Saturday 15 August 2015

Route 67, VW Charity Run 2015

This weeks blog is slightly different from the normal Volkswagen / Classic Car or Hot Rod show reviews that I normally post. This weeks blog is all about the Route 67 VW Charity Run, that I took part in that went from John O' Groats, (which is the furthest Northern point in the U.K.) to Lands End, (the country's most South Westerly point) a journey of 1008 miles. (not including getting to the start point or getting back from the finish). The whole event was the idea of Paul Aspin and was aimed at raising money for the homeless charity 'Crisis'. Paul posted his idea on facebook and before very long a facebook page had been created, sponsor forms, t-shirts and stickers had also been produced and all monies raised went directly to the charity. It what seemed like only a few weeks the route had been planned and over 800 members had joined the facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/vwroute67/  Before long Paul had several people helping out with the organising and in no time at all there was also a Route67 website produced: http://vwroute67.co.uk/  The journey started on Monday 20th July from John O' Groats, in Scotland and included 5 campsite stop overs on the 6 day convoy. Talking to Paul he said that 18 vehicles took part in the whole journey from start to finish, including a split screen panel van that lost lost 4th gear shortly after starting the event, but still carried on and completed the journey to Lands End with only 3 forward gears! and with another 60 or so buses joining along the way. Due to work and family commitments and a minor mechanical problem on the bus, meant I couldn't make it to John O' Groats for the start so a few friends and I joined the convoy around Bristol, (about two thirds of the way down) but even joining the convoy there it still meant I clocked up just over 650 miles. Some of the participants who did the whole trip posted of the Route67 facebook page that they had in total covered 1500 / 2000 miles, and some even more than that. The event has so far raised just over £6000 ($9361) for the Crisis charity, but if you can help in any way by donating whatever you can afford, you can do so via the Route67 webpage:  http://vwroute67.co.uk/
To see all my other blog entries, go to ‘My Blog Archive’ to the left of this 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.

You can watch a short video made up from various participants photos group taken during the trip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L34oYqgnT6Y
(video courtesy of   'Another Rubbish Vlog')


This is not the actual route the convoy
took, but just an illustration to show my
many overseas readers the true
scale of this epic journey.

This was dawn at John O' Groats, on day one 
of this epic charity convoy. Most of the camp
are still asleep as dawn in John O' Groats is
around 4am. Photo courtesy of Paul R Corlett.


The convoy parked up en-route from Glen Nevis
to Ullswater. Photo courtesy of Paul R Corlett


The convoy tackling the Kirkstone Pass in the
Lake District National Park. 

Photo courtesy of Stuart Rebecca Evans.

 En-route to the campsite in Conwy in North 
Wales. The great British weather was doing it's
 best to dampen the spirits of the participants 
but it never succeeded, morale was high 
throughout the whole trip despite the usual
British summer rain showers. Photo courtesy 
of Donna Taylor

The line up of vehicles at the Conwy campsite.
All the buses are ready to roll.
Photo courtesy of Stuart Rebecca Evans.

Our mini convoy parked up en-route to meet
 the main convoy at Gordano Services on the
 M5 motorway. Zoe and Kirsty were in the white
 T4, Alden and Jake were in the red 1970 bay 
and I was on my own in my '69 bay. We stopped
off at Oxford services to get some food and drink.
Zoe, Alden and Jake are members of 'The House
of Dub' VW Club, based near Milton Keynes.

By the time we got to Gordano services, it was
dark so we decided to camp there overnight
 as they had clean toilets, and hot food and drinks. 

When we woke up the rain was falling from the
sky like it was the end of the world, but this is
just another British summer and we are used
to it.

Within a couple of hours some other buses had
started to arrive, and they just kept arriving...
it was an awesome sight.

We left Gordano services and headed South
towards Bude, our overnight stop. I'm following
Alden and Jake with buses as far as the eye
could see both in front and behind.

The convoy got split up due to roundabouts,
traffic lights etc, and the rain kept falling but
the buzz I got from being part of the convoy
kept me smiling and my spirits high.

Hang on.. I think it's stopped raining. As we
approached Bude the rain did indeed stop if
only for a short while.

We finally arrived in Bude after driving most of 
the way in rain, which as we all know is not good
  in an early bay!

The convoy queueing up to get into the Bude
holiday park, our overnight stop on the Friday.

Alden and Jake waiting patiently at the back of
the queue to get into the campsite.

Oh hang on... another bus just joined the queue,
and so it went on...

Once in the campsite, Zoe wasted no time in
erecting the gazebo and getting the BBQ
ready. I'm sure Zoe spends half her life living
out of a camper van.

Peeking out from behind Fiona (my bus) at
the damp campsite with Route67 buses
parked up in every direction.

Rouet67 buses parked up at the Bude Holiday
resort, our overnight camp on the Friday night.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp on the Friday night.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp on the Friday night.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp on the Friday night.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp for the Friday night.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp for the Friday night.


Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp for the Friday night.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp for the Friday night.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp for the Friday night.


That has to be the brightest screen cover I have
ever seen, but doesn't it look good against the

dark stormy sky.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp for the Friday night.


Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp on the Friday night.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp for the Friday night.

The green early bay of Paul Aspin, who's idea
it was to have this charity VW convoy in the first
place, and what a great idea it was. I think it
has now become an annual event with different
routes to be planned each year.

Route67 buses parked up at the Bude holiday
resort, our overnight camp for the Friday night.

On the Saturday morning I opened the sliding
door and was greeted with warmth and the sun
shining. The drive down to Lands End looked as
though it was to be completed in the dry.

My 1969 microbus in the morning sunshine
getting ready to leave Bude for the final push
to Lands End, via Newquay.

The 'House of Dub' camp at Bude is being slowly
dismantled in readiness for the final push.

What a difference a day makes, the day before
we had torrential rain all day and today the sky
is blue the sun is shining and it's really warm.

Our little camp within the Route67 camping
field is almost dismantled ready for the 'off'

An impromptu line up on the Saturday Morning
of the buses that camped at Bude before we
 all headed off for Lands End.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

I included this photo of my bus in the line up at
Bude for no other reason than I like it.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

Line up of buses at Bude on Saturday morning.

The charity convoy leaving for Lands End.
You can watch 2 short video's of all the buses
leaving the Bude campsite by clicking the links
 below. The videos taken were by Kirsty Clare.
https://www.facebook.com/zoe.h.hughes/videos/o.967906409890104/10153652289307481/?type=2&theater
https://www.facebook.com/zoe.h.hughes/videos/o.967906409890104/10153652289717481/?type=2&theater

(you may have to copy and paste the links into
your browser)

En-route to Lands End the convoy stopped off
at The Qunitrell Inn in Newquay
http://www.quintrellinn.co.uk/
to have a 'last meal' together as a group, as a
few of the participants had not booked to
stay overnight in St.Just with the rest of us,
so it was a nice gesture 
and a good reason to
all sit down as a group and have a lovely big
cooked roast dinner together, after all there
is only so much barbeque food you can eat!

After finishing a lovely meal, I tried to walk off
the 'full' feeling by wandering around the car
park. As I wandered around I counted 49 buses
in our convoy parked up. What a fantastic sight.

Route67 buses parked up at The Quintrell Inn.

Route67 buses parked up at The Quintrell Inn.

Route67 buses parked up at The Quintrell Inn.

Route67 buses parked up at The Quintrell Inn.

Route67 buses parked up at The Quintrell Inn.

Route67 buses parked up at The Quintrell Inn.

Route67 buses parked up at The Quintrell Inn.

Route67 buses parked up at The Quintrell Inn.

We made it.! The signpost at Lands
 End. The sign states that John O' Groats
is 874 miles but due to the route the convoy
 took the actual mileage was 1008. You can
check out the full route on the Route67
website: http://vwroute67.co.uk/the-route/

The management at the Lands End centre kindly
provided a field on site for us all to gather in at
the end of a truly epic charity cruise.

The Route67 buses gather in the Lands End
field, due to the convoy getting split up the flow
of buses arriving must have gone on for about
an hour. 

Another group of vehicles that got split up from
the convoy are just arriving into our own field
at Lands End.

I do like this photo of 3 of the buses that took
part and completed the Route67 charity VW
convoy from John O' Groats.

More buses arrived shortly after the last group.

My 1969 microbus parked up in front of the
Lands End entrance. It normally costs a small
fortune to enter the car park but as they knew it
was a charity run, they kindly let us enter for free.
They also allowed us to drive our buses up to the
entrance and park up under the 'Lands End'
sign to get some memorable photo's which
is normally prohibited.

Alden's red 1970 pop top bay, Zoe's white T4
and my '69 microbus all parked up at Lands End.
If your going to do a journey like this, it helps no
end to have some good friends to do it with.

At Lands End looking across to the 'First and
Last Refreshment House'. The most South
Westerly Inn in the U.K.

After we had taken enough photo's at Lands
End to remind us all of this epic journey, and
having taken time to wander around the Lands
End complex we headed for our last campsite,
 'Trevaylor campsite' in St. Just,  which is about
3 miles or so from Lands End. My bus looks a
bit lonely where I was directed to park, I didn't
bother putting up my awning or sun shade which
is just as well as the weather turned in the night.

The Route67 buses parked up at the Trevaylor
campsite.

The Route67 buses parked up at the Trevaylor
campsite

The Route67 buses parked up at the Trevaylor
campsite.

Zoe, Kirsty, Alden and Jack setting up their own
little camp at Trevaylor.

The Route67 buses parked up at the Trevaylor
campsite.

In the early hours of the Sunday morning the
storm arrived. We had torrential rain, with gale
force winds that ripped some of the awnings
away from the buses, and any furniture that was
left out ended up across the other side of the field.
You can see how bad the visibility was in the
morning, but despite this the mood was still
surprisingly high. Even so, a few of us decided
to call it a day and head for home rather than
spend a few more days at the site as the fore-

cast was much of the same for the next few days.

We decided whist eating a good healthy fry up,
to stop off at St. Michael's Mount in Marazion to
take some photo's. Marazion is only 12 miles
from St. Just and on the opposite coastline,

and the weather was a million times better.
The sun was shining and it really was quite
warm with a lovely blue sky. 

Looking across the English Channel towards
St. Michael's Mount which is a tidal island which

 can be walked to when the tide is out, otherwise
 you have to get a ferry. It is believed to have been
a monastery in the 8th century. St. Michael's
Mount now belongs to the National Trust which
means you can visit this lovely heritage site.

Our little convoy parked up at one of the car
parks at Marazion... not one of us can park
parallel with the parking bays!
Parked up and sat in my bus looking out at
the beach and the surf at Marazion. 

Fiona enjoying some well overdue sunshine
overlooking St. Michael's mount.

I don't normally like photo's of myself on my
blog as the reviews are not about me, but I
do like this photo. This is me and my '69
bay taken by Alden at the Bude campsite.

From left to right: Zoe, Me, Kirsty, Jake and
Alden at the famous Lands End signpost.

So that was a very brief review of the first
VW Route67 charity run from John O' Groats

to Lands End. You go through life and think
about different things and think to yourself,
 'I wish I'd done this or that', well that's what
I'm thinking about not joining this convoy from
the start in John 'O Groats. All the participants
that took part were so friendly and upbeat,
despite the lousy weather. It was a pleasure
to meet them all, and next year I will do the
whole journey. Big thanks to Zoe, Kirsty, Alden
and Jake for being good mates and good
company, and probably the people I would have
chosen to do the journey with. A massive well
done to Paul Aspin for the original idea and
the organising of the event and to everyone else

who helped Paul getting this charity run off the
ground and a special well done to everyone who
took part, whether you done the whole trip or
just a part of it, like we did. Next years charity
run is already being planned and is going to be
a reversal of this year's route, starting from
Lands End and ending up in John O' Groats.
I'm not sure if it will an exact reversal, stopping
at the same campsites en-rote as they did this
year as it's still in the planning stages, but one
 thing is for sure, you can count me in.!

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