The Cow Roast Inn, Tring - VW Meet

Earlier this year I was asked if I could help to 'spread the word' about a new monthly meet for both air-cooled and water cooled Volkswagen's that was being held at The Cow Roast Inn, London Road, in Tring, Hertfordshire, HP23 6JL on the first Sunday of each month from 1pm onwards. As the venue for this new monthly meet is only about 9 miles from my hometown I said I would love to help out by advertising the meet on numerous Volkswagen themed face book groups that I have joined, and of course by attending the meeting. Starting a new monthly meet was always going to be difficult, because if you plan the meet for a week night, you'll get the 'I don't get home from work in time' or if you plan it at the weekend you'll get 'weekends are for gardening, housework and the family etc'  but not being deterred, I and another mate duly spread the word as best we could. The weather here in the U.K. is another major factor to bear in mind when planning a Volkswagen meet as any sign of bad weather and they'll stay away. The forecast for the Sunday was sunshine but with some heavy showers, but I hoped the weather forecasters would be wrong and that we would get plenty of sunshine without any showers.

To see all my other blog entries, go to ‘My Blog Archive’ to the left of the page. Simply click on an arrow for a particular year, then click on an arrow for a particular month, this will then give you a drop down menu for all the blog entries for that month.

Lisa and Joe, and Lisa's sister Amanda (I think)
 came over from Potters Bar in Hertfordshire in
their 1972 late bay window named 'Buttercup'
which they have only owned since October or 
November last year.

Buttercup is Lisa's 'mid life crisis' which are
 Lisa's own words not mine! but why not have
a campervan in a crisis, at least you can pull
over, have a brew and relax in comfort.! so
it sounds perfectly natural to me. The custom
chrome grill was a present to Lisa and gives
Buttercup a nice and shiny unique front end.

This late bay was really clean and straight, and
the colour (when the sun came out) was just
so bright. Lisa and Joe are finding out that
although yellow is a lovely colour, it does
attract the bugs on the front of this lovely bus.

My 1969 Microbus, washed and polished (!)
and looking good in the sunshine at The Cow
Roast Inn public house.

My 1969 early bay parked up next to Lisa and 
Joe's 1972 late bay.

Another yellow and white late bay also arrived
at the Cow Roast. This lovely bus belonged
to Dennis and Lynn who came along from
their hometown of Hemel Hempstead.
Dennis and Lynn have only recently purchased
the bus and are still finding out all its quirky
little features.

Again this was another very clean and tidy bus
that the new owners seemed pleased with.
They were saying that they owned a Comma
bus many years ago and now the children
have grown up, it seemed a natural progression
onto a Volkswagen camper van.

Sarah and Gareth came along from St. Albans
to the VW meet in their gorgeous 1967 split
screen, named Tigi.This really is a lovely looking 
bus that they hire out for weddings when they are 
not off camping somewhere (which they do quite
frequently) If you fancy having Tigi part of your
big day check out the Tigi facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/tigilovesweddings?fref=ts

This lovely splitty was immaculate, the body was
nice and straight and painted in a gorgeous two
tone Ivory over Bahama blue. This lovely bus
was actually featured in Volkswagen Camper &
Commercial magazine last month. Sarah and
Gareth have a 3 week camping trip planned
which includes 2 weeks touring France in
Tigi, have fun guy's..

The interior of Sarah's gorgeous split screen.
I'm sure Sarah would have opened the door
for me so I could have taken a better photo
if I had just waited until she got back and 
asked her... Doh!

Dan and his partner Pam and their dog came 
along in their lovely 1988 high top T25. This was 
a cool looking bus, and with that high top there 
was just so much room inside it was incredible, 
it must be luxury to have that much space inside.

Josh and his partner, and their dog came along
in his newly acquired 1961 split screen crew
cab pick up. Josh is a member of the House
of Dub VW club based near Leighton Buzzard.

This crew cab is originally from Peru, before
it moved to the sunny west coast of the U.S.A.
there it was used for a number of years by
'Spikes Surf Shack' at Huntington Beach
before being imported to the U.K. The sign
writing on the sides of the crew cab have now
gone but this is still one seriously cool ride.

Speaking to Josh, he was saying that the motor
is an 1841cc, or very close to this cc. It has an
IRS rear suspension and has been lowered all
round. It has also benefited from having an up-
graded 12 volt electrical system fitted.

This lovely bus also has safari screens fitted
which is nice when, (or if) the sun shines here
in the U.K. Since owning the crew cab, Josh
has replaced all the locks and fitted a fire
suppression system. Future plans include a
split charging system to power ancillaries, fit
truck style mirrors and replace all the window
and door rubbers. Looks like Josh will be busy
over the coming months.

Just a few of the air-cooled VW's that attended
the inaugural Volkswagen event held at The
Cow Roast Inn, near Tring in Bucks.

A photo showing a blue sky and the shadows 
from the glorious spring sunshine. This was
taken just after we had had thunder, lightning
and hailstones, but even that didn't dampen
our spirits... just our buses and the car park.

So that was the first Cow Roast VW meeting. I
have been to a lot of VW shows, big and small,
and it's not about how big the meet is, it's all
about the people. This meet was the friendliest
meet I have attended for many years. Apart from
Josh, I didn't know anyone at the meet but after 
only 30 minutes all the owners were chatting to 
each other as though we had known each other
 for years. It really was a pleasant surprise, and 
how a VW meet should be.! Thank you guy's.
I for one enjoyed myself.