I've been watching Ray Mears Extreme Survival recently way back from the year 2000. Despite his shorts hiding not nearly enough flesh, he has some great pointers about preparing yourself and gathering the right equipment for heading into the Australia Outback....
After you get your first Land Rover Defender and you're starting to learn about where you can save money by doing things yourself, you realise that for every task there is something you lack. Namely, tools....
I'd been planning on going to Salisbury plain for a long time. It's held in great esteem by off roading communities for its large areas of byways and public access to vehicles. I was expecting a pay and play day mecca, but as it turned out it was rather tame. Where Pay and play days may get to 7/10 on difficulty for a standard vehicle, the plain peaked at around 3/10 with most of it 1 to 2....
It is said that to drive a Land Rover Defender safely you should imagine that you are driving a soft-top; that is to say that the aluminium body construction doesn't provide much strength should you find the vehicle inverted and the weight of the chassis/engine/axles hovering above you...
So I find myself a year later in 2010 going back on my previous thoughts about what I want from an expedition vehicle. I've just bought a 1997 300Tdi 110 Station Wagon and am feeling quite pleased with myself....
I've finally started the journey towards my own Land Rover expedition. In June 2009 I purchased this 1992 Land Rover Defender 110 Hardtop 200Tdi from eBay. I've already found myself trawling catalogues and websites for things I can buy to upgrade it with. My journey to make the ultimate expedition vehicle has begun....
Good old Ray Mears has done it again. In this episode of Extreme Survival, he's in the Sahara desert with his Land Rover Defender talking through some survival tips, recovery techniques and maintenance....
Land Rover tends to have a history in connection with great expeditions. Need I say any more about Camel Trophy and the G4? These days they're still trying to get their vehicles out there being used for what they were designed to do, by putting on no expense spared romps in the desert....
I find myself writing a third chapter in my saga of expedition vehicles. I never intended it to work out that way. My first expedition vehicle was supposed to be "the one". But a couple of things had happened......
