2010 wandering
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Well the summer is coming so I’m told, but just in case so we are planning a couple of trips to warmer climes to give our Defender 110 TDCI Dormobile (Elgar) a run.
We have been sleeping out in it several times over the winter and are now embarking on a couple of international overland trips.
First trip planed is in June to Venice via France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Milan, and back in 14days … hoping to cross the Swiss mountains rather than play in the tunnels…
Then in October take a jaunt down through Spain and across to Morocco, boogieing up over the Atlas Mountains and into the Northern Sahara and back in 3 weeks.
To prepare us for the off road stuff in Morocco we are going on an off-road course to learn how use the vehicle properly and what we have to do to keep it safe – as well as play in the mud for a weekend!We think that the vehicle is set up for the trip with enough storage space, water and the likes, but have not touched the suspension as the defender is an XS model and has stiffer shocks as standard, but am considering some under body protection for the front. Not planning to fit a winch as most people who I spoke to said that it wasn’t really necessary for the routes we’ve planned, but have a high-lift jack, waffle board and shovels to help if need be.
We’ll be leaving the shiny alloys at home for the trip to Morocco swapping them for steel rims and tubed Avon Range-masters.
We’re experienced travellers, having cycled round the world for 6 yrs, and have owned Landrovers for many years but this is the first ‘driving adventure’ we have embarked on, so any advice or tips would be gladly received!Many thanks
Wyvern( I posted some pictures of Elgar last year on the site)
wow wyvern !!
sounds an epic adventure, hope it all goes to plan and look forward to seeing the pictures !!
Hello Wyvern,
very good idea to reach Italy through Alpes , we used to go this way to Slovenia across Dolomite Mountains , its very beautiful , you will have to climb a lot of high passes , the Land love it . If you take the way to Milano , you will have only highways after to Venice , it’s better to take more at the east (Davos , Bolzano etc…)
No transformation to do on your Land to travel , the more original you are , the more safe you are , especially with a 110
Good trip and don’t forget to make us a report
MichelThanks guys !
Just spent the day tweaking the waggon ready for the trip .. been told by the co-driver that I’m to leave the stowge of the food and drink to her as she can never find stuff after I’ve packed it!!
I will give a resume of the trip – sol watch this space for an update in July
hope that you are all having a great start to the summerHi wyvern,
I still can’t send PM’s but check your email for a note from the Dormobile list admin.
As I wrote in the email, Adamello-Brenta nature park is “away from it all”, with a view of the Dolomites. Venice is a nightmare for camping. Tho the Lido campground has a better reputation (however I never made it there and can’t say firsthand).
Nice you have a co-driver! My wife won’t drive the Series 2A.
-Jeremy
Hi Jeremy
Got your mail – many thanks –
and thanks to everyone for the tips on where to go .. I’ll pass them onto the route manager to add them to the plan. Watch out for Elgar on the road some time soon!
Yep it’s really good to have a so-driver – and she’s a much better driver than me, (which isnt hard!)
Venice and camping don’t really go together, but as there are no school holidays the week we’re going we’re hopeful that there will be some space for us – we cycled there from the UK first time we visited and found a campsite that was nice and quiet on the outskirts of the city – just took a bus in each day which was easy.
However – if all else fails then we’ll just drive out of the city and fine a place to pull up for the night – thats the beauty of a dormobile!Hi All,
Just had a fab 2-week trip to Venice driving the 110 and free camping all the way (apart from Venice where we stayed just outside the city at a campsite for security)We left Dover and landed in Calais, (which was a steal at £60 return!) Headed north to avoid the French tolls and then across to Belgium and into Luxembourg (where fuel was really cheep!) then over to Switzerland, and then down into Italy picking up the cheaper toll roads to Venice, where we had a romatic meal and tangoed in St Marks square !
On the way back we took a slower route though Switzerland playing over several mountain passes and back roads, lots of snow on the ground, but still very warm.
Camping was awesome, waking up to mountain views at 2000mtrs + was a real treat!The whole trip was about 2900 miles and the 110 performed faultlessly. We did a little bit of ‘Soft off roading’ on some washed out tracks to find suitable camping areas, and met some wonderful people on the way…
Pros for the 110 – Air-con – first time I’ve had aircon in anger (it was 30’+) and its fab!,
MPG – with the speed on the roads being mainly 50mph the wagon gave a good 30mpg with us getting over 400miles from each tank.
6th gear meant the wagon was quiet and just toddling along at below 2000 rpm most of the time
The Dormobile fittings all worked really well, the seats were good for lond distance driving and comfortable for the 10 night camping. The cooker and sink were great and were well used on the trip.Cons – having to come back to go to work!
We made a couple of wee modifications for the trip – adding some mozzy net over the sliding back window and fitting net over ‘dog guards’ for the 2nd row windows to let a breeze through to keep uo cool over night that was really sucsessful.
we also added some pillows in the space between the beds on top of our storage boxes to give us a bit more bed area that was also a sucsess.
‘The Really Useful Boxes’ were really useful! (http://www.reallyusefulproducts.co.uk/uk/) we used them for all our storage throughout the waggon and they suited our needs totaly!So having never taken the wagon overseas before I found getting to Europe was so easy, It’s just on the doorstep and so varied. (mind you the fab weather probably helped as well !)
Pre planning included talking out an AA European rescue service, chatting to our insurance company, and fitting the beam adjusters to the lights.Many thanks to everyone who gave us advice – it was really helpful .. so – Next trip planned for Denmark and all points north!
(I Did try to upload some photos but my work computer isnt playing …. so maybe post some next month when I get home)
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