Time to get moving … literally!
My last post on planning for the Clipper Race was a bit boring, but it addressed some of the practical considerations that I need to deal with.
It really focused my attention on saving, or at least limiting my spending, as much as possible, and as quickly as possible.
Doing so should provide greater opportunity to do new things before, and maybe after, the Clipper Race.
For the past few months, I have been exploring an idea that has been rattling around in my head for about 25 years … buying a Land Rover Defender 110!
When I was young my family had a first generation Land Rover Discovery. As a kid, I loved the Disco … it just seemed so different to other cars and like a proper go anywhere vehicle!
We never really used it for off-roading (although technically we lived off road, so I suppose we did …) however I do remember going on a trip to the Pyrenees with it. We had a caravan as well, which I think we went in … that caravan also served as accommodation for most of our holidays when I was growing up!
The process of driving from the UK, onto a ferry, into France and almost all the way to Spain was really exciting to me as a child, particularly considering I hadn’t travelled very much.
It’s something about the escapism and covering distance from your point of origin … to relatively quickly be in in an entirely different place.
I was discussing this recently with someone and she also experienced similar enjoyment from undertaking the journey rather than just reaching the destination. It partially inspired the blog name and is a source of study for many a philosopher and psychologist!
These two blogs on the topic are quite interesting.
TheSocialTalks – Travelling & Escapism: The Psychology
Personally, I feel it is driven more by my INCUP motivators (Interest, Novelty, Challenge/Competition, Urgency, Passion) which are much stronger than my RICE motivators (Reward, Importance/Ideology, Coercion, Ego) … I simply enjoy doing new, challenging things in new and exciting places!
Anyway, I digress and will no doubt cover the sources of my wanderlust another time!
Back to Land Rovers!
By the time I was a teenager I’d been in or driven a few Defenders and Discoveries and I often found myself daydreaming about taking time off before going to university, getting a Defender, and driving from the UK to Singapore (or some similarly obscure trip or adventure in a Land Rover).
Why Singapore? It just seemed like the logical end of the “road” to me!
I mean, I was basically just spinning a globe and looking at the extent of the land mass I could cross in a vehicle …
I went so far as to jot down a route, the different countries and cities to pass through, and estimating the journey time but, eventually like many dreams at that age, the reality of not having the money to afford a Defender and cover the cost of some epic overland journey meant packing the idea away into the “not now, maybe later” box.
The even more grand idea of one day participating in the Camel Trophy / G4 challenge was definitely not going to be possible … and sadly no longer is given the event doesn’t exist anymore!
Periodically, the idea of travelling in a Land Rover would resurface and I’d think about at least making a start by getting the vehicle, but inevitably something would get in the way. “Life got in the way” was becoming an all too easy excuse …
Over the years I would find myself browsing overland vehicles, dreaming about what it might be possible to do. I’d catch my self digging deep into anything from Defenders, to Unimogs, to MAN KAT trucks!
I think I’d seen one with an integrated garage at the back for an ATV which seems like an awesome addition. I was lucky enough to do some quad biking as a kid and used to love it … and at one point when living in Libya I was even thinking about doing an amateur desert rally on one! As a bit of a petrolhead I am often more interested in the vehicle than any specific destination …
It’s a bit like “property porn” … when people browse the property listings for houses they obviously can’t afford … but for me it was off road vehicles. OK … I will admit to doing this regularly for many other things like cars, houses, yachts … private islands … another story for another day perhaps …
I’d often see prepped overland Defenders and it would reignite the idea. Maybe it is the British connection or the Camel Trophy link, but it was almost always a an old style Land Rover in some form. I stopped to take a picture of this one in Ghadames for example when most people probably wouldn’t have …
So what stopped me? Well, I thought I was building a career, which ate up an extraordinary amount of my time and energy, plus possibly having a family and being based primarily in the UK, so this idea of going exploring and roaming in an old Landy has always remained in the box, even when I had the financial means to procure one …
… that is, until now!
I have roughly 8 months until the start of the Clipper Race, and 4 weeks of that will be dedicated to training on the yacht. In my last, much more boring post, I estimated that I could save … or avoid spending … somewhere in the region of £4-5k for each month earlier that I leave my home … plus I’m selling my other cars rather than storing them … so I see that as opening up some budget for a new toy …
If I pull the trigger on one, then the plan would be to use it to travel around the UK, doing some hiking and a few other things … I’d like to look at doing some kayaking and maybe enduro bike training … as well as possible longer trips into Europe between Clipper training.
To be honest, it will be a bit of a learning experience for me and be practice if I want to do anything more adventurous later … I need to see how closely reality aligns with fantasy!
What will I do with it when I leave for the race? I’ll likely store it somewhere as, if I have enjoyed using it, then it will give me an option for more travel when I get back … but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it (or “ford that river” seems more vehicularly appropriate …).
So the hunt is now on … legitimately … for a suitable vehicle!
I have my eyes on a few 110s in various states of preparation and I’m speaking to my friendly garage about the possibility of a build. They do a lot of VW van conversions for the vanlife community, and are also in the process of resto-modding a 110 TD5 Double Cab currently, so I think they will be quite well placed to help if I need to prep it.
It would be easy to go down a rabbit hole with the amount of options for kit and modifications (my inner kid comes out with jacked up suspension and monster wheels) … and I could really overthink the challenges of van life … I’ve already caught myself researching the pros and cons between different composting and chemical toilets … all of which could give me an “excuse” to put the decision off or say it is too difficult or impractical …
Instead … I think I should just throw myself in the deep end, get it, and learn to deal with the hurdles and challenges as they come up!
Over the 6 months or so that I might be using this, before the race, I’m really unlikely to even scratch the surface of what I could do with the vehicle …
Hopefully it doesn’t blow up its gearbox like the old Disco did though …
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