The Mud Life - #53 - November 2023

the mud life #53 - November, 2023

iveco off-road

is the good life

skoda enyaq iv 80

VW Caddy California

For Vehicle Adventure Enthusiasts & Outdoor Lovers

Škoda FestEVal

pages 22-31

To find out about advertising in the magazine, email : damian@themudlife.co.uk Important information Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the contents of The Mud Life magazine are accurate, we accept no responsibility for errors or omissions, nor the consequence of actions made as a result of these. When responding to any advertisements in The Mud Life magazine, you should make appropriate enquiries before sending money or entering into a contract. The publishers and owners take reasonable care to ensure advertiser’s probity, but will not be liable for any losses incurred as a result of responding to adverts.

Copyright All images and material on these pages are protected by copyright © Damian Turner. All rights reserved. None of the images or material within this magazine may be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose that is not expressly authorised by Damian Turner or Karen Lee Turner.

DAMIAN TURNER Editor-in-Chief, Writer, Photographer, Reviewer

KAREN LEE TURNER (A.K.A. The Muddy Madam)

Creative Director, Editor, Reviewer

LILLY - THE MUD LIFE DOG Cuddle Monster, Model, Reviewer

TURNER'S TORQUE

4-5

NEWS

6-13

WORDS FROM THE WILD

15-20

VW CADDY CALIFORNIA

22-31

LAND ROVER AMBULANCE CAMPER

33-38

ŠKODA ENYAQ IV 80

40-49

BE OUR GUEST

51-55

GOODS & GEAR

57-63

CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

64-79

THE TALES OF LILLY

80-82

LILLY'S WOOF STUFF

84-85

IVECO OFF-ROAD

86-91

DIRECTORY

92

BACK ISSUES

93-94

F O L LOW U S

THE TEAM

IN THIS ISSUE

FACEBOOK - TheMudLifeMag INSTAGRAM - themudlifemag TWITTER - themudlifemag WEBSITE - www.themudlife.co.uk

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HOw Much?

TURNER'S TORQUE

Deux Smurf’s insurance isn’t up until March next year, but I’m dreading it, as according to the world of Martin Lewis (Money Saving Expert), new data has shown that the average car insurance renewal price is up a whopping 61% on last year, which was already up significantly from the previous year.

Comparison site Confused.com says the 'average' price is now a massive £924 a year.

Apparently things are likely to keep getting worse until the middle of 2024. Insurers say rises are partly due to general inflation, rising car repair costs - with garages charging more for parts and labour - and paying out more for written-off cars, due to the value of used cars getting ever higher.

Let me introduce myself in the style of an AA confession...

"Hi, I’m Damian Turner, and I have an unhealthy interest in all things '4x4' and being outdoors."

Over the years I’ve written for various 4x4 magazines such as LRM, LRW & 4x4 Mart, and also for getting out'n'about titles such as Practical Caravan, and Practical Motorhome magazines.

If you are a Range Rover owner, another worrying trend is actually getting insured in the first place.

According to a few people I know (who are 'in the know'), a lot of potential owners are cancelling their new Range Rover orders due to insurance reasons. A friend told me that his pal was quoted £13k to insure a brand new Range Rover Autobiographical.

You didn't read that wrong, yes it was thirteen THOUSAND pounds!

It isn’t like he’s a young whipper-snapper living in a high risk area, this guy lives in rural Lancashire, has been driving 50 years and has 30+ years no claims.

Seven or so years ago I broke out of the freelance world to start up The Mud Life - first as a website, then 4 years ago into this magazine you are reading.

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Similar conversations are also taking place on various Range Rover Facebook pages as, according to the DVLA, Range Rovers were the second most stolen cars in the UK in 2022, with more than 5200 taken.

Another friend has a 3 year old SVR Sport, and the insurance has increased from £800 to £3k this year. He is getting rid, obviously, as are other owners; when I checked there were almost 500 Range Rover Sports on Auto Trader.

It’s a worrying trend, and I’ve no idea what JLR are doing, or can do about it - I read somewhere that they are offering large cash discounts as incentives, but that’s like putting a plaster on a shark bite.

Theft incidents had become so prevalent that JLR was forced halt its own insurance last year after their insurance partners,Verex, said it would no longer extend coverage.

JLR has said it is collaborating with owners of earlier 'flagship' Range Rover models to minimise thefts by ensuring the accurate transfer of login details to new owners for the InControl app, facilitating remote access to the vehicle, and efforts are underway to update the car's body control module, responsible for overseeing security.

The little bit of good news for new owners is that thefts involving the latest Range Rover and RR Sport models have been extremely low, with Adrian Mardell, JLR’s acting CEO, telling analysts in June that incidents have been "very close to zero" despite the cars being available for buy for a year.

Even without owning anything from the JLR stable, I will keep my fingers firmly crossed that we will still be able to afford to keep Deux Smurf and Muddy Madam's Škoda on the road next year!

Time for A Shameless plug At the time of writing, we have just over a month to go until the biggest gift giving day of the year, and I am shamelessly going to use my Muddy Madam's Moment to tell you about all the lovely swag you can get your hands on in our Live The Mud Life shop.

We have some great 100% Organic Cotton products for all the family, and when I say all, I mean that we really do cover all ages.

We have automotive related T-Shirts, Hoodies, Jumpers and Bags for the 4x4 fans and general petrolheads of the world, and we also have designs that you can get for your non-vehicle obsessed friends.

Everything in the shop has been personally designed by me, printed in Teemill's British factory, and is then shipped to you in funky plastic-free packaging, making your gift giving eco-friendly too.

Head over to livethemudlife.co.uk, and take a look.

TURNER'S TORQUE

We have a Baby Collection, Kids' Collection as well as Men's and Women's Collections.

I'm Karen Lee Turner, but here I'm mainly known as Muddy Madam.

Damian may be the 4x4 nut, sorry, authority, but without me, (the true power behind the man - as always in life ), there would be no magazine.

😉

If you haven’t subscribed to the mag yet, please do.

As well as sending you the mag straight to your inbox each month, we’ll also keep you updated on all the new happenings. We are hard at work creating the next mag, a new website (it's getting there), and some new SUBSCRIBE YouTube vids (some more coming soon) for you all, so don't miss out.

I am the one who designs it, puts it all together and does all the techie stuff in the background to make it magically appear each month.

I also do the weirder articles (remember Which is the best vehicle for the zombie apocalypse?), some of product reviews and help Lilly write her tales.

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Toyota Explores The Wild Frontier of Off-Roader Design Toyota produced wild and wonderful versions of iconic off-road models for its largest presence yet at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas recently. Fully embracing the show’s theme of Track or Trail,Your Thrill Awaits, it presented a series of one-off special builds among a display of 19 different vehicles.

“The SEMA Show offers an ideal platform for Toyota to unveil products and strategies designed to deepen connections with adventure-seekers and performance enthusiasts,” said Mike Tripp, North American Group Vice President, Toyota Marketing.

“We want to demonstrate that Toyota is an exciting, innovative company capable of taking our stock vehicles and building them out to do incredible things.”

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FJ Retro Cruiser Rod Millen Group’s 1967 FJ45 Land Cruiser Wagon, dubbed The Retro Cruiser, is one of the coolest and most famous Land Cruiser projects ever completed.

Now almost 25 years young, Toyota refreshed this legend and brought it to Toyota’s SEMA space for the first time, to inspire a new generation of Land Cruiser fanatics.

Tacoma X-Runner Concept Toyota’s design and engineering teams showcase the potential of what Toyota’s TGNA-F product platform could become, by converting this year’s SEMA Midsize Truck of the Year - a tough, rugged, and lifted workhorse, into a slammed street machine worthy of the X-Runner badge.

FJ Bruiser A salute to Land Cruiser’s roots, this one-of-a- kind, “King of the Hammers” inspired concept began life as a 1966 FJ45 pickup that Toyota transformed into a rock-crawling beast, ready to conquer the toughest terrain in the world.

The Blue Beetle Tacoma From the big screen to the SEMA stage, this build takes the award-winning Tacoma and - not unlike Jaime Reyes in Blue Beetle - goes from hero to superhero, featuring an exterior graphic wrap courtesy of the Warner Bros. Pictures’ design team, and superpowered capabilities supplied by Toyota’s Calty Design Studio and Special Parts and Accessories Development (SPAD) division.

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2023 SEMA Show Lexus Heads Off-Road

Before we get started, folks in the UK don’t get excited, the GX and LX models featured are North American Lexus models and are not available in the UK - boo, hiss.

For this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Lexus added a tough and rugged dimension to its North American-market offroad models.

Six vehicles were on display at the show last week, including each generation of the GX and the latest LX 600, together with a wide range of products from AAP, the Lexus Associated Accessory Product programme for the US, demonstrating a host of styling and functional features for adventure lifestyles.

Lexus GX 460 Premium AAP Build

Shown in a custom Matte Yellow Saffron body wrap, the show model has 34” Toyo Open Country all-terrain tyres on 18” wheels. CBI Offroad rock sliders and a full skid plate help the vehicle negotiate rugged off-road surfaces.

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For an off-grid overlanding experience, there is a Kammok Roo double hammock with a bespoke stand. And when it’s time for meals, a 69-litre fridge freezer can help store the essentials.

An ARB12V portable air compressor, Weekender Recovery Kit and TRED Pro recovery boards are also included, and extra equipment storage is provided by a Prinsu rear window accessory panel.

Lexus LX 600 Premium AAP Build

The 2022 Lexus LX 600 Premium AAP Build is shown in an eyecatching custom Aquamarine body wrap. It features a matte grey grille, black chrome window trim, black door handles and door mirrors, black chrome bumper trim, dark grey roof rails and 18” matt grey alloy wheels with 33” Toyota allterrain tyres.

A force to be reckoned with in the off-road community, the LX 600 is equipped with drive control and assistance features including Multi-Terrain Select, Multi-Terrain Monitor, Crawl Control and Downhill Assist Control.

A quick-deploying Kammok awning provides protection from the elements and a Yakima deluxe camp kitchen bundle offers an easy and convenient way to prepare meals.

Atop the LX 600 and completing the look are a Yakima rooftop stand-up paddleboard and surfboard mount, located on a Prinsuroof rack.

Lexus GX 550 Overtrail+ AAP Build

The Lexus GX 550 Overtrail+ AAP Build sports a bi-tone exterior colour combination of Lexusfirst Earth and Black. Its standard features include 33” Toyo Open Country A/T tyres on 18” wheels, black accented overfenders, an aluminium skid plate and all-weather floor liners.

In addition to the standard features, the show model has been upgraded with Lexus AAP items including Lexus-badged rock rails and an on-board tyre compressor. Storage is a priority with a Prinsuroof rack, Pelican cargo case and Prinsu rear window accessory panels. A Prinsu ladder is fitted for easy roof access.

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VelociRaptoR 6X6 Hennessey, the Texan hypercar manufacturer, has officially announced the start of full-scale production for its 'VelociRaptoR 6X6' supertruck, a Ford F-150 Raptor R that has been transformed into an almost unstoppable 6X6.

Derived from the third-generation Ford F-150 Raptor R, the 'VelociRaptoR 6X6' boasts an elongated boxed frame and an additional fully operational locking rear axle, enhancing tractive grip by over 50%. The suspension system incorporates Live Valve Fox dampers, representing the pinnacle of off-road suspension technology available on a production vehicle. A 3" lift elevates the body, readying it for Hennessey's bespoke 20" alloy wheels

enveloped in 37" off-road tyres. Notably, an expansive 2.4 metre long load bed replaces the original 1.67 metre bed, resulting in a cargo capacity increase of more than 45%.

Complementing these mechanical enhancements are redesigned front and rear bumpers, LED off-road lights, and distinctive Hennessey VelociRaptoR badging. The resulting 'VelociRaptoR 6X6' is a formidable machine measuring 8.23m in length, 2.13m in height and width, with a curb weight of around 2.95 tons.

The robust Ford Raptor R engine, a supercharged 5.2 litre V8, remains unaltered, delivering an impressive 700 bhp @ 6,650 rpm and 640 lb-ft of torque @ 4,250 rpm. This formidable power ensures that the commanding 'VelociRaptoR 6X6' dominates both on and off-road.

Elevating these power-packed trucks to the extreme '6X6' stage is second nature to Hennessey's engineers.

As the world's largest producer of modified Ford F-150 Raptors, the company has constructed thousands of high-performance VelociRaptor trucks for customers worldwide, with its colossal 6X6 standing out as one of its most remarkable builds.

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MUD LIFE STICKERS!

Stick 'em on your 4x4, caravan, toolbox, laptop or wherever else you just want to stick things.

Get them in our shop: ko-fi.com/mudlifemag/shop

Subscribe to The Mud Life's YouTube channel today

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THE MUD LIFE MAGAZINE

Introducing Volvo's EM90 Introducing Volvo's latest creation, the EM90 - a fully electric premium multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) designed to be more than just a comfortable mobile living space.

Demonstrating their commitment to innovation and responsiveness to market demands, the EM90 takes centre stage in the rapidly growing MPV segment, particularly in Asia where its popularity has soared. Although the premium MPV segment in China may be relatively small today, the EM90 addresses this market with a dual purpose, catering to both family needs and executive business transport.

Building on the success of the award-winning EX30 small SUV, unveiled earlier this year, the EM90 marks the second expansion in Volvo's model portfolio, strategically positioning them to capture new audiences and extend reach across the global market. Both the EX30 and EM90 contribute to their goal of becoming a fully electric car manufacturer by 2030.

Beyond family outings, the EM90 transforms into an executive transport, offering a luxurious and comfortable interior for meetings and business calls. For customers seeking safety, spaciousness, versatility, and a premium driving experience, the EM90 emerges as an exciting new option.

Jim Rowan, Chief Executive at Volvo Cars siad “With the EM90, we’re taking Volvo Cars’ heritage and leadership in safety into the exciting new electric MPV segment.

It allows us to tap new market demand we’ve not explored before and broadens the appeal of the Volvo brand to more people.”

To kick off its global journey, the Volvo EM90 is making its debut in China and is now open for pre-orders, inviting customers in China to be among the first to experience this groundbreaking addition to our fully electric portfolio.

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• Regular digital bulletins • 2 printed magazines per year • Members website and forum • TW2, the essential green lane route planning tool • • Access to area reps for route planning and advice • Member discounts from selected suppliers • Legal challenges • Extensive knowledge base •

Our itinerant wild camper, wanderer, hedge-botherer and semi-feral woman of the woods, Lauren Eaton, talks us through some of her 4x4 adventures out in the big wild world.

G

w o l f e h t h t i oing w

Sometimes, things don’t go to plan.

When you own multiple Land Rovers, this is something you quickly learn to live with but, for a change, it’s not the cars that are causing the problem, although the problem is prohibiting me from finishing those.

The issue is that the workshop has broken down. All of it.

"How can a workshop break down?" I hear you say.

In short, the electricity feed that runs underground has failed in some way, and that isn’t going to be an easy fix.

I live in an unusual property, nothing about it is typical or simple. There are 13 rooms, four brick or concrete outbuildings, a few sheds, half a dozen fuse boards, and lots of cable running to indoor and outdoor electrical stuff over a significant area of land.

When the electric supply to the workshop failed, I was in there shot blasting parts for the 300tdi build. My initial thought was that it was either a faulty piece of equipment, I’d only just bought a new extractor among other things, or that I’d overloaded something running compressors, extractors, heaters, etc., but nothing had tripped on any of the fuse boards.

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Blast cabinet mod courtesy of JLR

There is literally no power at all reaching the workshop, and my trusted sparky is on holiday, so I’ll have to wait for him to return.

The other two who looked at the problem have not been very helpful, other than to say that the problem appears to originate from the underground cable feeding the workshop, and neither of them want to even contemplate fixing it.

What is even more infuriating is that I’ve bought lots of new toys to play with. I’ve added a shot blasting cabinet to the workshop complete with new dust extractor.

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I’ve also rearranged the benches and racking and added another bench, a bench grinder and polisher, and I have a new larger compressor to add to my growing collection; I appear to have a soft spot for them.

All these items will of course be very useful for the rebuild, the queue of items waiting to go through the parts washer, blast cabinet, and/or be cleaned/polished and/or sprayed is growing by the day.

As are my ideas for the 110…

It started in the usual way, ‘I’ll just do these jobs and then head off on a trip’, then suddenly you find yourself waist deep in an engine bay surrounded by many bits of the engine while muttering semi-incoherently about chassis swaps.

I suppose this is the 'sensible' way to do things, rebuild things on a new chassis.

The 110 was running well the day I bought it, but I did buy it as a running project.

There was no real urgency in either doing the work or getting away, and I have done several short disappearing acts just to bond with it, but now I literally am waist deep in an engine bay surrounded by bits of 300tdi.

I’ve decided I’m quite happy here for now, and I also like snow, so why not head north, with a fellow Landy and snow fanatic, in January after I’ve done most of the work?

I have three MOTs coming up in December and January, the 110 included.

Each truck has an issue that needs to be addressed before then too, and the L322 needs to be readied for sale once it has a new test.

The Freelander audibly needs a CV joint, and this will be done very soon, probably with the addition of new wishbones too.

The L322 will probably be fine, but it needs its interior putting back in, a service, and the new entertainment system screen I have purchased installing; this requires removal of a fair amount of the dash which is why I haven’t done it yet.

The 110 needs its engine putting back together, two outriggers, a small bulkhead repair, and a new rear cross member; anything else is just cosmetic.

The 101 doesn’t need an MOT, but it will be getting all new fuel lines.

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And now we get to the point where I started mumbling about chassis swaps…

I can’t weld, yet at least. I plan on learning, but for now I have been busy approaching various businesses to do the work, and the prices have been considerable. This is understandable but, I then thought, I can do a chassis swap, and a new galv chassis isn’t going to cost me a prohibitive amount more than paying someone to weld new bits onto the current one, and while I’m at it I may as well throw on a galv bulkhead, so why not futureproof it completely?

What remains to be decided is when this swap will take place.

The MOT is due at the end of January, so welding or a swap needs to have been done by then to pass, but I also want to take it away in January.

It could well be that things will end up being done a bit backwards, as in rebuild the engine and other components on the old chassis before swapping them to the new one after I’ve returned from a trip and the test expires. Not ideal, but hey, it will give me something to do over winter, and I’ll be ready for spring, when the 110 will be heading north for a considerable period of time.

I suppose now the workshop is out of action for a while, the decision has been made for me. All I can do is continue on with jobs like the CV joint on the hippo, more dismantling of the 110, and putting the L322 back to its non-camper self while I line up more parts to clean up when the workshop is back in action.

Thankfully, going with the flow is something I’m pretty good at. The problem can’t be helped, nor can whatever work it takes to fix it, so I’ll just work around whatever happens when my favourite sparky comes over to assess the situation.

Problems I knew about…

As I said the 110 was bought as a running project. The main jobs to do were no surprise: leaks and rust, with the addition of the fun stuff like putting all the military stuff back into it. I’ve solved most of the leaks in a logical order, top down, and I’m currently replacing the crank seals.

Both the front and rear are leaking, and when I drop the transfer and gear boxes to do the rear seal, I’ll give both of these an overhaul while I’m at it.

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At the moment I’m taking the timing case apart, cleaning up/replacing all the pulleys, and replacing the water pump. This is on top of a new radiator, intercooler, and frame, hoses all round, new power steering hoses, drive belt, and tensioners (or replacement bearings as applicable).

Being a 300tdi conversion, things aren’t as simple as they could be as the engine sits towards the rear of the engine bay.

Off the peg hoses don’t fit, unless you pay a premium and buy ones that have been fabricated to fit, or you fabricate your own; I’ve done a bit of both.

Timing is a job that scares quite a few people and rightly so; get it wrong and it could cause catastrophic engine damage.

But it isn’t a particularly complicated job, the main issues tend to be the usual ones like removing bolts that really don’t want to budge.

The large crank bolt has become notorious, but I didn’t have much trouble with it, although I do own a very large ugga dugga and a new set of chonky ¾" drive hand tools. The timing cover bolts, which are far smaller, also like to cause a problem. In my case two really didn’t want to shift, and had been rounded by someone in the past, but, other than that, the job went smoothly.

There are many hacks when it comes to avoiding buying ‘special tools’ for the timing job. A 9.5mm drill bit can be used to lock the fuel pump for example, but I just bought a cheap timing tool kit. I don’t usually buy cheap tools, but it’s not like these need to take much force or be used every day, the kits off eBay do the job just fine.

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Up and running!

As I was writing this, my usual sparky rushed over as soon as he came back from holiday.

Within a couple of hours, he had checked the whole property and all the outbuildings for me, and reinstated the power to the workshop. The relief that I didn’t need to dig a 60ft trench to lay a new armoured cable was huge!

I spent the dark evening reorganising and setting up the workshop to play catch-up with parts cleaning and blasting, and will continue to work through that for the rest of the week.

I do most of the big work at the weekend when a friend comes over to help, but this weekend we’re off to bring him a Landy home so I’m going to crack on to get as much done as possible, now I have new tools, electricity, and motivation brought by the relief that I don’t need to do some serious digging up of the garden!

That’s all from me this month folks, as I’ll be mostly on the spanners for the foreseeable future.

Pop back next month to see what’s been happening on the drive and in the workshop.

I’ll detail some of the work I’ve done and share any tips I discover along the way, and probably a few things I wished I’d done differently, so you don’t have to.

Drive safe, Lauren and Celyn x

Celyn working hard in her role as the guard dog.

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Caddy CaliforniaMaxi

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What is it ?

Based on the fifth-generation VW Caddy Cargo van, the Caddy California Maxi is a versatile and practical addition to Volkswagen's lineup of camper vans. With its compact dimensions and functional design, it caters to both daily commuting needs and weekend getaways, making it an attractive option for those who want a multifaceted vehicle that’s also much cheaper to buy than its larger siblings.

Available in two sizes; a standard-sized short wheelbase model and the Maxi, which is 353mm longer, are both proudly built inhouse by Volkswagen and not by external specialist builders.

On the road

Having never driven what is essentially a small cargo van like the Caddy before, I wasn’t certain what to expect, would it be workman-like, a bit noisy, crude even?

Well, it was none of the above, the Caddy California was quiet, comfortable, and on a 7-hour round trip down to the Cotswolds achieved nearly 58mpg, which is pretty good if you ask me.

Fitted with the 122bhp 2.0-litre TDI and 7-speed DSG gearbox, while it's not a speed demon it won’t leave you wanting, even with all your overnight kit in the back you’ll find it more than adequate, I’m sure.

During our week together what I enjoyed the most was its smooth and comfortable ride. It’s soft suspension soaked up pretty much everything our pothole-strewn roads could offer.

Of course, press on a little and it can wallow around corners, but that’s fine, it’s a compromise I’m more than willing to accept.

What’s also impressive is that I didn't experience any rattles from the fixtures and fittings in the back - everything appeared well designed and screwed together.

Another bonus is that due to its size the Caddy was a breeze to manoeuvre, whether that’s in urban traffic or on winding country roads, far better than than it’s larger siblings, and it’s perfect if you’re into stealth camping, especially in urban areas.

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Interior

Up front, it may be made from from the same hardwearing materials you’ll find in the regular Caddy, but it’s really quite smart with plenty of cubby spaces for all your odds ’n’ sods.

Finding a comfortable driving position is easy with plenty of adjustments from both the steering wheel and seat. The front seats though, oh my, they’re super comfortable - not hard, not soft - just right. I guess that’s the commercial aspect coming through, a vehicle that’s comfortable to be driven all day everyday.

Speaking of seating, the rear seats can take up to 3 passengers, and with loads of head and leg room they can be from your local basketball team. Oh, and if you require more space for your camping equipment, the rear bench seat can be removed - a nice touch.

Having tall windows and no wall-mounted cupboards that you’ll find in a later camper van means that visibility is very good. There’s also the optional of a park assist system that comes with front and rear parking sensors, or select the optional rear-view camera.

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The important bit, what makes the Caddy Cali a Cali?

Open the huge rear tailgate that doubles as an umbrella when it’s raining and you have a mini-kitchen on the left that includes a single-burner cooker with an integrated gas bottle near the side door. Under the cooker there’s a storage area for utensils, pots ’n’ pans and food. Again, well thought out.

To the right there’s an area in which to sit, quite handy for cooking or putting on shoes! in front of that, and connected to the underside of the bed is a custom-made bag designed to hold two foldable chairs and a table for outside dining.

Attached to where you would normally find the rear windows are 4 removable bags - another neat touch.

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When it comes to bedtime, a full-sized bed sits folded behind the rear seats. To unfold it, you simply slide both front seats as forward as they’re go, including the backs, then drop the second row of seats.

From here you pull the bottom half of the bed over the folded seat backs, then slot two support bars into cut-outs in the door frame.

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The bed measures 1.98m x 1.07m and is quite comfortable. For security and light pollution there are magnetic window blinds for all windows, including the optional panoramic sunroof.

Putting the bed together sounds more complicated than it actually is, so I made a video which you can see on the next page.

Conclusion

In practise it all worked really well and I found the Caddy California Maxi to be a wellrounded and compact campervan that caters to a wide range of needs. Its versatile design, efficient use of space, and thoughtful camping accessories, make it an appealing choice for those who seek adventure without sacrificing comfort and size.

While it may not offer the luxurious features of larger motorhomes, the Maxi's affordability and practicality make it a compelling option for both daily urban life and spontaneous getaways. If you're looking for a compact, versatile camper van that offers a comfortable and convenient camping experience, the Caddy California Maxi is certainly worth considering. price: RRP plus OTR incl.VAT £38,120.00 price with options £42,320.00 • California Plus Package • Discover Media DAB+ Navigation system with 10" colour touch-screen and 6 speakers • Panoramic glass roof • Parking sensors, front and rear • Colour and trim: Starlight Blue Metallic with Palladium/ Titanium upholstery

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Like all my plans of late, an evening with this bright blue exambulance didn’t initially go according to plan, but I won’t bore you with the details, only to say that I spent an inordinate amount of time stationary both on the M62 and M6. I reckon I lost a good couple of hours out of my day due to road works, stray animals and a stranded lorry. I was motionless for so long I thought about setting up camp! Whatever the reason, the motorway gods weren’t on my side.

It all started because Mark from Overland Campers, over in Halifax, asked if I fancied spending a few nights away in one of his camper vans, and of course I said yes.

After a long chat and sorting out insurance details, Mark gave me the keys to Stirling, a Land Rover Defender Pulse battlefield ambulance that he had professionally converted into a very smart and practical camper.

I haven’t driven a ‘proper’ Land Rover for a while, in fact I’ve never driven a 130, never mind an ambulance, so driving him was quite a culture shock. However, it didn’t take long for me to get used to his quirks and to begin enjoying the experience.

Stirling’s front seats are standard for Defender of that era and are thoroughly comfortable. I know some people moan, but as a 6ft 2”, 18 stone bloke, I’ve always found them supportive, even on long journeys, but one thing I’d forgotten about was ‘Land Rover elbow’!

My plan was to join the M62, M61 and M6 and head north. I had 3 camping spots in mind, and I figured I would visit each one whilst I still had light to see which I preferred, however, the aforementioned hold-ups on the M62 and M6 put paid to that.

Stirling certainly stands out - he isn’t a subtle camper, and created a lot of attention - I noticed a few passengers (and drivers),taking photos as they overtook us!

In all the stop start traffic I have to give credit where credit’s due, Stirling’s clutch was actually kinder to my left knee than I thought it would be. I’m not going to say that it made the journey pleasurable, but definitely bearable.

My first stop was at Middleton Sands for a quick brew and photo shoot. I was planning one of those cool selfie photos, you know the ones, me sat on the bonnet supping a mug of coffee - but it was too bloomin’ windy - and cold, so I didn’t stay long.

A 'STIRLING' JOB!

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I had three options for my overnight stay, by a brook next to a small hamlet called Lupton, up a rocky green lane not far off the A65 near Westhouse, or next to another ford by the green lane just north of Ingleton Falls.

Turning right just after Lupton I engaged first gear low-box and headed down the steep single track lane to the brook at the bottom. The 130 handled the steep and loose descent with ease, despite all his extra weight.

Once at the bottom I parked up next to the brook, pondered for a while, and concluded that this wasn’t the spot, not for tonight at least. Engaging second low-box, Stirling crawled up the hill, his coil suspension unaffected by the undulations. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed taking older Defenders green laning.

By this time it was getting quite dark, and the wind had picked up significantly, so I dismissed the second lane I had in mind as it is quite high up on the moors, and open to the elements. Plus, the darkness meant I wouldn’t have been able to see how close I was to the gate posts as Stirling’s back body is wider than his front.

Third option it was then.

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After finding, and reversing onto a level spot (the reversing camera helped here), I closed the two external flaps (there's probably a better name for them) to keep the light in, and the night out.

These are the panels that when opened show the original Red Cross sign.

Mark cleverly designed the build so that when opened up they cover both side windows, eliminating the need for curtains.

The rest of the blinds inside do a fantastic job of keeping in the light ideal for wild and stealth camping.

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And so it was time for tea. Grabbing my chilli, and a can of Guinness from the built-in fridge freezer, I set it in motion on the 2-hob gas cooker. It’s all very civilised. As you can see from the images, the layout is spot on. On one side there’s the cooking and food preperation area, and on the other there’s a table and comfortable seating for four. Incidentally, two of the seats have three-point seatbelts for passengers. The Pulse body is wide enough to have a decent gangway in between the table and galley, and behind the seating area is the shower and toilet cubical.

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Suitably stuffed I was going to go for a short walk, but not only was it pitch-black and had begun raining, but the temperature had dropped, so I thought better of it. Instead I cranked up the LPG heater and for the next few hours I typed away on the iPad finishing articles for this month’s issue, as well planning future issues.

There was just me, the wind, rain and some other weird noises outside that I was confident was just my imagination; that said, I had recently watched Dog Soldiers!

At around 10pm I popped up into the roof, crawled in my sleeping bag and nodded off, with only the occasional downpour disturbing my slumber.

The following morning arrived dark, misty and damp, and after taking a quick shower I put the kettle on, and made a bacon butty.

At around 6.45am the sun began to make an appearance, and other than the odd sheep and an occasional passing fish in the river Twiss, I was alone. Although I enjoyed the solitude, I did miss the company of Muddy Madam and Lilly, The Mud Life Dog, so after making a quick video or two for our socials, and a taking

a few more photos, I headed back to Mark’s place over in Halifax.

Good timing too, as soon as I joined the motorway the heavens opened, and it continued to rain heavily all the way from junction 36 on the M6 to the Huddersfield turn off on the M62.

Stirling handled the flooded motorways like the trooper he is, at a steady 60mph he only lost umph on the steeper inclines, but dropping from 5th to 4th made sure I wasn’t holding any of the HGVs up.

Driving Mark’s Defender has seriously whetted my appetite for a camper of some sort. The ability to drive somewhere off the beaten track, setting up for the night and leaving, just as you found it, if not better, appeals to me so much more today than it did yesterday.

I think Stirling is a bit too big for Muddy Madam and myself, but I’ve got my eye on another of his smaller campers, however, it’s a tad out of our price range, but if some sugar daddy wants to gift me £23k, I would be eternally grateful!

For more details on Stirling, check out his details here - https:// overlandcampers.co.uk/stirling/ and as mentioned elsewhere, he’s for sale, so if you are interested, contact Mark via the website.

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WHO ARE OVERLAND CAMPERS? It is a family run business based near Halifax in Yorkshire. Mark has a fleet of ex-military Land Rover ambulances that have been professionally, and meticulously, converted into camper vans.

Mark’s current lineup includes 3 Land Rover Pulse Ambulances (Lance, Monty and Stirling), and a Defender 110 (Fergal).

When repurposed into camper vans, the vehicles stand out as a unique and rugged choice for overland travel, holidays and as the ultimate festival camper. The combination of Land Rover's legendary off-road capabilities, and the practicality of a camper conversion, creates a vehicle that is tailored for the most adventurous souls.

Just because they are Defenders it doesn’t mean you will be roughing it. All Mark’s camper vans are fully insulated and sound proofed to keep you cosy during the coldest of nights. In addition to elevating roofs, for extra head room and sleeping space, all Mark’s campers come equipped with sinks, fridge/freezers, gas hobs, solar, heating, fresh water tank, and a toilet and shower cubicle, though Fergal’s shower is found outside!

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Land Rover has a storied history of producing some of the world's most capable and adaptable off-road vehicles, so when these ambulances are converted into campers, their already rugged off-road capabilities are enhanced, making them wellsuited for traversing rough terrain and challenging environments.

From rocky mountain lanes to muddy forest tracks, Land Rovers are known for their exceptional traction, ground clearance, and 4x4 capabilities.

Mark’s campers are designed to be easy to drive and park while offering a luxurious and different holiday experience and kitted out for epic adventures off the beaten track.

Specifications of each vehicle can be found on Mark’s website, and if you fancy hiring one of Mark’s well equipped Defenders I’d be quick, as due to personal reasons Mark is folding his business, which means soon, all but one of his fleet, will be for sale. more at » https://overlandcampers.co.uk

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Camping in Škoda's ENYAQ iV 80 FestEVal

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Sometime last year ŠKODA UK created a one-off ENYAQ iV 80 FestEVal for the summer season. Providing zero-emission accommodation for festivals and camping getaways the FestEVal comes with pretty much everything you will ever need for a night of two away.

There’s a James Baroud roof top tent, a really neat EGOE Nest pull out drawer system with water pumper and stove, a cool bag and a couple of Helinox Chairs and a table.

Because of its high demand it’s taken this long for me to get my hands on it, and even then I was given custody of it for just a weekend, which was fine by me as I had another press car waiting to be driven.

Packing for a night under the stars I decided to take a few things along with me - my Ecoflow Glacier fridge freezer with the Ecoflow River power station to keep it topped up (I forgot the cable!), and my Wolf and Grizzly grill and fire safe, and an Ecogrill.

Arriving at Bowses Hill Farm, Stalmine it was just after 6pm, and although not packed full of campers, it was filling up quite nicely, so I found a quiet pitch next to the wooded area and cracked open a cold one.

I’ve learnt the lesson from past camps, that setting up the tent and sleeping arrangements in the dark is a bad idea, so the first thing I did was to open the roof top tent, chuck in my sleeping bag and pillow, and then I went for a wander.

Bowses Hill Farm is a family run site set in over 9 acres of woodland and rural countryside with a variety of different sleeping options, from field and woodland camping, bell tents for hire and a forest pod and a woodland lodge.

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Meandering back to the ENYAQ I figured it was time for some tea, which for the benefit of our southern readers isn’t just a brew, but the evening meal (remember it's breakfast, dinner, tea and supper!).Open the tailgate, and the EGOE Nest rear tray simply slides out. It looks to be based on their Nestboard 600, but without the extended bed base.

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It really is quite a neat looking affair that fits snuggly in the back of the ENYAQ. With plenty of storage space as well as the removable sink and cooker, and it wasn’t long before I was tucking into my homemade chilli and a packet of boil-in-the-bag rice.

At 8.30pm darkness was drawing in, as were the midges, so I figured it was time to light a fire, both for some heat and to keep the pests at bay. As you know I have quite the choice of stoves, but I opted for my Wolf and Grizzly set-up as it’s incredibly compact when stored, but opens up to a decent size.

A neat trick I saw a while back is to place W&G Fire Safe on top of the grill so it stops the grass below from scorching.

Instead of normal firewood I brought along an Ecogrill. This is a small wood burning grill that’s an environmentally friendly alternative to disposable BBQ's, it’s biodegradable, and made entirely from alder wood, it leaves no materials behind and is super portable.

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Around 10.00pm it was fairly dark, and as the Ecogrill spat the odd spark into the air I lost the ability to see my iPad’s keypad (I was typing this very article), so with the cool air encroaching, I put on my hoodie, kicked back and relaxed with another can of ready-mixed Southern Comfort and lemonade.

I usually prefer the utter silence and solitude you only get when you park up by the side of a green lane, but the dulcet tones of other campers chatting and children playing and enjoying themselves in the background was actually relaxing, so I retired the iPad, sat back in the Helinox and pondered on the meaning of life.

Well, I contemplated on our soon to be refreshed Youtube channel, but the former sounds better.

It wasn’t long before the embers died down and the chill returned, so I retired to the James Baroud Space roof top tent, which I believe is from the Evolution series. It worked as it should, it was certainly comfortable height-wise whilst getting changed, but a little too short for my 6’2” frame. They do have longer versions.

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Peering out the tent the following morning and there was a heavy mist encroaching the campsite covering everything with dew, including the ladders - I was extra careful not to slip and end up being a statistic.

After visiting the very clean amenities I was in need of my first coffee of the day and a freshly prepared fry-up. Unfortunately I ran out of gas just after I boiled the water for my much needed wake-up coffee, so food would have to wait.

It’s because of scenarios like this I’m actually considering moving away from gas products and looking at electricity. I have a solar panel and a battery power station, so why not utilise free energy?

Anyhow, the following day the ENYAQ was returned to Škoda and I found myself reflecting on the set-up. The ENYAQ is a nice car that I’ve reviewed in a past issue, though it does have some annoying features, like you have to prod your way through menus on the screen to find certain ventilation settings - knobs and dials please! Overall though it’s a cracking EV.

The James Baroud Space roof top tent was rather nice and very easy to erect and close - much better than others I’ve used. My favourite piece of kit though was the EGOE Nest rear tray, it made preparing food, cooking and washing up really easy, in fact, I’m seriously considering getting something similar for Deux Smurf, whether it’s an EGOE Nest or something similar, I’m hooked!

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Be Our Guest

Damian's mutterings are good, but we have decided that you wouldn't mind reading the compositions from other people every now and then.

In a new series from Truck Life Overlanders, Tobi & Steve (and Maya, their dog) have condensed for us some of their overlanding tales from the past 3 years.

5 years, and during that time he had the privilege to work at race circuits all around the world. A complete dream job, the only down side being his commute, when he wasn’t travelling, which was a 108 mile round trip every day. He did it for 5 years because he loved his job!

In 2019, Steve’s Mum passed from cancer, 3 weeks before her due retirement date. Five weeks prior, my Dad had had a heart attack. Here one day and gone the next. Losing a parent each, so close together, was hard for both of us.

Where to start?

Join us as we take a leap of faith, in making one of the biggest decisions of our life, to live out our dream of travelling full time.

The other deciding factor for bringing our plans forward, was my health. After the loss of our parents, there was a realisation that I may not even be able to travel easily in 10+ years. Among other conditions, I have Fibromyalgia, which can be debilitating on bad days, and although we talked about going backpacking, Steve quite rightly ruled it out because he knew the impact it would have on my condition.

But in true Steve style, he came up with a solution.....

We are Tobi and Steve, a married couple in our mid 40s from Hertfordshire, UK. We had a 10 year plan…. pay the mortgage off, rent the house out and travel the world. That was our plan up until 2019. After each of us losing a parent in quick succession, it changed our perspective on life and made us question what we were doing.

So we decided to bring our plans forward. We sold almost everything, including our house, to help fund our trip. We quit our jobs and got the camper and truck ready.

I was the Head of HR, for the EMEA region, for Allegis Global Solutions, a global staffing company. I worked long hours in sometimes very stressful situations. Covid didn’t make the situation any easier, having to make redundancies, and asking people to take pay cuts. After 7 amazing years, with great people and great opportunities, it was time for a change.

Once we had made the decision that we were going all in, we started to do research. Steve looked into vehicle and camper options while I looked at countries, routes, immigration requirements and shipping. We quickly realised what a beast it was to tackle; so much research, for so many different things!

Steve used to work for Mercedes AMG HPP which afforded him the opportunity to work in Formula 1. He worked there for

This all may seem drastic, but we decided we would rather have our memories than money in the bank.

Truck life overlanding wasn’t our first go-to!

In fact, I had never heard of overlanding as a lifestyle.

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The Truck Camper Steve first found Alucab, which was an awesome option, but unfortunately it didn't suit our needs. It is important to me that we can make it home, and not feel like we are just permanently camping, so comfort is definitely important!

Steve then found Fourwheel Campers. I wasn't sure at first but the more research we did, the more sense it made to go with the Fourwheel Camper. It was safe (so was the Alucab), it had what I needed to be able to cook for us and keep food stored.

We liked the sofa and the bed is really a decent size as it pulls out to a full size bed - quite phenomenal in such a small space!

I started to pull together what information we needed to know for each country, such as: • • • • • • • • •

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Travel and Vehicle documents Vaccines Visa requirements Embassies Car insurance Medical and Disaster Recovery insurance Weather seasons Vehicle shipping costs and requirements Emergency services....the list goes on!

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All of this research was really just to give us some insight, so we didn't feel like we are going in blind. We knew plans change, different events in countries may mean we would have to change course or processes for immigration could change, as well as any curve balls that we couldn’t predict!

We had been following different overlanders for some time and had been using that as a source of learning. This helped us prepare. Thank you to theroadchoseme and grizzlynbearoverland, your videos were mega-helpful in helping us prepare for our journey ahead!

We moved out of our house on 5th December 2020, and finished full time work on 31st December 2020. We moved into an airbnb for 3 weeks so we could finish work, before moving into our camper full time on 23rd December 2020.

Having the world at your fingertips with nothing but time on your hands is absolute bliss. And it is, but with so many countries, with so much to see, where do you start?

Our travel history We have both travelled a fair bit over the years. I went backpacking at the age of 16, with £40 in my pocket, on a one way ticket to Israel. Why Israel? I lived there between the ages of 2 and 8, and I still had family there, so it was very familiar.

Steve has also travelled a lot! His job in Formula 1 took him to various countries around the world such as Singapore, Monaco and Abu Dhabi, to name just a few.

As with most work-related travel, all he got to see was the hotel, and the race team's garage at whatever race circuit he was at.

More often than not, the hours were long, arriving at the track at 7am, and typically not leaving until 11pm.

As a child, I never felt settled or accepted in the UK throughout my school years, so going back to Israel, was partly trying to find myself, and partly that I had decided I didn’t want to live in the rat race, I wanted to explore the world.

I arrived in Israel and headed straight to my Aunt's house in Netanya. Netanya is a beautiful town, but at the age of 16, thinking I was an adult and could totally look after myself, even without any money, I was a handful! My poor Aunt didn’t know what to do with me! My cousin suggested I spent a few days in a place called Dahab, Sinai, which holds a special place in my heart to which Steve and I visited until recent years.

It’s not quite as glamorous as the TV makes it out to be. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great things about working in Formula 1, and he was very grateful for them. He absolutely loved his job, but with travel (especially with work) you sometimes wish you were there with a loved one to share special moments with.

That really was the catalyst to starting my backpacking. From there I worked in every country to get to the next, and did way too much hitchhiking for my comfort level now! Over four years, I travelled through Europe, the Middle East and far East Asia.

In the final year, I lived in Udon Thani, Thailand, in a village in the jungle without running water or electric. As you can imagine, I have a ton of stories about some of the not so great situations I got myself into.

Working at AGS I was also afforded the opportunity to travel a bit - mostly Baltimore, but also Connecticut, New York, Washington DC, Detroit and Hong Kong. There was also a fair bit of European travel too as that was my region.

On odd occasions he got to see some sights which was a real treat. Here are some pics of him working in Singapore, Abu Dabi and Portugal.

Steve is also a keen snowboarder but also loves a beach holiday. He has snowboarded in a few countries in Europe, and holidayed anywhere from North America to Malaysia.

He also used to race Siberian huskies all over the UK, and has even run a husky team in the French Alps.

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So, back to deciding which country we wanted to start at We are both keen on Asia, but we are as equally keen on the Americas.

After much research and throwing around ideas, we decided that we would start with the Americas. It is probably one of the more expensive continents so we would like to get that done first. It’s also the easiest part of the world in terms of visas and import/ exporting the truck camper, languages, currencies etc. This would hopefully give us a bit experience before we visit Africa or head east to Asia.

Canada I have always wanted to go to Canada. Maybe it’s the lakes, the mountains, the Rockies or the wilderness, or maybe just all of the above. If we ship the truck and camper to Nova Scotia we could do Canada rom east coast to west coast. It’s also only a week or two to ship the truck camper there from the UK. We

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have the ETA visa, which means we have to arrive by air. Once there, it is easier to cross the border by land - so our research tells us.

Will let you know once we’ve tried it!

Nova Scotia is a must stop for us after following The Curse of Oak Island for so long! From Nova Scotia we can head to Niagara Falls. From there we could visit family in Michigan, then head west to the Rockies. From there, we can head to the border to cross into North America.

The other factor to consider for Canada are the seasons.

For 6 months of the year it is mostly cold, and down to temperatures as low as -30°C during winter. We would love to see Canada when its covered in snow, but we think we would have a much better experience if the weather is warmer. We will be aiming to get there for summer 2021, but completely dependant on Covid!

Once we had made the decision that we were going all in, we started to do some research. Steve looked into vehicle and camper options while I looked at countries, routes, immigration requirements, shipping etc. We quickly realised what a beast it was to tackle. So much research, for so many different things needed to be done! We started to understand why most people take a year to plan this kind of overlanding trip.

USA Both of us have spent some time in the United States, mostly on road trips. We did a road trip from Las Vegas, Nevada to Miami, for our honeymoon in 2011. I’m stating Las Vegas, Nevada as there is also a Las Vegas in New Mexico. I only know this because I was pulled over for speeding in Texas. The officer couldn’t understand what we were doing when he clarified it was Nevada and not New Mexico. Once we explained it was our honeymoon and the route we were taking, he let me off; but warned me not to get caught in the state of Texas again, otherwise I would get a ticket.

We also did a second road trip from Las Vegas, Nevada to Yellowstone and back again, as I had always wanted to go to Yellowstone; Steve had already been, but wanted to go again. We made a few stops along the way, one being Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake stands out for me on that trip as I got to see Luke Bryan at the USANA Amphitheater - amazing! We were also supposed to see the World Speed Finals, but unfortunately there was too much water on the salt flats so it was cancelled.

We made the most of the Salt Flats instead.

But there is SO much more we both want to see, too many to mention here! I have so far pulled together more than 50 different road trips within North America. Of course we are aiming to do Route 66 as one of those, we have done part of it but never all of it.

Central & South America Neither of us have been to anywhere in Central or South America but both of us would really like to go. There is just so much to see from the Inka Trails in Peru to glaciers in Argentina!

Join us next month when I cover all the modifications we did to the truck and our journey to Germany to pick it up.

We figured that until we were able to get to the Americas, we would travel within the UK, so this is us relaxing in Wales.

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R A E G & GOODS

SUR VI VA L VE H I C L E FI RST A I D KI T Going back a few years I parked a press car in a really precarious position for an epic photo, but as I got out of the vehicle I lost my footing and landed hands first on the rocks below. As well as managing to drop my camera I sliced open both my palms, and guess which idiot didn’t carry a first aid kit? The same idiot who always carries one now, because you never know when you might do something clumsy.

Like the rest of SURVIVAL’s First Aid Kits it is packed neatly in an outer case that’s made from hard wearing, moisture resistant 600d Oxford polyester, and measures when closed 21 x11 19cm (H, W, L) and weighs in at just 1.25kg. On the outer are QR codes that send you to a very useful, free First Aid App. Designed with weight and space in mind, everything inside is clearly labelled and separated into relevant sections, which is incredibly helpful in an emergency. There is also a large section in which to store personal items; (eg.

The vehicle kit includes: 50 x Adhesive dressings, sterile individually wrapped special medication for you or 1 x Bandage shears, 19cm stainless steel your passengers).

To access the kit there are two large zips with chunky toggles and sturdy handle.

Once open, you will be genuinely surprised not only by the amount of kit they’ve managed to fit inside, but how well organised everything is.

Another handy feature on all of SURVIVAL’s kits is the restock feature that allows you to buy your most popular first aid items individually, or grab a handy restock pack of commonly used first aid supplies.

It’s been such a long time since I’ve been on a first course I have to admit that I don’t know what half of the contents are for, never mind how to use them, so maybe a course is in order soon. price: £72.08 more at » survivalfirstaidkits.co.uk

2 x Cotton gauze swabs - individual (3 per pack), sterile, 7.5cm x 7.5cm 1 x CPR Card 1 x Emergency blanket, 2.1m x 1.6m in zip lock bag 2 x Eye pads, sterile 1 x Fever scan strip 1 x First Aid Booklet 5 x Hydro gel, sterile 3.5ml sachets 1 x Hypo allergenic adhesive tape, 25mm 2 x Nitrile gloves (1 pair in CPR KIT) 3 x Non-adherent wound dressing, sterile, 5cm x 5cm 1 x Non-adherent wound dressing, sterile, 7.5cm x 10cm Note pad (located at the back of the First Aid Booklet) & pencil 3 x Plastic bags (3 sizes) 2 x Pressure bandage - 1 SMART Bandage, heavy duty, 10cm x 2m; 1 medium weight, 10cm x 1.8m 1 x Resuscitation shield, disposable, incl 1 pair gloves & skin cleaning wipe (in CPR KIT) 6 x Safety pins 2 x Saline, sterile 30ml 4 x Skin cleaning wipes, with cetrimide (1 in CPR KIT) 1 x Splinter probes, individual, (5 per pack), sterile 1 x Triangular bandage, 96cm x 96cm x 136cm 1 x Tweezers, rust resistant with tip guard, stainless steel 1 x Wound closures (3 per pack), sterile 1 x Wound dressings, No 14 medium, sterile

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R A E G & GOODS

There’s something comforting about sitting in front of an open fire, it offers a rich and immersive outdoor experience that comes with a myriad of benefits, like warmth, comfort and security. The mesmerising dance of flames is also a source of relaxation and stress relief, allowing you to unwind and connect with the natural world or..... you just want to get drunk with your mates and enjoy the banter.

When The Fire Pit Company offered to send me their Cube I jumped at the chance, because of all the benefits that I mentioned above,and also because it’s a piece of art.

What makes the Cube stand out from other fire pits is that each panel can be chosen from several designs, and when I say designs I mean Land Rovers.

Like all designs at The Fire Pit Company, each one has been carefully hand drawn before being digitised and machine cut to preserve all of the details in the drawing.

You can choose from two Series 3 Land Rovers, a Discovery 3-4, Discovery 2 or a Range Rover Rover Classic. If Land Rovers aren’t your cup of tea, you can either choose from two wildlife panels or ask Jason to create a bespoke panel with your vehicle (at extra cost, of course).

Weighing in at 20kg it’s not lightweight, but it is collapsible. Each panel measures 44 x 44cm, and is made from 4mm steel, so it is definitely built to last.

The Cube is supplied with a base that does sit quite close to the ground, so you will need to be aware of scorching the ground beneath. It is also supplied with a heavy duty grill that, depending on the heat, can be placed at two heights and provides a stable cooking platform.

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T HE FI RE P I T COM PA NY CUB E

Assembly can be a little tricky at first, but once you’ve got the hang of it the Cube can be put together within a minute as each panel slots into the other.

As I mentioned at the beginning, the Cube weighs in at 20kg, so in my opinion, for the extra £15 I would definitely get the storage & carry bag option.

The Cube is sent out in a natural finish, so in time the metal will age with a nice natural patina, but once cooled, and before it’s put away, it is worth giving it a once over with warm soapy water and then dry. I’d also be tempted to oil the grill, too.

The more I look at it, the more I appreciate the work that’s gone into creating the Cube. It might be weighty, but it’s also incredibly well designed and finished. price: £325 more at » thefirepitcompany.co.uk

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R A E G & GOODS When it comes to footwear I prefer wearing boots, not only are they more supportive, but they also look smart and keep my feet dry when I’m out and about. So when Blundstone asked if I would be up for testing one of the winter boots, I jumped at the chance.

B LUN D STON E 1 4 7 7 LE A THE R B OOT S

To be fair they didn’t need to twist my arm that much as I already have three pairs of Blundstones, so you could say that I’m already a huge fan of the brand.

So, what’s so special about the 1477?

It differs from the rest because it’s a fully waterproof boot in premium antique brown leather, and designed for colder weather.

Blundstone have given the 1477 a Thinsulate lining throughout the boot that helps keep your feet warm and dry, and to keep water out they’ve include latexed seams and treated uppers combined with waterproof elastic side panels.

On the subject of warmth, they come with a pair of genuine removable shearling sheepskin footbeds which are supremely comfortable and pretty much guarantee to help to keep your feet toasty and dry, no matter the weather.

To help stop me from sliding on my bum, Blundstone have also fitted durable TPU outsole for enhanced traction on slippery terrains, and the patented SPS Max Comfort system for reduced wearer fatigue and increased comfort.

Blundstone boots are the only footwear I’ve ever had that have never required a breaking in period, being really comfortable from the off. That said, wearing the 1477 for the first time with the sheep's wool lined footbeds initially felt like they were a half size too small, so thinner socks are recommended until they flatten out, which can take a week or two. This isn’t a complaint by no means, and if you find them too hot, simply swap the footbeds for another pair.

Having a round front means that the toe section is very roomy, and as with other Blundstones, the ankle elastics provide a very good seal, not just from the elements, but from errant stones that can be flicked up and find their way into the boot.

They are still relatively new as I’ve only been wearing them for just over 2 months. Worn mainly whilst walking Lilly, the Mud Life Dog, around the park, which usually equates to 10k steps a day, so that’s 600,000 steps so far, through mud, puddles, sopping wet grass, pavements and wading in a river!

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Overall they’re super comfortable with good arch support, surprisingly lightweight and yes, still waterproof.

Of course if you look after something it will look after you, and with that in mind I also ordered a tub Blundstone’s Renovating Cream that is made specifically for the Blundstone colours. This neutral cream is designed to care for the rustic leather uppers, and after I’ve cleaned my boots I simply apply the cream to the upper, leaving it to absorb into the leather. price: Boots - £210 Renovating Cream - £15 more at » blundstone.co.uk

ARC® Built with premium materials and features, the Leatherman ARC is the first-ever multitool to have a MagnaCut® steel blade with superior edge retention and durability.

With 20 tools, removable pocket clip, fourpocket nylon sheath, and eight doubleended bits, the durable, practical ARC sets the standard for now and the future for premium multi-tools.

Available online from: www.whitbyandco.co.uk

Thule enters the world of dogs with their Allax, a smartly designed car dog crate that’ is stylish, and using the company’s in-house crash testing facilities it has been rigorously crash-tested in real-life scenarios, like front and rear-end crash tests.

Thule’s innovative crumple-zone is a unique design feature for the Allax. In the case of a rear-end collision, for example, the crumple zone allows the crate to be compressed in a controlled way to minimise the risk of injury for passengers in the backseat, while also ensuring that your dog stays safe.

Using insights from detailed interaction with dogs and dog owners, as well as 60+ years experience of car testing, THULE ALLAX DOG CRATE the Thule know that dog owners will appreciate the crate’s long-lasting materials and the smart design details - quick & easy first-time assembly, a gas dampered door for a smooth opening & closing, adjustability in depth to optimise the space for your dog and a smart window so that your dog stays in sight. Their attention to detail also ensures that the crate doesn't rattle while you drive.

Released in January 2024, it will be available in 10 different sizes. prices: from £489.99 (XS) up to £719.99 (XXL) more at » thule.com

New Stuff we've discovered this month CAMPLIFE FLATPACK BBQ When it comes to value for money, the Camplife Flatpack BBQ seems just that.This flat-pack bbq set includes 4 side plates and 1 base plate, all made of high-grade stainless steel and able to withstand high temperatures.

Additionally, the set comes with a pair of tongs, an extra clamping grid, and a 3-in-1 base stand, all stored in a durable ripstop canvas bag.

The 3-in-1 base stand allows you to take it on picnics without damaging the grass.You can also use it on a suitable outdoor table for a raised cooking position.

The base can also be used as a lid, allowing you to infuse your preferred meat or vegetable with a delightful smoky taste as well a frying pan.

In addition to the traditional grid, they also supply a clamp grid that simplifies the grilling process by enabling you to flip all your meat at once with ease!

The grilling space is 30cm by 30cm which to put it visually is 6 chicken thighs and a pack of sausages, or a whole spatchcock chicken! prices: • Deluxe - £129.99 • Deluxe Long - £199.99 more at » https://camplifebbq.com

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ROCK CRUISER 140 HARD SHELL ROOF TOP TENT Developed for over 3 years, the Rock Cruiser 140 is waterproof, UV and mildew resistant and can sleep 2-3 people. Enclosed in an aluminium hard shell, the Rock Cruiser 140 has a patented Z shaped style shape that allows for an easier opening and pitching system, whilst giving extra strength and allowing for an extremely low profile case. With a gas strut mechanism that allows set-up in less than one minute it offers plenty of inner space as well as head room and big screened windows on 3 sides, and a large front door provides a 360º view.

The textured black hard shell is said to handle overhanging branches with ease whilst also providing less wind noise during driving. The track frame on the sides allows the fitment of solar lights, awnings and tarps and there are 2 aluminium roof bars that can hold 100kg.

It has a double layer front door, an integrated LED strip, and a 7cm high-density mattress that provides comfortable sleeping experience. Also included are 2 large detachable shoes pockets and a telescopic aluminium alloy ladder.

Warranty: 24 Months price: RRP £2,199.99 (currently on sale: £1999.99) more at » bananaindustries.co.uk

New Stuff we've discovered this month They say that the most dangerous tool in any kitchen, indoor and outdoor, is a blunt knife, and they’re not wrong, so what better accessory to add to your arsenal than Opinel’s Maintenance Kit?

OPINEL MAINTENANCE KIT

This knife maintenance kit contains a range of useful accessories to keep your knives in good condition.

Packed in a robust storage tin, this maintenance kit contains: - a whetstone from the Pyrenees for sharpening the blades - a can of oil for lubricating and seasoning the entire knife - a 20 x 20 cm microfibre cloth for wiping after maintenance Not only is it a cleverly designed kit that’s designed to sharpen and extend the lifespan of your knives, but also a great gift idea. price: £49.95 more at » whitbyandco.co.uk THEMUDLIFE.CO.UK

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Christmas Gift Guide

This year, instead of just looking for 4x4 related stuff (there's a bit to keep you happy though), we’ve had a look around for some gifts ideas suitable for all the family, and I think we've come up with some useful, interesting and fun stuff to fill everyone's stockings and make your house ready for the festive onslaught. Enjoy...

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Festive Preparation Haynes Advent Calendar

The Haynes Electronic Games Advent Calendar has electronic components behind each window. As you count down the days to Christmas, you collect everything you need to build awesome, electronic games. Then when you have all of them in hand, you can create 24 games like Code Breaker, Memory, Wire Maze, Whack a Mole, and much more!

Not suitable for under 14years. price: £25 more at » menkind.co.uk

H!P Oat Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar

ee tmas Tr is r h C s Glas tions are perfect for adding Decora nitely tions decora and defi These fun iness to your tree, aubles. k ir ose old b th n a bit of qu a th interest add more price: £14 ajames.co.uk ell more at »

LED Reindeer Set

This advent calendar is a vegan-friendly oat milk advent calendar. Made from single-origin Colombian cocoa, each mini bar tastes amazing.

These cute little white porcelain reindeer come with an LED light inside each one to add a touch of warmth to your home at Christmas.

They make a fun addition to anywhere in the house.

price: £12 more at » fiveanddime-interiors.com

price: £34 more at » ellajames.co.uk

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Christmas Cushions

Decorate your home & dazzle your friends with thse whimsical and delightful festive cushion designs.

These enchanting animal character cushions will capture the heart of anyone entering your home. price: £62 to £79.50 more at » fabfunky.co.uk

Fun Doormats

Welcome family and friends into your home with these fun Doormats.

No matter what the occasion, you can be sure everyone will always know where they stand.

The rich printing has been hand sprayed onto high quality tufted coconut fibre mat using professional exterior paints made to be durable and stick to the coir.

Penny Hammered Copper Ice Bucket We all know the drinks will be flowing this Christmas, and having ice ready means you are the perfect host, and do it in style with this handcrafted Penny Hammered Copper Ice Bucket. price: £79 more at » sazy.com

price: £24.99 more at » limelace.co.uk

Penny Hammered Copper Wine Glass

You've got the Ice Bucket, so why not get the matching glasses? price: £24.50 more at » sazy.com

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For Her

Drift Changing Robe

This lightweight, super absorbent and quick drying 100% cotton changing robe is the ideal beach companion. They have a generous fit which allows you to get changed under them while also doubling as a stylish beach cover-up.

size: 110 x 83cm (L x W) price: £54 more at » ebbflowcornwall.co.uk

Live The Mud Life Clothing

Everyday and Christmas designs made for 4x4 fans and more.

Designed and printed in Great Britain, our T-Shirts, Hoodies and Jumpers are made with 100% organic cotton, and are delivered in plastic-free packaging. sizes: 8 to 18 price: from £19 to £40 more at » livethemudlife.co.uk

Embroidered Purse/Makeup Bag

A mustard yellow background with the most wonderful hand embroidered detailing. size: 20 x 10 x 4 cms price: £14.95 more at » athomeinthecountry.co.uk

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Palaver Retro Knits

This classic range of stylish knitwear is made in Turkey from soft fine gauge knit cotton that is 100% organic and dyed with OEKO-Tex certified dyes.

They are also machine washable, and delivered in plastic-free packaging. price: £68 to £85 more at » palava.co

Highlands Scarf

Simply gorgeous, soft and lightweight, this fabulous scarf features stags, Scottie dogs, highland cattle and purple thistles on a cream background. Whatever the weather it can be worn all year round. size: 70cm x 190cm. price: £18.95 more at » athomeinthecountry.co.uk

Alpaca Travel Shawl / Pillow

This shawl is designed in Scotland and made by skilled artisans in Peru using traditional methods. A design classic made in a deliciously light blend of baby alpaca and bamboo fibre, making it silky soft, whisper light and hypoallergenic. It comes pre-rolled in a matching drawstring bag to make a neat little travel pillow. price: £109.95 more at » annabeljames.co.uk

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For Him Live The Mud Life Clothing

Clothing made for 4x4 fans and more.

Designed and printed in Great Britain, our T-Shirts, Hoodies and Jumpers are made with 100% organic cotton, and are delivered in plastic-free packaging. sizes: XS to XXL price: £20 more at » livethemudlife.co.uk

Elliot Brown Watches Tyneham: 305-D07-L22 Limited Edition The warmth of bronze IP, subtly polished highlights and deep ocean blue dial with a sun-ray effect that catches the light. A dark ink blue distressed leather deployant strap adds a touch of 'worn-in' character. price: Leather strap - £87 Metal strap - £995 more at » elliotbrownwatches.com

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Build Your Own V8 Engine

Make your own fully functioning petrol engine with this V8 Engine kit which gives your the experience of being a professional mechanic without the oil stains and endless wrenching.

The engine is made up of nearly 300 individual pieces which will give you busy in your shed for hours on end as you try to assemble this magnificent piece of engineering ingenuity. It comes with authentic V8 engine sounds and illuminating spark plugs, for a genuine V8 experience. price: £49 more at » menkind.co.uk

Barbour Padbury Manicure Kit

The kit is beautifully presented in a rich brown leather case with olive canvas trim and Barbour tartan lining. File and clip to perfection with the stainless steel nail file, nail scissors, Barbour branded nail clippers and cuticle stick. Maintain your brows with the slanted tweezers.

Comes complete in a premium branded box, and add a personalised engraving to the front of the case for a thoughtful gift. price: £40 more at » farrar-tanner.co.uk

LEGO Land Rover Classic Defender 90 LEGO and Defender are celebrating 75 years of Land Rover with a build-your-own 2,336-piece set, complete with all the accessories for an off-road expedition.

The 32cm-long LEGO model's accessories including a roof rack, raised air intake, front bumper with working winch (very important!), side rails and toolbox, plus traction plates for crossing mud and sand.

It also has working steering and suspension, opening doors and bonnet and an interior with details based on the full-size Classic Defender. price: £209.99 more at » shop.landrover.co.uk

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Baby Bodysuits

Kids Stuff

Designed and printed in Great Britain, our our super-soft bodysuits are made with 100% organic cotton, and are delivered in plastic-free packaging. sizes: 0-3, 3-6, 6-12, 12-18 months price: £11 more at » livethemudlife.co.uk

Teddy Bear Basket

This useful basket, handcrafted from sustainable water hyacinth, offers eco-friendly and multipurpose storage that is also stylish and fun price: £55 more at » sazy.com

Tool Box Play Set

Completely made of FSC-certified wood making it extremely durable.

Inside you will find a hammer, wrench, saw, screwdriver as well as nails wooden screws, nuts and building plates price: £30 more at » pocketkids.co.uk

Baby Shoes

Handmade in Great Britain. from soft leather, with non-slip suede soles. and environmentally friendly non-toxic dyes.

Supplied in a gift bag sizes: 0-6, 6-12, 12-18 months prices: £21.95 more at » annabeljames.co.uk

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Kids Stuff Live The Mud Life Kids' Collection

T-Shirts, Hoodies and Jumpers in fun designs like this brand new Robot Collection. Designed and printed in Great Britain, our are made with soft 100% organic cotton, and are delivered in plastic-free packaging.. price: from £14 to £24 more at » livethemudlife.co.uk

Ankylosaurus Dinosaur Plushie

Not only is this dino super soft, but it is super-cute too.

There are over 20 different animals to collect in the Zappi Co range - they including a Sloth, Wolf, Meerkat, Wooly Mammoth, and even a Dragon. price: £10.95 more at » amazon.co.uk

DEERC RC Off-Road Truck

The body is made of high-quality ABS materials, with frosted metallic paintwork and comes with TPR anti-slip tyres that can easily drive on sand, grass, muddy patches, rocky trail paths, or rugged roads. price: £29.99 more at » amazon.co.uk

Construction Kit Dumper Truck

This construction kit contains everything young builders need to construct their very own cool dumper truck. price: £7.95 more at » rexlondon.com

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Kids Stuff

Live The Mud Life Kids' Collection Cute T-Shirts, Hoodies and Jumpers, for 3 to 12 year olds, made from 100% soft, organic cotton, and are designed and printed in Great Britain.

Everything is delivered in plastic-free packaging. prices: from £14 to £24 more at » livethemudlife.co.uk

Celeste & Fae Rocking Unicorn

Celeste is built on a sturdy wooden frame, and has a stunning star print body. She carries her lovely friend Fae, the fairy, in her pocket wherever she goes! There is a free personalisation option too.

Dimensions: 64 x 35 x 52cm (LxWxH) Age: 9 months + (Celeste is now available in a larger size for 12 months old plus toddlers too) price: £130 more at » therockinghorsetoyshop.co.uk

Rodzon Remote Control Car

This remote controlled car is not only able to rotate 360° and flip both sides, it can also perform stunts at high speed. With four LED headlights and cool lighting effects on the tyres, it will catch your eye whether outdoors or indoors. price: £19.24

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more at » amazon.co.uk

Stocking Fillers

Litgo Soy Wax Candles Fun named, 100% natural soy wax candles, free from toxic chemicals price: £23 more at » sazy.com

Camper & 4x4 Keyrings Get a bit retro with these classic vehicle enamel keyrings price: £8.95 more at » athomeinthecountry.co.uk

2 Pack Bear Claw Back Scratchers Scratch those hard to reach places with these telescopic scratchers that extend from 8.4" to 23". price: £3.99 more at » amazon.co.uk

Personalised Moon & Back Wooden Keyring Give your special someone a personalised keyring to show your love. The keyring is made from solid beech wood which has a smooth finish, and comes in a black card gift box. price: £6.99 more at » foryougifts.co.uk

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Haynes Build Your Own Bat Detector

Assemble your own ultrasonic detector, and listen to the sound of bats as well as other things that emit ultrasound.

Easy build - no soldering required Required: 9V battery for up to 25 hours observation time.

Gadgets

price: £22.50 more at » ywtshop.org.uk

Weber Smart Grilling Hub

The Weber Hub is your secret ingredient to perfectly barbecued food. It’s a step-by-step grilling assistant that sends notifications directly to your smart phone, on everything from a food-readiness countdown, to when it’s time to flipand-serve. All it takes is a glance at your phone to know that everything is on track and cooking to perfection. price: £158 more at » diy.com

Nightstand Magsafe iPhone Dock

Designed and made in England, this magnetic iPhone stand is designed for the bedside table. Works with 'StandBy Mode' (for iPhones running iOS 17 or later), turning your iPhone into a clock whilst charging. price: £37 more at » oakdenedesigns.com

Ginko Smart Moon Floating Light

This gravity-defying moon lamp magically ‘floats’ above a wood base and slowly rotates just like the real elliptical orbiting moon. It even has a textured surface just like the moon’s own craters and glows an ethereal-like light as it emits it’s cool white light.

Base size: 12 x 12 x 3 cm Moon diameter: 14cm price: £129 more at » farrar-tanner.co.uk 76

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Games

Sumo Squats To compete in this fantastic game, you'll need to channel your inner Sumo wrestler, fortunately, you can skip the special diet part!

Wear a Sumo belt complete with a dangling hook and perform a careful squat over your chosen 'prey', a mini Sumo wrestler featuring a hook atop his head. It's a tad more challenging than it may appear, and the fun factor is off the charts! price: £10 more at » prezzybox.com

Bingo Games Bingo for all ages prices: £16.95 to £25 more at » laurenceking.com

The Fast And Furious: Highway Heist Get ready for an exciting new mission based on the blockbuster movie series, playing as Dom, Brian, Letty, Roman, and the rest of Team Toretto on a harrowing high-speed heist! Go up against heavily-armed enemies with your hot cars, daring driving, and jaw-dropping vehicle-to-vehicle leaps of faith price: £10.64 more at » amazon.com

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A Simpler Life Book The modern world can be a complicated, noisy place, filled with too many options, ideas and opinions.

Many of us long for simplicity, a life that can be more pared down, peaceful and focused on the essentials.

If this sounds like you or someone you know this could be the perfect gift. price: £15 more at » thefindstore.co.uk

00 km, 23 erland: 21,0 The Last Ov Old Land nd One Very Countries a avel Book of Rover ard Stanford Tr w Ed e th r fo Shor tlisted 2023 e again the Year Award ink could be mad th t n’ do I at th ‘A journey borough on today’.

Sir David Atten by t en m m co rst Overland It was this of the iconic Fi y ar rs ve ni an allenge for the fiftieth an irresistible ch e m ca be at th expedition x Bescoby. adventurer Ale filmmaker and

Books

price: £9.99 on.co.uk more at » amaz

Ordnance Survey Kids Adventure Book Filled with puzzles, illustrations, maps, quizzes and stepby-step guides, this is a fun and educational way of introducing young people to navigation skills and adventure planning. price: £12.99 more at » shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

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Forest School Adventure Book With a contents list that includes 'Bushcraft' and 'Wild food' you instantly know that this is going to be a fun, inspiring and educational book that encourages practical creativity in kids. price: £14.45 more at » amazon.co.uk

Get comfy

Highland Cow Throw and Cushion

Woven with 100% wool this cushion cover and matching throw showcase the Scottish Highland Cow. prices: Cushion - £43 Throw - £117 more at » jjtextile.co.uk

Natural Welsh Wool Throws

Made from 100% welsh pure new wool, these throws have a richness to their colour that'll add a touch of class to your home. price: £65 to £85 more at » funky-chunky-furniture.co.uk

Ink & Drop Cushions

These quirky art cushions are handmade to order in a super soft faux-suede fabric, and are printed using a dye sublimation print process to give superior reproduction quality. Go for a wild mix of designs and lots of them! price: £32 more at » inkanddrop.com

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For Pets

Seaflex Sailz Flying Disc

The newest take on your dog's favorite frisbee is lightweight and easy for dogs to carry and catch in the air., with a center hole for easy pick up. Made responsibly with Seaflex, a blend of recycled oceanbound plastic and Zogoflex. price: £22.99 more at » amazon.co.uk

LY Sleeping Bag

This is a lightweight and functional sleeping bag for dogs, is made by Norwegian active dog wear specialists, NonStop Dogwear.

The sleeping bag is warm and water-resistant, and the bottom is detachable and can be used as a dog bed which is perfect for a simple outdoor nap or overnight trips.

Available in 3 sizes.

Charley Chau Snuggle Bed Faroe Designed for burrowers, these Snuggle Beds are perfect for all dogs that love to snuggle under blankets, particularly Terriers, Hounds and Sighthounds.

Made in England, the Faroe is a warm, robust, upholstery grade fabric with a woven, wool-like feel, and has a fully removable outer cover and is machine washable. price: from £94.50 more at » charleychau.com

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price: £94.95 more at » nonstopdogwear.com

The Tales of Lilly, illy, The Mud Life Dog

Frelling Fireworks

by Karen Lee Turner

Since we got Lilly we don't go out on Bonfire night. To be honest we couldn't be bothered before we got her either, but now we make sure we are in with her.

Luckily Lilly is pretty good with fireworks, she probably stresses more in cars than she does with fireworks, but it's the ones that boom so loud that you think Concorde has restarted flying and has just gone supersonic over your house that give her a little bit of concern.

After reading books when we got her we learned that we shouldn't make a fuss or even acknowledge there is an issue as you can pass the idea that there is something they should be concerned about on to your pet (it supposedly works on kids too), so when we are with her in the lounge if a particularly loud one goes off she may look up from her slumber, but then sees that we aren't bothered and goes back to sleep.

It's a slightly different matter if we are split up, me downstairs in the kitchen, Damian in the upstairs office. If she's in the lounge and banging starts she heads up the stairs and plonks herself smack bang between us at the top of the stairs. She isn't daft as that is the most sound insulated place in the house, which is directly under a radiator, and approximately half a second either way from her mum and dad. Safe and warm.

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This is the bit where I get to rant about fireworks. Well it's not actually fireworks, it is about the utter prats that are allowed to get their hands on them!!

I reckon 98% of people who buy fireworks do it with the best intentions and use them on Bonfire Night. These are the people who wait until night time, and usually set them off around 7pm to 9pm. These are not the 'prats' I am referring to.

The prats are the 2% of utter morons that think fireworks are for causing mayhem, frightening people and animals, and generally being nuisances. By and large, the age range of the cretins doing this around our area are mid to late teens, and they seem to have nothing better to do. This is not me being a grumpy old woman, but at 53 probably I am one of those too, but it is me being a grumpy pet owner.

Don't get me wrong, I actually love fireworks.

I like the big bangs, and revel in the sparkly palm trees and crackling cascades of sparks at organised events.

I used to love setting off my own box of Standard fireworks on Bonfire Night, but it frelling annoys me that it is not just a night anymore, it is now 'firework month', and you cannot predict when or where the prats will strike.

Being a sensible dog owner I know that when it's heading towards the big day our walks need to be done earlier, so that we get back in before it goes dark, and so plan accordingly. da But what I can't plan for is the prats (oh, fo and by the way, when I write 'prat' imagine a stronger word, because that is what I'm really thinking).

This year, the amount of times that Damian or I went out with Lilly in bright daylight, only to jump out of our skin as the Blitz began over ou our hea eads. Obviously this just made Lilly want to head straight back home.

It isn't just about dogs either. When we've had cats in the past they liked being outside. One year we had made the usual preparations, and let Malcolm out in the morning so that all his wandering would be done before the light went down. Around 3pm he still hadn't made it back so I went out to call him. He quickly appeared and was heading towards me, only to have a close-by neighbour begin to let off huge fireworks. With the first bang Malcolm freaked out and scarpered.

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Oh, the air was blue when I marc rched rround the corner to find out what the f**k they weere doi oing setting off fireworks in the middle of the afternoonn. They stopped sharply at my urging, and didn't start again until I found Malcolm and we reetreated to the safety of the house.

The best bit about fireworks is seeing the amazing colours against the night sky, so, to me, letting them off in daylight is an utter waste of time and money......unless that is, you are a total prat, and all you are trying to do is to scare people, and their pets. This is really what needs addressing.

Some things have changed for the better over the years due to social pressures. Many supermarkets have switched to only selling fireworks a couple of weeks before, instead of months before, which has helped. There are now 'no noise' fireworks that give all the show without the bang, and the really ear-shattering fireworks have become so expensive that it puts the idiots off buying them. These are all steps in the right direction, but I do think more could be done. Some ideas: - Make it illegal sell fireworks to anyone under 25, which may curtail the bored youth aspect - the current age is 18.

- Ridiculously loud fireworks should only be sold for official organised events with a licence, or an even more extreme solution would be to make the only fireworks that are on sale to the general public the silent ones.

- Currently it is against the law for anyone to set off fireworks between 11pm and 7am (tell that to the people setting of huge booming fireworks at 4.19am this very morning ). To me this should change to between 11pm and 7pm so that people with pets, horses or anything else that may be affected by noise, have enough time to get in from work, and safely walk their dog, or close up stables, etc..

😠

That said, nowadays this is one of those laws that can't really be policed, especially with regards to the prats, as most of the time they would be gone before anyone ever showed up. Though if it became the widely accepted norm, then prats would be made to feel like pariahs (think smokers trying to light up in a resaurant), and maybe less would do it.

As for Lilly, it is now a couple of days after Bonfire Night, and most of the prats must have run out of fireworks. I know this because we have just had our first afternoon walk in a few weeks without any fireworks being set off.

There is only a month and a half to go until the next booming onslaught on New Year's Eve; hopefully the prats will be too busy buying drinks to buy more fireworks.

As this was more a rant than our usual tales of Lilly's life, I thought I would leave you with a relaxed, tongue out, derpy photograph of the lovely Lilly, totally zedding it, just to show just how chilled she can be.

Until next time.

Toodles from Muddy Madam & Lilly

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testing test ing out

trackipet tracki pet Lilly is the perfect dog for testing out pet trackers. If you have been reading the Tales of Lilly for the past couple of years you will already know that she has a habit of legging it after squirrels, deer and the occasional cat, and because we walk her around Bolton's very large, forested park it means a GPS tracker is a really good idea if we want to figure out where she's gone.

After heading to PATS, the pet industry trade show, Lilly has a new tracker, Trackipet, an award-winning, community-powered GPS tracker.

Hang on, what is a 'community-powered' GPS tracker?

It is a usual kind of tracker where you can follow your pet on the app using Trackimo's real-time, location based technology, but the 'commummity powered' bit is, putting it simply, if your pet disappears you can press the ‘Lost Pet’ tab on the top 84

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right hand corner of the Trackipet App and everyone you have invited - friends, family, neighbours, trusted dog walkers in your community, will all receive a WhatsApp notification informing them that your furry family member has done one!

Registering the tracker and downloading the App was easy and straight forward, even for a luddite like me, and just as effortless was learning all about its extra functions, like Geo-Fencing, which means you can set virtual boundaries that match your dog's play area so if they go outside those bounds, the app sends you an instant alert - great if you have a wannabe Houdini.

Using the App is easy and straightforward, when your pet does a vanishing act, activate the App and a map will pop up, on the top left corner there’s a tab that says ‘Live Tracking’, press that and in my experience within a minute or so, using GPS, WiFi, and GSM technology, it’ll locate your pet, or whatever else you want to locate.

Once in Live Tracking mode it will begin to countdown from 15 minutes after which it will turn itself off, this is because using the Live Tracking mode takes quite a lot of battery power, and as we’re so relieved to find our pets we can sometimes forget to switch it off again.

The tracker is circular and measures 42mm x 16.4mm, weighs in at just 30g, and comes with a plastic surround that has a clip on the back that attaches to your dog’s collar, or harness. I was given two of these, and both snapped within a week or two.

One was broken whilst Lilly was playing in the long grass with her best friend. Luckily, I had to retreive her duck toy, and just happened to spot it amongst the long grass.

If this had happened whilst out and about I would have had to use the GPS to try and recover it. The second snapped when clipping it on after charging.

The app also kicks me out every so often, so make sure you have your password saved somewhere on your phone, just in case.

When it comes to being attached to a lively Lurcher, apart from aforementioned fragile clip issue, the unit has an IP67 water and dust rating, which means it handled rain, mud, rivers and chasing squirrels really well.....oh and it survived the dreaded fox poo roll with no ill effects!

Trackipet comes with a magnetic, two-pin USB charging adapter that is easy to use and sends you a notification on your phone when the battery is getting low, and another when it’s completed charging.

It’s good value, too, the unit itself costs £27.95 then you have the choice of contracts: • £8.95 per month pay as you go - which is a great idea if you don't ordinarily need the service, but want temporary piece of mind during a holiday.

• £44.95 for a 6 month subscription • £74.95 for a 1 year subscription • £99.95 for 2 years subscription - the best value as it works out at just £4.16 per month.

Even though the clips breaking need to be addressed, overall it works really well at doing the job it is supposed to do, and definitely offers peace of mind if you have a wayward dog. more at » https://trackipet.com/en-gb

Fortunately it also comes with a split key ring, which we attach to the metal lead clip on her Weatherbeeta harness, but it could as easily be attached to her collar.

The ring has proved far more sturdy, so my advice would be to forego the clips (until they reengineer them), and use the ring from the get-go.

The previous tracker we tested had quite a lot of difficulty finding Lilly in some of the places where we walk her, for example, down the dell in the woodland part of the park. Not the Trackipet, it has always managed to find her, though it can take up to 2 minutes to locate a signal, but once it does it updates itself every 3 seconds.

The app does have a couple of quirks - when it locates Lilly and she’s quite a distance away from me, it will zoom in on where she is, but when I zoom out to see where I am in relation, after a second or two it zooms in again on Lilly, a bit of a nuisance really, but at least I can get an idea of where we both are.

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IVECO OFF-ROAD

I was invited to Tixover quarry near Stamford to drive the IVECO Daily 4x4 off-road, and if that wasn’t exciting enough, I also had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of their X-WAY 8x4.

It was going to be a good day.

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When we arrived at the quarry the rain hadn’t stopped all morning, a lot of normal people would describe it as wet and miserable, but with deep water and loose traction, I’m sure you would agree with me in saying that it was perfect conditions to test a 4x4.

Before I get into the driving and splashing part, here’s a bit about Iveco’s Daily.

If you want the 4x4 version, which is available only in 5.5 or 7.0-tonne gross vehicle weight, then you will have to have passed your driving test before 1 January 1997 , or upgraded it to a Category C1 licence. Fortunately, because I’m old as… and passed my driving test back in 1985 can drive anything up to 7.5 tonne.

There are two versions of Iveco Daily 4x4 – an All Road and Off Road. Confusingly the All-Road is also referred to as the On/Off Road, and is designed and engineered to be used on just that - a bit like an All-Terrain tyre.

The All Road still has the lifted suspension and fully lockable four-wheel-drive system, but is identified by its twin rear wheels.

The Off Road version has single wheels at the rear, taller wheel and tyre combo and a slightly different differential arrangement.

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The Off Road is intended to be used almost exclusively off-road, though. Of course it’s still road legal, but less enjoyable, I’m told.

Both vehicles feature a specially uprated chassis, three-piece steel front bumper, front, centre and rear differential locks and low range which is selected via a button on the dash with a tortoise on it. Seriously!

When it comes to powering the Daily, they’re fitted with a 3.0-litre diesel with 180hp and 430Nm of torque which meets the latest Heavy Duty Euro VI emissions requirements. Gearbox wise you have a choice of either six-speed manual and Hi-Matic eight-speed automatic. The latter was our only option of the day.

Parked up were two Daily 4x4s and a fleet of around four X-WAY 8x4 in ‘Off-Road’ form - I’ll get to those shortly.

To give us an idea of just how capable they are we were told that one Daily 4x4 was being used in high ratio only, and the other was in low box.

Curiously I jumped in the former, and before I set off, the instructor, who reads the mag, talked me through the Daily’s buttons, knobs and switches, and we were off.

With the aforementioned rain still quite heavy, the terrain was sloppy to say the least, and I was directed around quite a demanding route with some decent climbs and descents. In high ratio and shod with road-biased tyres the Daily managed everything with ease. That said, our instructors had the habit of locking certain diffs before we reached certain obstacles, wish they hadn’t as it would’ve been interesting to experience the limits of the vehicles. Still, I was very impressed.

Next up was the Daily 4x4 in low box, and yes, our route was much more demanding. A little bit of throttle here and there got us through some really deep mud and up some steep and slippery sections. The Iveco team had dug out a channel of deep opposing holes to test both articulation and lockers. They were both deep yet futile as the Daily 4x4 simply drove through them like they weren’t there.

For the really sloppy bits, both versions of the Daily 4x4 are equipped with a wading mode that disengages the engine fan to prevent any damage. Slightly surprisingly the wading depth is only 650mm (255/100 R16 tyres), I say surprisingly as a Range Rover can handle 900mm, and INEOS Grenadier 800mm. I know they’re different vehicles, but I expected more.

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Overall off-road performance was excellent, obviously helped with 3 lockers, increased ride height, underfloor protection and a separate chassis, which I’m told is quite unique among large vans.

The eight-speed auto took the stress out of driving as I didn’t have to worry about changing gears for the descents and inclines, I just focussed on positioning it and applying the right amount of throttle. For an auto engine-braking on steep descents was surprisingly good, but we were unladen, throw a load in the back and it might be a different story, especially as there’s no dedicated hill-descent mode.

They're a bit on the large side, as long as 7m in some cases, which means there is a load area in the panel van versions that can be as big as 18.0 cubic metres.

Whilst the other motoring journos there were looking at commercial use and how many pallets they could fit inside, I was wondering what they would look like fitted with all the mod-cons you would expect from a long distance camper van.

I had a good chat to the Iveco PR team about a camper van version, and there might be one on the fleet some time next year, I really hope it comes to fruition.

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Next was the opportunity to drive the huge X-WAY 8x4. I don’t have a HGV licence, but it didn’t matter as we were on private land, plus we had experienced off road instructors sat beside us.

During our press briefing we were bombarded with so much information that the majority didn’t sink in.......and I thought some new car briefings were information heavy! Here’s what I remember...

The X-Way is available in 3 versions: On Road, On+ and Off Road. The Off Road version has a ground clearance of 511mm and a 28º approach angle, and depending on which type of X-Way you go for has 4x2, 6x2, 6x4, 8x2 or 8x4 wheel drive.

There’s also a choice of engines, transmissions, hub or single reduction axles, mechanical or air suspension, the list really does go on. It was suggested that I write an article on the X-Way for a friend who’s an editor for a trucking magazine, but in all honestly that’s all I can remember!

The important bit is how easy it is to drive?

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Jumping into the cab I was confronted with a really easy to read dash. To start I put my foot on the brake, pressed a button to start the engine, pressed the D for drive button and release the handbrake and off I went, I want to say that from here it was man vs machine vs uncompromising and unforgiving terrain, but instead it was one of the easiest things I’ve ever driven, honestly! The only thing I had to concern myself with was the length as some of the sections were quite tight, even that wasn’t a problem as the turning circle was surprisingly impressive, and being a forward control helped, of course.

Checking the door mirrors as I eased my way through deep-ish water and over purpose-built obstacles I watched as all axles articulated for maximum traction. It was poetic, a bit like watching a softy sprung Range Rover Classic driving through axle-twisters.

Of course I’m not going to say that driving an X-Way was boring, far from it, but it was far easier than I ever expected it to be, to the point I was itching to get it on the road and drive home! My neighbours moan about the number if press cars I have parked on the street, can you imagine their faces if I turned up in a 8x2 X-Way? Far too soon the day was over and I found myself on my way home in the Volkswagen Amarok, which after the Daily 4x4 and X-Way felt tiny. The team at Iveco had put on really interesting event, one that I’m not likely to forget in a hurry and with a new found appreciation for Iveco.

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Directory

Off Road Driver Training & Experiences UK WIDE All Terrain Services 4x4 Driver Training & Exp., Self Drive Tours https://www.allterrainservices.co.uk 01792 862669 NORTH Graythwaite Adventure Off-Road Driving & Training, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Watersports, Archery, Bushcraft, Axe Throwing, Glamping

https://www.graythwaiteadventure.co.uk 07498 574659 & 07779 162710 North Yorkshire Off Road Centre Off Road Driver Training & Tours http://www.nyoffroad.co.uk 07787 555060 Explore Off Road Off Road Driver Training, 4x4 Experiences http://www.exploreoffroad.co.uk 07970 286881 SOUTH John Morgan 4x4 Driving Pay & Play, Off Road Driver Training http://www.4x4driving.co.uk 01903 812195 Wild Tracks Off Road Driver Training, 4x4 Experiences https://www.wildtracksltd.co.uk 01638 751918 True Grip off Road Off Road Driver Training, 4x4 Experiences http://www.truegripoffroad.co.uk 01233 662251 Protrax 4x4 Driver Training https://www.protrax.co.uk 01536 772238 Avalanche Adventures Pay & Play, 4x4 Experiences https://avalancheadventure.co.uk 01858 880613 Ash 4x4 Off Road Driver Training, 4x4 Experiences http://www.ash4x4.com 07581 030331

WALES Bala 4x4 4x4 Driver Training https://www.bala4x4.co.uk 01536 772238 SCOTLAND Scottish Off Road Off Road Driver Training http://www.scotoffroad.co.uk 07711 217759

Pay & Play Hill ’n’ Ditch - Cheshire http://www.hillnditch4x4.com 07974 398201 Explore Off Road - Cheshire http://www.exploreoffroad.co.uk 07970 286881 Kirton Off Road - Gainsborough https://www.korc.co.uk 01652 245022 Frickley 4x4 Off Road Centre - West Yorks. https://www.frickley4x4.co.uk 07881 590593 Cowm Leisure - Rochdale https://cowmleisure.com 07970 101 879 Ultra Adventure Driving - Wales http://www.ultraadventuredriving.co.uk 01978 358 444 Essex Rochford & District 4x4 Club - Rochford http://www.4x4er.co.uk Devils Pit - Bedfordshire http://www.devilspit.co.uk 07764 159478 Avalanche Adventures - Leicestershire https://avalancheadventure.co.uk 01858 880613 4x4 Without A Club - Berkshire http://www.4x4-withoutaclub.co.uk 07887533168 John Morgan 4x4 Driving - West Sussex http://www.4x4driving.co.uk 01903 812195 Piccadilly Wood - West Sussex http://www.piccadillywood4x4.co.uk 07984 543886

4x4 TOURS Ardent Off Road 4x4 Tours, 4x4 Experiences https://ardentoffroad.com Tel: 01405 947 001 Highland All Terrain 4x4 Tours with wild camping, ATV https://www.highlandscenicsafari.co.uk Tel: 01528 544 358 One Life Adventure 4x4 Tours & vehicle prep training https://www.onelifeadventure.co.uk Tel: 01347 830188 Ardventures 4x4 Tours, 4x4 Experiences https://ardventures.co.uk Tel: 01757 638 479 4x4 Adventure Tours 4x4 Tours https://www.4x4adventuretours.co.uk Tel: 07769 336 099 Trails and Tracks 4x4 Adventures 4x4 Tours https://trailsandtracks.co.uk Tel: 07976 393 838 Cambrian Way 4x4 Tours https://www.cambrianway.com Tel: 01550 750274 Roam Free Adventures 4x4 Tours https://www.roamfreeadventures.co.uk Contact via website Timeless Overland 4x4 Tours https://www.facebook.com/tloverland Tel: 07508 833 899 Land Tracks and Trails Green Lane Adventures 4x4 Tours https://www.lanestracksandtrails.co.uk Tel: 07855 213355 Compass Adventures 4x4 Tours https://www.compassadventures.co.uk Tel: 07508 708 588 Battlefields by 4x4 4x4 Tours https://www.battlefieldsby4x4.com Tel: 07014 241 418

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