This is the TV report, the link below is the whole interview
Sunday 20 February 2011
Arctic 4x4 Rally - Up and Under Foundation
If you want to supportthe Up and Under Foundation you can on www.justgiving.com/upandunderfoundation
Day 8 and 9
Day 8
The end of the rally is drawing near and today we have a short day with some difficult navigation to get through the woods so that we can get to the ferry. After a nice hotel stop we set of at the luxurious hour of 9 o'clock.
Tina (Rally Lady) was having a fun time with only two gears due to a mysterious clutch problem. The rest of the remaining cars set off with much fun and team spirit in the air as we now all wanted to get to the finish.
As we had collected all the points with several hours to go before the ferry we had some time for playing and this gave me a chance to get the skis out.
Later when we arrived in Turku we walked up the river to the town from the docks - no really up the river!
Then it was off to the ferry. This was uneventful, but was noteworthy because the ferry pushed through ice the whole way and the noise on the car deck was incredible.
Day 9
We were woken on the ferry at 5.30am and made our way to the car ready for a short navigation section through Stockholm. We were constantly promised warmer weather but it was still -22C when we set off. 10 locations later and we were handed the location of the finish point. As we drove the final kilometers we reflected on what a fantastic event this had been, the people who had made it special, the beautiful scenery, the animals, the cars and especially how much effort Torbjorn and Hanna had put into the organisation. The reason I rally is to enjoy adventures with other people as crazy as me, this has been one of the best!
Oh and BTW we won ;o)
The end of the rally is drawing near and today we have a short day with some difficult navigation to get through the woods so that we can get to the ferry. After a nice hotel stop we set of at the luxurious hour of 9 o'clock.
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| Some of the drivers at the start with Martin as race director |
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| Peter and Thomas - have laughed and smiled the whole race through - great people |
Day 9
We were woken on the ferry at 5.30am and made our way to the car ready for a short navigation section through Stockholm. We were constantly promised warmer weather but it was still -22C when we set off. 10 locations later and we were handed the location of the finish point. As we drove the final kilometers we reflected on what a fantastic event this had been, the people who had made it special, the beautiful scenery, the animals, the cars and especially how much effort Torbjorn and Hanna had put into the organisation. The reason I rally is to enjoy adventures with other people as crazy as me, this has been one of the best!
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| Torbjorn and Hanna - the reason we were all able to do it! |
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| The reason we wanted to do it! |
Friday 18 February 2011
Arctic 4x4 Rally - Day 7
With no cut off time there was time for fun and games and photography, we had missed many opportunities to record the beauty ofthe environment in our competitive dash through these fantastic countries so a few minutes were well spent with the camera.
Today as we move further south the weather gets warmer, starting in Kajaani at -35C we travelled to Tampere (near Nokia) where the evening temperature was a mere -20C. The theme ofthe day was not to lose at this late stage and all ofthe main protagonists stayed close together. After finding 17 geo-points, five of the remaining teams found themselves trying to find a control point. As this point was worth 4 points it was inportant not to miss it. I suggested that if we all agreed to skip it we would be no worse off, but Peter was having none of it and said he would stay until he found it. Being just as stubborn it looked like we might end up searching all night when a call to the organiser revealed a slight error in location and an hour and a half of wading around in waist deep snow came to an end, otherwise Peter and I would still be there.
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| Negotiations taking place |
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| End of the search |
With only two days to go I have no idea what the result will be at the end, in fact no one does because the race diector will only reveal the result in Stockholm on Sunday, suffice to say I think we are in a good position for a high placing with the main competition coming from Peter and Thomas from Sweden in the Toyota with far too many lights ;o)
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| Lorna's office |
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| The trusty Volvo |
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| What to bring on a rally - a sandwich toaster! |
We are on Redshift radio again tonight at 7.30 uk time at www.redshiftradio.co.uk or listen again to the late late breakfast show. ther is still time to donate at www.justgiving.com/upandunderfoundation
Thursday 17 February 2011
Arctic day 5 and 6
Day 5
Today we drove from Kemijarvi to Kajaani, however our secret weapon was taken from us when we were told we could not walk more than 500m. I was a little upset but considering that one participant already has frostbite it was reasonable ;o)
Day 6
The really tough points were eliminated today because of the remote location and the extreme cold, how cold? -40 was the coldest and believe me that is cold!
We had another treat in store when we arrived in Oulu, a 5 mile drive across the sea, on ice to a checkpoint on an island. It was real ice road trucker stuff with cracks and everything.
Llater on we saw two Elk as we drove through the forest finishing the day with all checkpoints visited. A short walk to a nearby garage rounded of the day with a filling meal of pasta. It is a real rock and roll lifestyle, I might even get chance for a shower.
Today we drove from Kemijarvi to Kajaani, however our secret weapon was taken from us when we were told we could not walk more than 500m. I was a little upset but considering that one participant already has frostbite it was reasonable ;o)
We awoke to a true Arctic Morning, clear and very cold, -36C according to the ever reliable Volvo. This temperature was going to cause some problems. Martin’s Toyota was very unhappy, the engine could not be coaxed into life even with 4 batteries. Hitched up to , you got it, the Volvo, it was towed to a nearby indoor, heated garage and brought back to life.
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| Spot your snowball |
Llater on we saw two Elk as we drove through the forest finishing the day with all checkpoints visited. A short walk to a nearby garage rounded of the day with a filling meal of pasta. It is a real rock and roll lifestyle, I might even get chance for a shower.
Tuesday 15 February 2011
Arctic 4x4 Rally - Day 4
Today was a relatively easy day, only 400 miles driving and a 4km walk in the woods. Today is the aniversary of the birth of Ernest Shackleton, one of Britain;s greatest ever explorers and it is strange that the thought that was going through my head all day was that we may be the last generation who can exploit the technical achievements of the 20th century to travel relatively easily to remote places and experience their beauty and harshness in relative comfort. That is a sad thought because to do the trip we have done today has been an amazing experience.
N Norway in winter is a wild rugged place, but one that is almost painfully beautiful. Vista after vista drew gasps of amazement at what nature could produce, all topped off with a perfect icing sugar finish.
I've not gone all poetic, don't worry, but if you get the chance, come up here and experience it yourself. The cold is a force on it's own, today we experienced -38C and with a 10mph breeze it was so penetrating in a way that is difficult to explain.
We passed through an area still inhabited by the Sami people who herd the Reindeer. To say they are a tough, resourceful group is understatement on a grand scale. How they survived without the modern additions of electrcity, vehicles and oil is beyond my understanding.
Tomorrow the rally gets tough and technical again so we shall have to see haw it pans out. Thanks to Stein for his help today.
Don't forget we are still collecting funds for the Up and under foundation, you can donate at www.justgiving.com/upandunderfoundation. and I am on http://www.redshiftradio.co.uk/ at 8.00pm uk time, really I am tonight.
Where are we? http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0SauyE7BAsX1dRyq8q7qchfjI9CdKcaci
N Norway in winter is a wild rugged place, but one that is almost painfully beautiful. Vista after vista drew gasps of amazement at what nature could produce, all topped off with a perfect icing sugar finish.
I've not gone all poetic, don't worry, but if you get the chance, come up here and experience it yourself. The cold is a force on it's own, today we experienced -38C and with a 10mph breeze it was so penetrating in a way that is difficult to explain.
We passed through an area still inhabited by the Sami people who herd the Reindeer. To say they are a tough, resourceful group is understatement on a grand scale. How they survived without the modern additions of electrcity, vehicles and oil is beyond my understanding.
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| Morning mist rising over a Fjord |
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| The Geo-point must be here somewhere and we've walked 2km so we will jolly well find it! |
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| How about that for the open (and icy) road - 600km like this! |
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| Little house by the Fjord |
Where are we? http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0SauyE7BAsX1dRyq8q7qchfjI9CdKcaci
Monday 14 February 2011
Arctic 4x4 Rally day 1-3
So it is Monday evening and we have just had our first hot meal since Friday evening – a hotdog from a garage, very valentine’s day I must say, but then we are on a rally.
Saturday morning had us standing around a collection of offroad vehicles on what is probably a sports field in the summer but now was 3 feet deep in snow. We were in Stockholm at the start of the first Arctic 4x4 Rally. The vehicles surrounding us all seemed far more capable than our Volvo XC, evidenced by the fact we had a few problems driving through the snow to the start. Of dear what had we let ourselves in for. I have to tell you that Shrek wasn’t here due to the fact that he is not bult for the cold and we were expecting very cold!
We set of at 7.30 Saturday at intervals. We had maps and gps points (no gps maps allowed!) and we had to find letters fixed at points throughout Scandinavia, what could possibly be hard about that.
The first stage was 900km, the recent snowstorm that had hit S Sweden) and made the papers) was going to make it a long day, just how long we were to find out. The first geo-points were supposed to be an easy warm up but deep snow made quite a difference. By the fourth point of the day’s 20 we had had to be dragged back along a track, by a passing (honest) tractor as we had bottomed out the car and lifted the front wheels of the ground. We started walking. This sort of high jinx continued. The Land Rover sprung a fuel leak and the Swiss got stuck and were the first to be towed out by the ever reliable Volvo ;o)
We drove further north, it got dark and every 50km or so we would have to stop, wade through waist deep snow to find the code letter hidden in the woods. Still this went on, 20 points for sure, but 900km was turning into 1100km midnight came and went then 0ne and finally at 2am we arrived at the hotel ready to sleep and get to the start line for 9am the following morning. It had been a warm night wit the temp only falling to minus 15!
Day 2 and we felt that the toughest day was behind us. However one team had almost missed breakfast only arriving at 6am. The start was conveniently close to the hotel and everybody lined up ready for another day. Tina and Uli’s Frontera had been plugged in to keep it warm through the night. The Landy was fixed again and the Volvo had the heated seats warming. Today was a short day, only 370km but there were some tough sections that we had been warned might be difficult for the Brits in their shopping car. When we arrived at this section after about 4 hours it was clear that it would be very hard for anything short of a snowmobile, so with an eye to a few extra points we set off to walk. 12km later we returned to the car, tired but satisfied, only to discover that the Danes (there are (were) 3 cars of them) had called the police as they didn’t think anyone would walk off into the wilderness and return safely – we actually enjoyed ourselves and the police were cancelled.
The Danes said they were going for a beer instead of looking for the final points and left us. It was only later at the hotel we saw the wreckage of their Toyota which had rolled off the road.
A note on driving here. The road surface on the main roads is a mixture of ice and snow, you routinely drive at 70mph on this stuff and what’s more you can stop really quickly if (and when) a reindeer jumps out in front of you, all down to the tyres I am told and if it is I want some next winter. It is not surprising that the Scandinavians make the best rally drivers, they drive stages every day to work, to the shops, and on teh school run.
Towards the end of the 2nd day we backed off a 10 mile drive up a snowy track on our own which regrettably may have lost us some points, but we didn’t get stuck and that would have lost us a lot more, especially as the temp went down to -35C! We finally arrived back the hotel at 10.30, had a brew from the flask and went to bed, ready to get up at six for the start of day 3.
Monday and a relatively short stage of 570km with a section likely to be blocked out by deep snow and unlikely to be passable by the school run 4x4. Of we set, a couple of easy points, some nave errors and we found ourselves at the start of another interesting snow track, alone again. This time we had to give it a go, After almost 20km we had some points but the track ran out. Another team were at the end of the track, minus a navigator who, it turns out had yomped off up the hill to a point about 3.5km away by track (2.6 direct), it appears that our exploits the previous day had set some minds racing. We had no choice but to follow suit. 1:10 later I was back at the car and Lorna was ready with a brew and a sandwich.
Another 200km on snowy and icy roads, some more points along the way and yippee we arrived at the hotel. There was hot food at the garage and that beat any cordon bleu cooking I’m ever going to taste.
We have had three beautiful days, very cold, but clear and sunny. Like any rally the folks are good fun and we are currently handing out stickers to cars we’ve towed out, three so far.
The Snowballs have made it to the Arctic!
The trick is to finish these events and we will be doing our best over the next 6 days. I will be on redshift radio tonight at 7.30. www.redshiftradio.co.uk
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| Some of the competition |
Saturday morning had us standing around a collection of offroad vehicles on what is probably a sports field in the summer but now was 3 feet deep in snow. We were in Stockholm at the start of the first Arctic 4x4 Rally. The vehicles surrounding us all seemed far more capable than our Volvo XC, evidenced by the fact we had a few problems driving through the snow to the start. Of dear what had we let ourselves in for. I have to tell you that Shrek wasn’t here due to the fact that he is not bult for the cold and we were expecting very cold!
We set of at 7.30 Saturday at intervals. We had maps and gps points (no gps maps allowed!) and we had to find letters fixed at points throughout Scandinavia, what could possibly be hard about that.
The first stage was 900km, the recent snowstorm that had hit S Sweden) and made the papers) was going to make it a long day, just how long we were to find out. The first geo-points were supposed to be an easy warm up but deep snow made quite a difference. By the fourth point of the day’s 20 we had had to be dragged back along a track, by a passing (honest) tractor as we had bottomed out the car and lifted the front wheels of the ground. We started walking. This sort of high jinx continued. The Land Rover sprung a fuel leak and the Swiss got stuck and were the first to be towed out by the ever reliable Volvo ;o)
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| The locals think we are crazy! |
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| The number of the beast |
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| The Beast - we found him, honest! |
The Danes said they were going for a beer instead of looking for the final points and left us. It was only later at the hotel we saw the wreckage of their Toyota which had rolled off the road.
A note on driving here. The road surface on the main roads is a mixture of ice and snow, you routinely drive at 70mph on this stuff and what’s more you can stop really quickly if (and when) a reindeer jumps out in front of you, all down to the tyres I am told and if it is I want some next winter. It is not surprising that the Scandinavians make the best rally drivers, they drive stages every day to work, to the shops, and on teh school run.
Towards the end of the 2nd day we backed off a 10 mile drive up a snowy track on our own which regrettably may have lost us some points, but we didn’t get stuck and that would have lost us a lot more, especially as the temp went down to -35C! We finally arrived back the hotel at 10.30, had a brew from the flask and went to bed, ready to get up at six for the start of day 3.
Monday and a relatively short stage of 570km with a section likely to be blocked out by deep snow and unlikely to be passable by the school run 4x4. Of we set, a couple of easy points, some nave errors and we found ourselves at the start of another interesting snow track, alone again. This time we had to give it a go, After almost 20km we had some points but the track ran out. Another team were at the end of the track, minus a navigator who, it turns out had yomped off up the hill to a point about 3.5km away by track (2.6 direct), it appears that our exploits the previous day had set some minds racing. We had no choice but to follow suit. 1:10 later I was back at the car and Lorna was ready with a brew and a sandwich.
Another 200km on snowy and icy roads, some more points along the way and yippee we arrived at the hotel. There was hot food at the garage and that beat any cordon bleu cooking I’m ever going to taste.
We have had three beautiful days, very cold, but clear and sunny. Like any rally the folks are good fun and we are currently handing out stickers to cars we’ve towed out, three so far.
The Snowballs have made it to the Arctic!
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| There are more we will get round to photographing them later! |
The trick is to finish these events and we will be doing our best over the next 6 days. I will be on redshift radio tonight at 7.30. www.redshiftradio.co.uk
Friday 11 February 2011
Arctic 4x4 - The calm before the storm
We arrived in sweden on a plane that had been delayed by a massive snowstorm which had passed over southern Sweden earlier in teh day. Stockholm is gridlocked in a way we normally are after 1" of snow. Here however it is about half a meter!
We have registered and things look ok. Scrutineering was pretty lax and having a car and being able to find the registration point seemed to be all you needed. Our car really is the baby with the others seeming to be proper big, high offroaders so I think we will have our work cut out having any success.
We've had one problem already - how do you put stickers on a car when it is cold windy and snowy? Answer.... cruise around until you find an open warehouse, drive in and do it in the warm!
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| This one is broken already, but it doesn't seem to be phasing the team from Sweden |
Tomorrow is a 900km drive north so we should be pretty tired by the end of that. follow us in lots of ways including:
and on Redshift radio http://www.redshiftradio.co.uk/ at 7.30pm each day
Thursday 10 February 2011
Arctic 4x4 Experience - and they are off!
Well not quite we start at 7am Saturday with scruitineeringg being tomorrow evening. If you want to follow us go to:
http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view?trip_id=241484
you will see something like this!
Share your Adventures with SpotAdventures
Wish us luck!
http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view?trip_id=241484
you will see something like this!
Arctic 4x4 experience - Fruit and Lorna go North!
Share your Adventures with SpotAdventures
Wish us luck!
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