Club of the Month
The annual wild camping laning weekend is always popular. Nick Kirkpatrick tells the story
Get the lowdown on Cumbria Classic Land Rover and its annual wild camping laning weekend
WEIRD Dale is the summer do for Cumbria Classic Land Rovers. If I remember correctly this is the seventh year we have held it. It was set up as a friendly, informal, wild camping weekend, with the chance to drive a great selection of lanes with friends during the day and sit around the campfire drinking beer and do what most enthusiasts all around the world do – talk Land Rovers and the meaning of life – during the evening. It’s that simple formula that has kept it going all these years, not forgetting the great bunch of people we have accumulated over the years and become friends with.
There are a few basic rules at Weird Dale: never leave anyone behind, repair any lane damage that’s caused and, the favourite one, if at any time you have a ‘lack-of-talent moment’ it is compulsory to stay with your vehicle until everyone else has had opportunity to take as many pictures as they deem necessary. Last rule of Weird Dale is what happens at Weird Dale stays at Weird Dale. The only way to find out is to become part of it.
This year there was great weather, great lanes, great people and as usual several lack-of-talent moments and a few breakdowns. These included the annual visit to a muddy hole, the temporary loss of an expansion tank cap, an encounter with a tree and someone resting their Land Rover on a dry stone wall.
The camping was located at one of the member’s fields high above Alston. The area around Alston is wild and remote with few inhabitants, but lately inhabited by midges – the ones that have been expelled from Scotland for being too aggressive – so midge repellent was necessary. Wild camping was either on the flat field, or for the more adventurous, in the woods, where you could set up a tarp or hammock. Other facilities available on site were a composting toilet and an eco shower from run-off rainwater. More importantly there was a community tent, charcoal barbeque (attendees were required to bring food), but beer was supplied by good friends of Cumbria Classic Land Rovers, the Tractor Shed Brewery from Workington who supplied two types this year: Prof’s Lack of Talent, which is always popular, and – new for 2019 – Woo Woo’s, which was a bit stronger.
This year’s Weird Dale ran from Thursday to Sunday with different members attending on different days, however
some did come for the whole four days – in all around 20 to 25 people each day.
As a group we spend a lot of time looking after and repairing local lanes. We do not publish the routes as they tend to get hammered as soon as they are made public. Laning is still a sensitive issue and everyone should always check out their routes themselves before driving them.
There was a good selection of lanes driven over the weekend in Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland. To drive the lanes we split into three groups according to ability and the routes the group leaders had chosen. One being scenic and easy going, one being more challenging and the other had the possibility of becoming stuck and maybe requiring a winch.
Once everyone had returned to the campsite, it made for hours of discussion as to who had the best day, best lanes and who had one of those lack-of-talent moments, or a breakdown. But I couldn’t possibly say who did what, as what happens at Weird Dale stays at Weird Dale. That said this year’s event did raise close to £100 for the Fairhill Recreation Ground Trust in Alston. Plans are being discussed for Weird Dale 2020, so guess I will see you next year.