a seriously limiting factor  RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
Disco 3 TDv6 HSE Tonga
Defender 200tdi, CSW, a mint, red one (can mint be red ?)

Well guys all I can say is you missed out on a fantastic non damaging (for the D3's, not so for the Defenders who did their thing and have the battle scars!) weekend that was enjoyed by the D3 members who attended - Smarticus and I were the only RRS Members but we used our Defenders. A Carbon Footprint is the mark a lump of coal makes when it's dropped on the ground.

Tata TDv8 HSE - Stornoway/ebony and straight grain walnut with towpack, Tasmods and an HST grille. Coming soon LEDs in the headlights
Staying - Epsom Green Defender 90 for playing off road

Here are some photos - will post videos later in the week

The first campers on Friday night - they nearly got blown away!