The Dresingham event
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 7:33 pm
Obviously, October is not a good month to put on any sort of Haflinger gathering if this years turn out is anything to go by. There were 4 Haflingers and 2 Pinz's. (a couple of other vehicles, but as they were neither Haflingers or Pinzgauers, they don't count.
So I had booked the Friday off work so I could drive my Haflinger to the camp site in Norfolk. Set off at roughly 9:30am and arrived just after 4pm including a couple of stops along the way (comfort & food). Having arrived the first thing I was asked was - "How far have you come in that?" So, a quick look at the speedometer mileage = 190 miles. Only to be met with "How far?" To be fair, I could have made the route shorter, but I started out not using Highways or toll routes so that immediately meant mostly B roads. That was until I had been through the Blackwall tunnel in London, then the Sat Nav when nuts and put me on to the A13 going out of London.
Now my sense of direction told me that if I went up the M25 and the M11 I would be heading in the right direction and obviously stopping on the A13, the M25 and the M11 is difficult so I didn't bother which meant I couldn't really reset the Sat Nav as that would require concentration which was being put to better use keeping the Haflinger from being squashed by all the 38 ton juggernauts! To be fair, they were all very well behaved and gave me plenty of room once they had gotten to within spitting distance of the flat bead of the Haflinger...
With the snow and mud tyres (155/80/13) on, the Haflinger actually had very good road manners and behaved impeccably all the way to the camp site. Even with the rain and the head wind to contend with!
Those people who happened to be at the site when I arrived soon ran off to their B&B's, so I was left to put up my tent on my lonesome until 8'ish when the Pinz and trailer team turned up and setup camp. So we braved the wind and the rain over night and waited for people to arrive the next morning.
Paul had brought some serious off road tyres to try out on his Haf - they turned out to be very good! Couple of pictures relating to them below. So what more do you want to know? The 4 Haflingers got muddy and stuck a few times. The rain Saturday night before / during / after the pub meal meant the bomb holes were now deeper with water and Paul managed to get get stuck a few more times. Me? I still had what were basically road tyres on so didn't have near enough grip to attempt most of the bomb hole that Paul went through. So I am still not sure if a long wheel base Haflinger is better or worse in those conditions. It did mean that my Haflinger was on hand to pull those that did get stuck free.
Come Sunday lunch time and I had to think of setting off home again, this time I went down the A10 al the way to London, round on the north circular, through the Blackwall tunnel, only because I missed the turning for the Woolwich ferry... Then the south circular and down the A23. What with a couple of stops and the London traffic. I ended up travelling from about Gatwich down to Lewes with it being dark enough outside to need my lights. When there are no street lights, there is enough light to be able to see the road far enough ahead to be able to stop if you had to, but with street lights, you would be had pushed to know you had head lights!
I can't wait for the next one which is likely to be in Holland in April - Who else is going to come?
John
So I had booked the Friday off work so I could drive my Haflinger to the camp site in Norfolk. Set off at roughly 9:30am and arrived just after 4pm including a couple of stops along the way (comfort & food). Having arrived the first thing I was asked was - "How far have you come in that?" So, a quick look at the speedometer mileage = 190 miles. Only to be met with "How far?" To be fair, I could have made the route shorter, but I started out not using Highways or toll routes so that immediately meant mostly B roads. That was until I had been through the Blackwall tunnel in London, then the Sat Nav when nuts and put me on to the A13 going out of London.
Now my sense of direction told me that if I went up the M25 and the M11 I would be heading in the right direction and obviously stopping on the A13, the M25 and the M11 is difficult so I didn't bother which meant I couldn't really reset the Sat Nav as that would require concentration which was being put to better use keeping the Haflinger from being squashed by all the 38 ton juggernauts! To be fair, they were all very well behaved and gave me plenty of room once they had gotten to within spitting distance of the flat bead of the Haflinger...
With the snow and mud tyres (155/80/13) on, the Haflinger actually had very good road manners and behaved impeccably all the way to the camp site. Even with the rain and the head wind to contend with!
Those people who happened to be at the site when I arrived soon ran off to their B&B's, so I was left to put up my tent on my lonesome until 8'ish when the Pinz and trailer team turned up and setup camp. So we braved the wind and the rain over night and waited for people to arrive the next morning.
Paul had brought some serious off road tyres to try out on his Haf - they turned out to be very good! Couple of pictures relating to them below. So what more do you want to know? The 4 Haflingers got muddy and stuck a few times. The rain Saturday night before / during / after the pub meal meant the bomb holes were now deeper with water and Paul managed to get get stuck a few more times. Me? I still had what were basically road tyres on so didn't have near enough grip to attempt most of the bomb hole that Paul went through. So I am still not sure if a long wheel base Haflinger is better or worse in those conditions. It did mean that my Haflinger was on hand to pull those that did get stuck free.
Come Sunday lunch time and I had to think of setting off home again, this time I went down the A10 al the way to London, round on the north circular, through the Blackwall tunnel, only because I missed the turning for the Woolwich ferry... Then the south circular and down the A23. What with a couple of stops and the London traffic. I ended up travelling from about Gatwich down to Lewes with it being dark enough outside to need my lights. When there are no street lights, there is enough light to be able to see the road far enough ahead to be able to stop if you had to, but with street lights, you would be had pushed to know you had head lights!
I can't wait for the next one which is likely to be in Holland in April - Who else is going to come?
John