October getaway ideas

Ron Bones wrote:

Haha. Sounds an eventful start to a trip. I have to say that I don't think I'd have taken having to paint my van quite so well, never mind if it came out pink!  What constitutes being too military looking? Just green or would beige  

Tembo, the 110 in question is an ex British army 110 n/a 2.5.  I believe it's a 1980s vintage, painted in NATO green its stripped down to the bare essentials and an over zealous border official called it back just as it was about to cross over into Morocco up to that point nobody in the customs shed seem to care.

The owner James has now painted it desert sand and fitted a series front to it and I believe a set of non military wheels are about to be fitted to move away from the wolf rims currently fitted.

I'm sure James will be along on the thread shortly to give the full details etc.

On a side issue myself and another member of the forum are running trips to France, Andorra and the Spanish Pyrenees in May and September next year (sorry for the blatant plug if this is unacceptable Admin please remove my post) so if your holidays don't pan out for this year please look us up, URL below.

"sorry for the blatant plug if this is unacceptable Admin please remove my post"

Nah, that's okay Gary. It's in keeping with the subject of the thread after all, so no problem.

Ron - The tours in question are called 4x4Eurotours and a link to them can be found in the Companies (commercial) section of this forum.

Yep, here I am at last...and despite all the snide comments, I always did appreciate what Gary did for me in Morocco finding that paint...otherwise my trip would have been over before it had begun. And lesson learned. As far as I could make out from the senior customs guy, they only ban vehicles with matt O.D. green paint. You can have shiny green paint but not matt.

Having done some research, it seems any other colour is fine, even desert tan...although I would think in a largely desert country that would also be considered military. So now Tembo, my 110, is satin finish desert tan. As Gary mentioned I also converted the front end to look like a series III as that model is so old now, no one would easily link it with a military vehicle. On close inspection, it will always look military but doin what I can to minimize that...short of painting it pink again!

If you are self contained check out thr french passion camping. Loads of off the beaten track camping spots, usually tied in with a farmer or vinyard who have a bit of local produce on offer. Some have better facilities than some british campsites i have been on and they dont charge apart from a small fee for the book, about £25. http://www.france-passion.co.uk/