Time for a planned trip - the 2nd Karmann Treffen is held just outside Ashbourne and brings together the members of the Karmann Coachbuilts forum:
Having been last year we knew this would be a very chilled weekend, perhaps with a tour of the local area again...so the Friday was booked off work. Good job too - it was a horrific week at work there was so much to do, so come the Thursday night it was all hands on deck to pack the van and head out that night to mke the most out of our weekend.
The campsite is lovely - clean and quiet with a large play area for kids.
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/details.asp?revid=7835&map=on
A quick pitstop at Asda, Woolstanton, and we were on our way. The infallible Tom Tom got us there while barely pausing for breath. We arrived around half past 8 in the evening and it was lovely and balmy. We pulled up to the reception but there was no one around. However, being 2nd timers now we knew where to head off to and meandered around to the area we knew we would be...turning up we realised several others had also had the "start the weekend as soon as possible" mentality. Just our sort of people!!
The Thursday night was quite a chilled out affair - a few drinks and getting to know our neighbours! We were fairly early to bed and therefore fairly early to rise...to a glorious blue sky! Just what the doctor ordered (if I'd asked him, he would have ordered it!!)
We spent all of Friday on the campsite, only venturing off to walk Bodhi down towards (but not into) the pub (shocked aren't you? That we didn't go into the pub - read up we'd stocked up at Asda and were carrying beer!) We lazed around most of Friday enjoying the sunshine and chatting with various people, and, of course, watching the Karmann's roll in!
Bodhi on watch, as usual!
![]()
Friday night saw people who had been content during the day to keep mostly to their own area drawn to the firepits which were lit and provided a communal meeting area. More drinking and chatting and much more laughter filled Friday night!
Saturday turned out to be a free day where last year we had visited Chrich tram museum and Carsington Water. So we meandered for a bit. A very lazy start after quite a late night. The weather had broken and although it mostly stayed dry and occasionally sunny it began to blow a little bit. We didn't think it was as bad as it really was. We'd put out awning out to give Bodhi some shade the previous day and it was still rolled out. However, we hadn't pegged it down. One good gust of wind and a huge clatter saw the awning flipped over the top of the van. Ouch. Cue lots of concerned Karmannites coming to see if they could help. Very fortunately for us the awning hadn't damaged the side or the top of the van (Martin regaled us with tales of motorhomes where this eventuality had ripped the side panels off...scary!). But Phil, Tom & John were all there with toolkits and helpful comments to see us right. Thanks, chaps!
 |  |
With that near miss over with we ventured out for supplies and mooched around Ashbourne (a very pretty little town) and visited the Co-op there (as opposed to the Waitrose next door! We needed to restock, afterall, I hadn't planned to be there for another breakfast etc and we'd drunk ourselves almost dry!
On the way back we detoured to Carsington Water again to walk the dog, and lo and behold! Just as we're parking up Sventhrusta & Milky arrived! Short wander around, and an ice cream (naturally) and we headed back to the campsite.
Saturday night saw the annual Karmann Quiz. This is where Gren spends a large proportion of time getting abuse hurled at him for the abiguity of questions he's nicked from Trivial Pursuit! This year our team was a little larger than advertised but we were done proud. We won! Jay wasn't up for playing by the end claming the questions were too hard!
With Sunday came the hangovers and the judging! Eeek. All categories were voted for by the attending forum users and the results announced around lunchtime. The winners were:
Best Wheels - Jay
Best Dent - Earl
Best Rust Patch - Bronzedgod & Noseycow
Best Accessory - Southernscouse (Again!)
Best Modification - mickdb
Cleanest Karmann - Bakersbar
Dirtiest Karmann - Grenjs (Again!)
Funniest Sticker - Bluebays
Best Karmann of the Treffen - mickdb (Distance Wide).
Oh yes, we won a lovely keyring declaring our status as rust patch winners!!
After the awards were given out it was off to a line up for Glen to take some pictures:
Marv's had a bit of grief for this particular pic - taken by a keen eyed member of the forum ;P
The Karmann Family:
The line up - amazing to get so many of these campers together in one place!
The drive home started well, we said our goodbyes and got in the van. We moved out of the line up (many having left before us because of their journey time home!) and, waving, the van stopped moving. The accelerator pedal was gone. Just flat to the floor. Oh no! Typically, they all came running again. Fortuntely it was just the bit at the back of the pedal which had come undone. Marv fixed it in five minutes and we were off (again!) Cue more waving and laughter.
We got to the bottom of the hill, out of the campsite and onto the road leading to the pub, cue massive hissing noise and the engine making horrible noises (well, I thought they were horrible!) Dog and children are relegated to the side of the road and make themselves scarce (they've been through the drill before!!). I am chief passer-of-things and holder-of-the-table-out-of-the-way. 20 minutes later Marv has diagnosed a pipe popped off, which he's reattached and we're all on the road again! Phew!
Except, 10 mins down the road it goes again. We find a suitable car park and I take the children and the dog for a walk. It turns out there is a beautiful canal area, but no sooner have we found it than I get a phone call. All sorted. Definitely.
And it was - we sailed along to Nottingham for hooters on the way home (well, it would be rude not to when we're so close!!)
So all in all, a lovely weekend, with 3 near misses which were much less eventful than they could have been. Sign us up for next year!
Happy Camping x
PS Several of the above pictures were "borrowed" from the Karmann Forum - hope this Ok chaps x
