LAND ROVER ADVENTURERS

We asked two Heritage customers to share their Landy stories

MALCOLM WALKER, TV PRODUCER/DIRECTOR

Customer since: 2017

Insured with us: 2004 LR Discovery, suspension, snorkel, tyres, rockslider

Also has: 2 x Range Rovers and a LR Vogue

What got you into Land Rovers?

My Uncle had a farm in Kent and as a 10-year-old I learnt to drive in a Series 2. Long before Japanese imports, Land Rovers were the only 4X4’s around, so it was a natural to stick with what you know. I currently own 7 Land Rovers!

You’ve produced TV content for the Australian 4x4 scene?

I worked for a short time with All4adventure, and with 4Wdaction - I’m just a fan, I got involved by e-mailing All4adventure and we met up in Queensland a few times. They’re actually quite secretive about where they film.

You’ve also worked as a producer for the BBC, when and what did you work on?

I was a BBC Drama Director, moved on as a producer for the daytime series “Doctors” for 7 years, and then directed one-off dramas and Casualty.

What’s your next 4x4 filming project? After producing Australia-based 4x4 shows, I wanted to produce a UK TV Series under my Itasca production group about my passion for 4-wheel driving / Overlanding. We’ve developed a TV series we hope will appeal to the general public as an interesting series – the challenge is, the UK isn’t Australia, we don’t have the land space and almost every inch of the UK is owned, fenced and farmed. As all UK 4x4 fans know, access to tracks, hills and mountains is very limited, so it’s an uphill battle!

We’ve come up with an overlanding concept for the series we’ve dreamed up, and have access to land that will appeal to all 4x4 drivers. In Scotland we’ve teamed up with Geoff Allan, author of “The Scottish Bothy Bible”; Scotland and certainly the Highlands will feature heavily in the show.

We also plan to set up Itasca Adventures as an overlanding guided tours company. What are your plans this year and next?

I’m hoping with some friends to take my 2 Discovery’s to mid-wales to some tracks around Dolgellau in Snowdonia, then hopefully in September to the Scottish Highlands for a week to film a pilot of our planned TV Series, with Geoff Allan who has organised some very challenging Bothies to try and get to, these are normally only accessible on foot.

Can you share a Land Rover adventure?

I was in Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand and I borrowed an early Defender 90 from a vineyard we were filming at; that night I drove to the top of one of the mountains that surround the Queenstown lake. It was muddy and we had to use the winch to get through parts of the track, but when we camped out with no light pollution, looking up at the stars was the most vivid experience of my life.

What is your Drive 25 pick?

First on my Drive 25 list would be the Glacier drive in Iceland. The wildness of Iceland has a lot of appeal. My second choice (we had already planned this) would be a drive to Scotland’s Kinlouch Hourn - the remoteness and having to rely on living out of my overlanding Discovery 2 is so appealing.