West Wittering VW meet at the beach

Whilst browsing Facebook a few weeks ago I noticed a post from my mate that was a link to a VW show being organised at West Wittering beach on Sunday 17th April. I have visited West Wittering on several occasions and I just love the place. It is a beach that has been deemed an A.N.O.B. (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and is located just to the East of Portsmouth in Hampshire on the south coast of England. It has a glorious huge sandy beach that is child friendly and it's suitable for canoes and kayaks, and it is also dog friendly. When the tide goes out the sandy pebble free beach seems to go on forever. The main reason I like West Wittering so much is that you will not find any tacky souvenir shops or noisy arcades. It does have one cafeteria where you can purchase food and drinks but that is it. You visit West Wittering for the safe sandy beach and of course the scenery and surroundings. The post I saw was from Sam Halson who was advertising her 4th annual VW dub meet at the beach....Whoa! hang on! 4th annual event?? why hadn't I heard about this event before?? As soon I had read about the event I decided I was going, even though it's a bit of a trek, as West Wittering is around 115 miles from my hometown of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. The event was open to all types and models of Volkswagen so hopefully there would be a good turn out. I re-posted the link about the event on my facebook page but it didn't generate much interest, I'm not sure why??. Having missed the first 3 annual events I wasn't sure what to expect, I thought that maybe there would be 30 - 40 Volkswagen's that turn up which would be great, but how wrong could I be?, I think the count was well over 200 air-cooled and water cooled vehicles all gathered at one location by the beach. You can check out the official West Wittering website by clicking the link here: http://www.westwitteringbeach.co.uk/ 

My 1969 VW microbus parked up at the West
Wittering VW show. I was lucky to find a parking
spot in front of the cafeteria just off the main
 road through the beach site. It did get very warm
during the day down on the South coast, and this
 photo shows my bus is bathed in glorious sun-
shine, but it wasn't so warm when we left.

In fact before I left at 08.30am I had to scrape
the ice off the windows! It is still spring over
here in the U.K. and that means we still have
cold frosty nights, and sometimes days too!

I did re-post the link to this VW meet on my
Facebook page but none of my VW friends
seemed interested in attending so it was just
me and my dog, Boobie. She does like to ride
shotgun in my early bay, and loves to look out 
of the window to see where we're going.

Approaching the Hindhead tunnel on the A3
southbound. The sky looks a gorgeous deep
blue colour with white fluffy clouds. This isn't
any photographic trickery but looking at the
sky through my green top tint windscreen
which enhances the blue sky colour.

As soon as I paid my £6.50 entry fee and started
to drive in I noticed Volkswagen's of all makes
and models parked up, I thought to myself "this is 
going to be a good day"

 This cool blue 1969 fastback was cruising down
the main road next to the beach, this really was
a nice solid looking car. 

The old fastback looked fantastic just slowly
cruising past in the bright spring sunshine. This
'69 looked pretty much stock and was so clean.

A few mates and your buses at the beach on a
sunny Sunday afternoon just chilling out that's
 what life is all about, wouldn't you agree?

This 1975 bay window had the brightest green
paint that almost glowed in the sunshine. This
really was a very clean and straight bus.

Another late bay at West Wittering was this
white over turquoise bus. I did like the standard
ride height on this bus, I know the 'in thing' is to
have your bus lowered but riding high is much 
more practical and far more comfortable.

This baby blue 1971 early bay looked nice
with it's white pop top. These buses are just
made for a stop over at the beach.

The sheer number of Volkswagen's of all
descriptions that attended this great VW
meet at the beach was truly amazing.

These guy's were all from the same club and 
were parked up together, again the variety of 
VW's just in this small group was fantastic.

I did like the look of this 1967 blue beetle. It
looked so clean and that chrome towel rail
bumper against the dark blue paint makes the 
front of this early bug look so cool.

This stunning 1963 split screen was totally
immaculate and like new. Finished is white over 
light green with colour matched steel wheels this 
old bus really stood out.

This really was an amazingly straight and
solid looking split screen that looked right at
home parked up at the beach.

I did like this all white 1970 Westfalia. This bus
looked as though it was an American import
and still had what looked like the original 
Westy interior. The white wall tyres were a
nice authentic touch.

Volkswagen's everywhere at the West Wittering
VW meet by the beach. A lovely looking red 
1968 beetle that looked pretty much stock and
 a bright orange 1978 late bay that gave off an 
orange glow in the spring sunshine.

This 1972 red and white high top late bay stood
out amongst the other camper vans parked up
due to it's high top roof. These high top buses
are so much more practical than tin top buses
and give so much more room inside. and they
also look so cool. The truck mirrors and visor 
were both nice accessories.

The West Wittering site wasn't exclusively for
VW's, it was open to the public as usual but
it was nice to see that virtually every other car 
was a Volkswagen of some description. This 
1971 white over sky blue early bay looked nice 
and clean with it's matching garland in the
windscreen.

This immaculate 1972 squareback was one of
my favourite classic VW's at the meet. It really
was amazingly clean and straight  and looked
like it could has just been driven off the
 production line. 

You can see just how clean and straight this
old '72 really is in this photo. This really was
a very desirable car.

Another all white classic parked up was this
 lovely white 1970 beetle complete with the
period painted steel wheels and roof rack.

Apart from those cool chrome headlight peaks
this old bug looked pretty much original, and in
such a nice condition.

It was fantastic to see so many camper vans 
parked up at the beach on a warm sunny 
Sunday afternoon on the south coast.

The colour of this Herbie themed 1969 beetle
was gorgeous and it suited the car perfectly.
This really was a nice looking bug, I did like
the colour coded banded steel wheels and the
period looking roof rack.

This photo shows off the deepness of the rear
banded wheels. The deck lid rack was another
neat period accessory that looked perfect.

This stunning 1973 late bay looked fantastic
in the glorious spring sunshine. This bus was
another original looking vehicle that was, as
so many were, so clean and straight.

I did like the contrasting green colour of the
pop top canvas and the cool screen visor.

Everywhere I looked I saw lovely old classic
Volkswagen's parked up. Here a late bay and
an early bay are parked up side by side next
to the beach.

This baby blue 1964, 15 window deluxe split 
screen caught my eye with it's full length roof rack
and solid looking body.

This 52 year old bus really did look nice, I do
those corner windows the deluxe buses had it
seems to finish off the look of the bus nicely.

This lovely 1966 split screen was parked up and
looked fantastic. I did like the colour combination
on this lowered splitty.

This really was a nice straight bus as you can
see from this photo.

This lovely light blue early bay was parked up
close to the beach and it's owners were just
chilling out in the sunshine. This really was a
laid back Volkswagen gathering.

There was a vast array of different models of
Volkswagen's on show at West Wittering. They
all looked great parked up together in a lovely
setting with glorious spring weather.

This white T25 doka looked great parked up
amongst all the modern T4 / T5's. I did like the
canvas cover over the rear bed.

Another stock looking bus was this lovely red 
and white 1970 early bay. The stock ride height
and the stock looking body helped to make
this lovely old imported bus stand out. 

Looking in between two beach huts from the
show area at the lovely sandy dog friendly
beach, I will definitely have to take Boobie
dog on the beach later.

Sam Halson and her daughters (I think) went
around the show taking lots of photos of all the
VW's that attended. They took this cool photo
of me and Boobie as we drove into the VW
meet at West Wittering in the sunshine. 

Another photo of Fiona (my microbus) parked
up at this fantastic location again taken by
Sam Halson.

And from the rear.. These are really good
photos of my bus so thanks Sam! In fact the
one of me driving into the venue I have used
for my Facebook profile picture.

Having looked around the show and had a chat
to various owners I decided to take Boobie on
the beach for a good run. This was her first
time at the beach and she loved it. You can
see how nice this beach is, when the tide goes
 out the beach seems to go on forever. 

Boobie dog looks a bit lost on this amazing
beach. This has to be the perfect location for
a VW meet. I have since read on Facebook
that Sam is organising another VW meet at
the same location in September, count me
in Sam!  And well done Sam for organising an 
amazing VW meet in an amazing location.  As I 
mentioned earlier Sam Halson and her daughters
 took lots of photos (about 290 in total !!) of most 
of the Volkswagen's that attended this fantastic 
beach meet. To see all Sam's photos of the 
event copy and paste the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/sam.flynn21/media_set?set=a.10154038775562332.1073741962.697932331&type=3&pnref=story