Another club event happening shortly, we have about 20 vehicles going to Embsay for the Bolton Abbey and Embsay Steam Railway display this coming bank holiday weekend.
Steam trains running through the day, a chance to show off your pride and joy and tell everyone about it. Meet club members and then relax with them after 5pm. There’s a pub within a few hundred yards as well! What’s not to like?
Another cracking week in Cheddar at Petruth Paddocks. Cheddar Gorge, Cheddar Caves, communal BBQ and of course much conversing in a field!
A washer in a box
By Peter Riton-Hayward
At the Golden Valley Vintage and Steam event in Herefordshire in June, club member Peter showed us his cool gadget. This is the Karcher OC3 Outdoor portable cleaner, a 5 bar pressurised cleaner. We all love spending time in the countryside with our vehicles but trailing mud into them is always a pain. The Karcher is a simple and lightweight solution for cleaning whilst away and sports a 4 litre water tank and a 5 bar pressure that is more than enough to rinse off your bike, dog, wellies, boots or even yourself. When you have finished, the spray gun and hose store away as well, keeping everything neat and tidy. The battery charges using a standard USB connector, takes 3 hours for a full charge that runs for 15 minutes. The hose is a little over 9 feet long and the whole unit costs in at around £150 brand new with used items a lot less on popular auction platforms.
Classic risotto either vegetarian or not, all in one pan
Ingredients – serves 4
500 grams butternut squash or 500 grams of chicken breast – cubed
1 large white onion chopped
1 red pepper sliced
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 stock cube vegetarian or chicken
500 grams risotto rice
150ml white or red wine
1 tsp Herbes de Provence or other mixed herbs
Some olive oil
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onions, mushrooms and pepper on a medium heat until soft then add the squash or chicken and fry for about 5 to 8 minutes until nicely coloured or softened. Add the herbs. Add the wine and simmer for a further few minutes. Now add the risotto rice, stock cube and water. Leave it simmering with the lid on, until all of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is nicely tender.
Now that you have a delicious dinner, you can enjoy it with another glass of that wine!
The next edition of the club magazine has been finished by our Editors and looks fantastic. It should be arriving through your door soon! If you are enjoying the club magazine and have a story about a trip, an upgrade, a restoration or just a tip, send a contribution to our Editor at editor@vwt2oc.co.uk.
A variation to the Mechanic this time as so many people at club events ask Malcolm and/or Nick about solar. If you want to be off-grid / not using expensive hook up on a site or when that is simply not an option, you can keep your leisure battery topped up with a solar panel.
To help members, Nick got in touch with Just Kampers (owned by one of the club founders Mark Reynolds) to ask about their Solar Charging Screen, to see what it does and how it works. Josh from the JK Team got back to us straight away and told us the following.
He says:
“I’m a big fan of the JK Solar Charging Screen, after getting involved with bringing it into the range and having put it through its paces at VW shows and photoshoots for Just Kampers. For anyone who hasn’t seen one, the charging screen is a solar panel array which folds out from tote bag size to give you twelve solar panels for capturing that elusive sunlight to turn it into electricity. There’s a power outlet hidden away on the back of the screen, which has three USB outlets for charging up phones, as well as a DC outlet you can use to charge up your main vehicle battery or leisure battery.
The kit also comes with six really strong suction clamps, which you can use to mount it to the inside or outside of your vehicle’s windscreen. We designed it to fit the inside of a VW T6’s windscreen, but it’ll go onto any vehicle, and it’s just as useful when you just spread it out over the ground or hook it onto your windbreak.
We took one on a JK photoshoot last summer to keep our phones topped up, and it worked really efficiently. It’s definitely something I’ll take next time I’m camping, to keep our tablet charged up (and therefore my kids quiet while we drive!), and to ward off a flat battery. I usually work on the theory that you’ve got spares and tools and stuff for a breakdown, you’re somehow less likely to actually have one!
If you’ve got some epic adventures or road trips planned for your camper, a JK Solar Charging Screen is definitely worth taking a look at, especially if you’ve got a fridge, interior lights, laptop, camera, etc. on board.
If you do take one on a cool adventure, we’d love to see some photos!
You can read up on the technical specs and other information (like what a monocrystalline solar panel is) at justkampers.com/jk-solar-screen/ or scanning the QR code here.”
This is a variation of my lovely mother-in-law’s excellent phrase, “Don’t put it down, put it away” (thank you, Millie!). Most marked when you first start campervanning and take far too much stuff, this tip helps reduce frustration. How? Well, when you inevitably need to move stuff around to get to the item you’re looking for, at least you only need to move one trayful of twenty items, instead of twenty individual pieces!
Just back from a weekend away in Herefordshire at a cider farm and vintage fair. Here are some photos from the club members!
One pot sauce and make the spaghetti first in that pan to keep the washing up to a minimum!
Serves 2
Ingredients
200 grams minced beef or quorn mince
1 large white onion chopped
1 cup mushrooms chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 beef or vegetable stock cube
2 large garlic cloves chopped or minced
1 tsp Herbes de Provence or other dried mixed herbs
Olive oil
200 grams Dried spaghetti
Cook the spaghetti until just soft enough to eat. Drain and set to one side with a few tablespoons of water from the pan. Into the same pan fry the onion until nicely soft. Add the mince and on a medium heat cook it until brown, removing the oil or water as you go. Stir in everything else and simmer for 30 minutes with the lid slightly off.
Add the cooked spaghetti and stir it all together, adding any of the reserved water to thin as required.
You now have only 1 pan to clean and you can even use some crusty bread to wipe around the edges!
Another brilliant weekend in Great Bourton, Oxfordshire with our great new host William. Lots of fun, laughter and burgers!
Here are a selection of pictures.
