Regional XRV Camping Meet 2011 - Thetford Forest - 29th April - East Harling, Norfolk

[East Coast]

April 29th – April 30th 2011 Regional XRV Meet - East Anglia.... Open to all XRV'rs

Update 15-04-2011

Itinerary, Check points, PMR radio channels, Base camp, Mission Control, Supplies

As it seems to stand at the moment we are looking at a morning ride out (for those that can make it), checking in at the campsite & setting up tents / lunch, afternoon ride out / lunch and evening get-together /dinner

It’s pretty difficult and restrictive to put exact times on things not to mention the unnecessary pressure it could put on individuals or small groups so I propose some guide times and checkpoints that will hopefully allow everyone to meet up in their own time..

Welcome any input but how does this sound..

Morning – I will leave this with you guys as you may wish to explore then pitch or pitch tents then explore.

Midday – 1200 till 1300hrs, Meet at first checkpoint, checkpoint 1 at 1 o’clock, Campsite.

Coordinates 52.443170, 1.027415 If you’re local between these times and need to get hold of base camp you should be able to reach us on PMR channel 2 or 7 (call sign - XRV)

Afternoon – 1300 till Sunset Minus 1.5hrs Anton’s ride out....

Checkpoint 2 – A trail in the forest, 10 minutes either side of 2o’clock, Coordinates – Anton to supply if that’s ok?

Checkpoint 3 - Again, hopefully a stopping point in the ride out, 10 minutes either side of 3o’clock Coordinates – Anton to supply please if you could

Checkpoint 4 And again, somewhere off the beaten track would be good -10 minutes either side of 4o’clock Coordinates – Anton to supply if that’s ok

Back to Checkpoint 1, the campsite a few hours before sun down.

Again we will be on PMR channel 2 or 7 – during these times so please radio us if you are hoping to meet up and join the ride out J.

So, if for example you can’t make Thetford until say 1420 but you’re getting close to Checkpoint 2, please radio us on one of the PMR channels at around 1405 to let us know your intention is to join the rideout – we will then wait for you at the stated checkpoint coordinates (I guess you could always call Farky – he has an iPhone if you didn’t know that already )

Evening – blowing up airbeds, drinking beer and cooking food (you choose the order J)
Food – we intend to avoid eating and drinking out with maybe exception of a beer in the local before last orders. It is our intention to take pack lunches to either eat on one of the trials (at a checkpoint) or while putting the tent up (favour the former J ) and opting to be self sufficient in terms of evening BBQ by the tent and bacon / egg sandwich in the morning and beer in the evening . After all we are all adventurers J

Hope that suits everyone but please do let me know any suggested refinements

Update 6/4/2011

Thanks to Anton88 for his suggestion and Smokey Dan for making enquires....We now have a campsite with toilets
They allow single sex groups of any size, motorbikes, BBQ's (off the floor), have plenty of space and you only need to pay for one night over bank holiday weekends (rather than the mimumum 4 at Dower House - who also stipulate a maximum of 4 tents per mixed group and do not accept bookings from multiple related groups)

Applewood at Banham is just east of where we had origionally planned to be and costs £13 / night, by the sounds of it there is even a pub just over the road which you may wish to use soon after the loo to buy Anton a beer

Applewood Camping And Caravan Park Reviews, Banham Campsites

I have booked and paid for Aggy and I and also reserved a further 10 spaces. I am told that the field rarely gets full though if you would like to be sure you definatley have a space please call 01953715319 and mention XRV regional meet on the 29th April

Update 5/4/2011

The campsite has changed to Google Maps

Which can cater better for our needs and circumstances, it is also just down the road from the origional one we had planed for.

Being more akin to wild camping, it should make the evening more of an adventure....There are no toilet facilities on this site...you will need to take or hire (from the campsite office) a chemical toilet @£5/night. I will be taking my own if I can fit it on though probabbly not the toilet tent*

There is a small shop though I will need to check if there is drinking water available. Cost is £21 per person which covers camping on the Friday and Saturday night. For those just staying Friday night it is still £21 I'm afraid - (campsites minimum 2 night bank holiday policy)

If the numbers are right I could book this as a rally and get a discount on the cost above... I am waiting to hear back from another member which will qualify this. Eitherway we will be in a small clearing in the forrest and surrounded by trees

I will post details of how to book on Thursday - this will either be a direct call to the campsite or, if the numbers are right, booked with their head office rally bookings line.

I will update on Thursday

As previously mentioned and discussed with a few of you guys and also following on from an earlier post regarding a regional XRV meet, we have arrived a rough itinerary for this year’s Spring East Anglia Regional Meet .

Itinerary

Friday Day – Those local to each other meet at ..TBC..for ride to Campsite in East Harling Norfolk for about midday. Set Up Tents, Lunch, then Explore Thetford Forest Trails and Lanes .

Friday Evening - Camping at East Harling - Beer by Tent / Bike Talk / BBQ / Pub etc.
Google Maps

As mentioned above, this is a rough guide and any input...comments and suggestions are welcome. I will contact the campsite in due course once I have an idea on numbers.

We have 10 names down so far and it would be great to get as many as possible from the region together on the Friday though this is of course open to all other subscribed members outside of East Anglia .

I will send out PM’s to anyone not subscribed to the other threads that I am now about to post a link to this in.

I will edit this post with amendments and finer details as we go For now, Looking Forward to It and hope to hear from you!!

ECA.


*(Anton - I can't remember how big your tent is but you are welcome to borrow my toilet tent on your way past in the morning to accompany your hired porta-potti, if this is the way you plan to go - it should fit on your bike). Same offer open to Smokey and TWN who also have small tents - but also small bikes which I'm not sure it would fit on hence my offer to Anton first

[beddowsm]

Hello Nick,

would have liked to have popped down for this but its the Galloway trip at the end of April. Have a good one though,

Mike

[East Coast]

A few pictures from a similar trip we did last year (same campsite)...

[East Coast]

Hello Nick,

would have liked to have popped down for this but its the Galloway trip at the end of April. Have a good one though,

Mike

Cheers Mike, hopefully next year the dates won't clash as it would be great to have you along chap

[dubhe]

How 'off road' are the Thetford trails and lanes (are they all like in the pictures)? I'm running road biased Anakee2 tyres on my Alp at the moment
Up for the camping and beer drinking, if I am in the area (not sure where I will be living by the end of April) so may be a late addition.

[Smokey Dan]

I don't really need an excuse to smoke the locals out with the 125, but it's nice to have one

Looking forward to it

[East Coast]

How 'off road' are the Thetford trails and lanes (are they all like in the pictures)? I'm running road biased Anakee2 tyres on my Alp at the moment
Up for the camping and beer drinking, if I am in the area (not sure where I will be living by the end of April) so may be a late addition.

You will be fine on those tyre even if it's wet, Norfolk is pretty flat and I don't see any up-hill mud climbs on offer (shame though )..... will be good to see you there

[East Coast]

I don't really need an excuse to smoke the locals out with the 125, but it's nice to have one

Looking forward to it

[dubhe]

Any idea how much it would cost to have my tyres swapped out for knobblies? Happy to pay for the tyres but wondering how much it would be to keep swapping back and forth, I do go off road a few times a year, though not since my more recent tyre change... Be good to be able to put something more interesting on for weekends like this one

Assume I would only need to balance them when putting the road tyres back on?

[beddowsm]

Any idea how much it would cost to have my tyres swapped out for knobblies? Happy to pay for the tyres but wondering how much it would be to keep swapping back and forth, I do go off road a few times a year, though not since my more recent tyre change... Be good to be able to put something more interesting on for weekends like this one

Assume I would only need to balance them when putting the road tyres back on?

Its £10 a wheel in my local bike shop. Why not get some duel sport tyres. Saves swapping them round all the time. I use K60's. Great on road and off road. Not every ones preferance. Do a search on here. Theres plenty of threads about on tyres.