whistlinwolf Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Anyone on here going to Belgium next month on the trip as guests of the BMVT? It would be nteresting to meet up with anyone if you are going across. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whistlinwolf Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 Hi Bernie, rather than post these on our PM, thought I would post them here so everyone can see what they'll be missing whilst your lot and ours are playing in Belgium. These are from last years Belgium trip, proper snow and -10 degrees :shock: See you there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berni Posted January 8, 2006 Share Posted January 8, 2006 they are great Tim, doesn't it look like the kind of place to be driving 65 year old vehicles. -10 is a mere technicality to the hardened MVer. I have got my snow boots & thermals already packed. see you there Berni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted January 8, 2006 Share Posted January 8, 2006 - 10 :shock: That's rather cold to drive around it! Yesterday I drove a few rounds and it was around 0 (celcius), cold enough for me! Nice photo's, makes me regret that I can't make it to Belgium in february. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berni Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 you can always cheat & take the car. nobody will find out cheers berni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dotty Dodge Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Hi all What do you get up to on this trip then? is there perticular places you vist or is it a general meet up with the the Belguim MVT? Looks Great ! Cold though!!! Best Reagrds Rowan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whistlinwolf Posted January 10, 2006 Author Share Posted January 10, 2006 There are road runs with strategically placed food/drink/brazier/wee stops. Evening get togethers and a dance as well. Optional frostbite for the incorrectly dressed as well. A good weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berni Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 this was a fantastic trip. we forgot our digi camera so you'll have to wait for the normal photo's to come back & for me to scan them. we got back late last night as we stayed a couple of extra days & also managed to get a couple of hours at the Dunkirk bunkers. There are still so many trips to do & sights to see & memorials to visit that i think my holidays are planned for the next 5 years. i will do a full report with the photo's and for those who couldn't make it i hope i do it justice. ta berni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Good to have you back Bernie and really looking forward to your report..............you seem to have life about right! 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Glad you're back safe Berni, look forward to seeing the pics. Cheers Degsy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whistlinwolf Posted February 15, 2006 Author Share Posted February 15, 2006 Just a picture or two from Bastogne at the weekend to give a taste of the goings on, I'll leave the written report to Bernie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Very nice Tim, is there any stories behind the pictures? If you guys want to email me more of your pictures then we will put them up on a seperate page on our new site, think this sort of events warrants it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Jack, You'll have to wait your turn. I'm trying to get a story out of Tim for the Yorkshire site!!!! ( Not that I'm, trying to make him feel guilty or anything, but he has been back two days now ) Come on Tim, you're in demand! Doesn't it make you feel wanted? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whistlinwolf Posted February 17, 2006 Author Share Posted February 17, 2006 I have trouble deciding which keys to press normally but if I'm under pressure anything can happen. Bernies your man for a report Jack, I'm sure she will do a far superior job. (Obviously she isn't a real man though) To sum up the trip, We went, we saw, we had fun. But you two obviously want more than that don't you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berni Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 i will sit down & do a report on sunday when i will have a touch of spare time i'm sure i can manage a bit more than we went we saw we had fun :lol: see you sunday berni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Looking forward to that Sheila, would love to have been there but probably a good job I wasn't as this cold that has been dragging on since before Chrimble turned into a major breathing trauma on Sunday night ,as a consequence of which I will be Hors de Combat for a couple of weeks at least. Cheers Degsy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berni Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 this should have been done yesterday but my 15 year old decided to get the week off school the hard way. she fell down a flight of stairs missing each & everyone & landing on her chin & ribs on a wood floor at the bottom she had her chin glued back together & is suffering from whiplash & bruised poss cracked ribs. breathing is difficult & laughing is a nightmare but she is on co codamol & is now like a space cadet on fairy dust. any way i should have the photos by friday but here is a medium sized report. friday 10th feb 1.00am left home to meet the gang at Membury services on the M4 at 1.45 am. it was so cold & windy we were thankful we were in a normal car. The tunnel was uneventful & arrived in france ( country 2) hungry & tired. It was a long drive down to the Ardennes ( belgium country 3) & when we arrived we had to wait till 16.30 to get in the apartments. We stayed at la Roche which is where the BMVt used to stay but they had decided to find a different hotel for this year. Our hotel was like a fairy tale princess castle & the backdrop of the snowy hills made for a stunningly jawdropping introduction to the holiday. we had a 1 bedrom apartment which included 2 bathrooms 1 wc 1 huge bedroom with about an 8ft wide bed ,a front room with a leather 3 piece suite a kitchinette & a door opening out onto a patio area which overlooked the meandering river. we spent the first night unpacking & sat in the bar playing pool & air hocky etc. sat 11th feb up really early to leave by 8am to drive to the main hotel for the start of the BMVT road run.we took a few photos & walked round the vehicles as they were waiting to go, we chatted to a few guys from England that we knew then we watched all the vehicles start to leave at 9.30 am. we tagged on the end of the convoy at 10.30 & followed to the main destination for the day. This was in luxemburg ( country 4) & I have to say the museum we visited was fantastic, to us it outshone any museum we had seen before. the dioramas were superb & when the phots come through i'll show you what i mean. we stayed here for a couple of hours & met Tim ( whistling wolf), hi Tim, the second part of the day we made our way to Bastogne going over a couple of Bailey bridges on the way, we did feel a bit exited about driving over the bridges which is probably a bit sad actually. when we got to Bastogne we popped into another museum & had a look round the town. before making the journey back to the apartments we stopped off at the US 5 pointed star memorial in Bastogne, this was worth stopping to see even though the attached museum was closed. for those who haven't seen it it has the names of all the states round the top & down the side pillars are listed the units involved in the campaign & sadly it was to dark to see anything else. a welcome shower & food & it was back to the BMVT hotel for the disco. we got there about 9.30 just as the entertainment started. There were 3 young ladies mining & dancing to 'bugle boy from co c' type of thing which was really popular with the men in the room. A disco followed this & a few of us danced the night away. we may not have understood most of the songs & didn't understand some of the dances but we had a good time. I'd never heard 'roll out the barrel' in french before!!!! 2 of the Belgians dressed up as rather undainty females but their long wigs & long dresses gave us all a giggle. we got back 'home'around 1.15 ish after our lead car almost ran over an enormous wild boar which decided to run across the road in front of the only 2 cars for miles around. sunday 12th feb in the morning we went to the museum in the town of La roche which was over 3 floors & had some really good displays & local photos of the area during the war. Amazingly the ownly thing standing in the square was the 1st world war cenotaph, everything else had been demolished in the bombings we spent the rest of the day driving round the belgiun country side stopping & looking at memorials . we drove to Malmedy & St Vith which were big battle sites but sadly we didn't see much history left. as we were so close to germany we decided to pop over the border making it our 5th country. we stopped at the first small town all got out had a walk round got back in & drove back to Belgium. we had a massive snowball fight in a supermarket carpark which made about 5 that day. all were great fun. we spent the evening back in the hotel bar playing pool etc again relaxing before our long drive back to calais the next day. monday 13th feb we took it easy as we didn't need to check out till 12 noon & took the short walk in to town to the pattiserie. yummy cakes. the drive back to Calais was going really smooth & all was going to plan when our last car in the convoy span off the motorway, by the time we had notified our lead car & all stopped itwas a good mile walk back up the motorway to see what was going on. all were ok even though there was a lot of damage to the 3 cars involved. A mlady in a megane had a blow out & veered in to their car causing them to spin & they then hit a sharan causing that to skid off the road as well. It was a bit airy scary for a while knowing what we'd seen in the mirrors but not knowing for definate what had occured. all our convoy cars then had to come off the motorway get back on in the other direction , get back off just past the accident , get back on the motorway & then pull off at the accident site which just happened to be between the entrance & exit to a service station. once the other 2 cars had been recovered off the motorway & some running repairs had been made with some rope & duct tape we were all back on the road. we stopped off at Dunkirk & spent a couple of hours exploring the Bunkers & dunes, It would have been better to go a few miles further up the beaches but darkness was upon us pretty quick & the mist was getting thicker so we made our way to calais & the hotel. after a meal we sat in the bar area & with everyones photos uploaded on to a laptop we had a film show of the past few days. tuesday 14th feb home today. we spent a couple of hours in citie europe doing a touch of shopping before our 16.06 tunnel back to the UK. we hit a fair bit of traffic on the M25 so stopped at clacket lane for an hour. back on the road & hunger set in so we stopped at the harvester at Bracknall for a meal & by the time we finished it was 20.00 & all the traffic had gone. we got home at 21.45 . We had a brill time & would definatly recommend the Battle of the Bulge as an area to visit . our apartments were superb & helped make it the great break it was. photos will follow friday if i get them in time cheers berni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whistlinwolf Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 WOW sounds fantastic!! Oh It was It was good to meet you two. Great write up Bernie, far bettert job than I could have done,have to agree that the museum in Dikirch was awesome, possibly the best ever up to date, so much gear and well looked after. So you going next year? We went from Hull overnight sailing to Zebrugge, its only a 3 hour drive to Bastogne from there so we had it cushy by the sound of it. We also" witnessed "a little incident on the way back, involving a trailer and an unsuspecting VW ,whos bumper was(!) minding its own business in the services!!! :shock: :oops: Hope your daughter recovers, why do they always do it at holiday time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berni Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 i think our holidays are different down here as ours were off last week & have gone back to school today. unfortunatly she has her gcse's soon so she will have to catch up on what she has missed. there is only so much i can have sent home. she is an extreme sports fan but i don't think stair flying will catch on somehow. we are going to do Arnham next year but the museums don't open till April so we will go a bit later in the year. i have already started trawling the internet for suitable accomodation. we do prefer self catering as you get more room to mooch about in but will hotel it if needs must. the guys only go every other year to the BMVT road run so it is exciting every time. They do seem to drive slightly erratic on the continent :shock: glad you had a good time. I don't think you would get the same atmosphere if you went in the summer but it was cold at times. cheers berni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whistlinwolf Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 Hi Berni, The hotel the run was based in has self catering appartments as well. We were in a 2 story appartment with a double room and a twin bunked room and fold out double inthe living room, 2 bathrooms and a kitchenette withdining table. They would be ideal if you wanted to stay self catering as that is obviously what they are designed for. Well worth checking it out in future. After saying that we were half board and it was good with any amount of food and free wine!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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