L200 NB 2013 H4H 4×4 European Rally

Total for Sunday:

Merchandise £138.50
Donations £514.41

Grand Totals:
Merchandise £721.00
Donations £1258.57

Overal Total £1979.57

A very good weekend for Help for Heroes.

A grand total of:

Merchandise = £582.50
Donations = £744.16
TOTAL = £1326.66

Plus, 4 Asda green tokens and €1.63

Well it’s roasting here at Asda Aintree, but that’s not stopping the good people of the surrounding area from donating to Help for Heroes generously.

Merchadise is going well and the buckets are filling up. In this weather, we’re expecting late pm and early evening to be the busiest when everyone comes home from a day out in the sun and decides a BBQ is a good idea.

Millie the Mascot is getting a lot of attention too…

This weekend will see TeamL200 fundraising at the Aintree branch of Asda. This is a superstore and last year we raised over £3000 in two days.

To anyone in the Liverpool area, please come along and help us try to beat last year’s figure. No matter how much we raise, it all goes to a good cause.

Stop over for a couple of nights R&R in Bullay on the banks of the Mosel.

Yesterday’s drive of just over 400 miles must be the hardest of the lot.

And so it starts……

What a suprise, 3rd place overall!!!

The end of Rally.

No photos up here today.

Completely shrouded in cloud and there’s still some snow on the ground, in fact it’s tried snowing as we arrived at the top.

Hence, most of us are now sat in the restaraunt tucking into some good food.

Rubbish signals last couple of days. So will catch up with pictures etc later.

Now near Munich for the night and a well deserved Schnitzel!!!

All getting ready for a day out.

Onwards from Arnhem, visits to a couple of museums, into the Ardennes and the scenes of the Battle of the Bulge.

We also been in a very wet sand quarry to do a punch hunt challenge, unfortunately no photos, raining most of the time, so some editing of the GoPro video is needed.

Heading South towards Bastogne today, just packing up and we’ll be on the way shortly.

Clue hunting in a woods. Good laugh. Bet the GPS and Skytag trails are interesting!!!

No photos unfortunately, too busy being one of the recovery trucks.

Got some pics on the other cameras and the GoPro was filming for most of it, so some editing to do.

Seems I’ve been had on Twitter and Facebook!!!!

From the Somme to Arnhem and Eindoven.

We’ve driven it in a few hours. The Liberation Allies took months to cover the same distance.

Now at a camp site just outside of Arnhem, having driven “Hells Highway” into Eindhoven.

Now sat on the camp site, watching another episode of Band of Brothers, a series based on the story of 101st Airbourne who had front line action almost all the way from D-Day to the end of WW2.

Each evening, we watch the episode(s) of the series relevant to the area we have passed through, are at, or are about to visit. This helps bring the reality or each area in to perspective, but, while it’s a fantastic series, can never do justice to the losses that gave us our freedom. But it does come close.

1000 miles since we left home, 180 litres of fuel, £228, average 25mpg.

A long day indeed, over 300 miles.

We’ve been all over the Somme, passing some fantastic Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetries and memorials.

It’s impossible to imagine how it was during WW1.

We’ve just been to the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres. What a moving experience.

Good day yesterday touring round the beaches and inland memorials etc. and some great scenery.

Couple of challenges completed, no idea how well we did, but hey….

Today is one of the longest driving days, so far covered just over 200 miles, mostly on motorway to cover the ground.

Now at Lochnagar crater to the south of La Boisselle in the Somme. The crater is the result of the Royal Engineers tunneling under the German front line and exploding some 24 tonnes of explosive, at the time, the largest ever detonated, rising to almost 4000 feet in the air.

Onwards now towards Ypres and the evening Menin Gate ceremony.

Scene of some of the hardest fighting, yet the church and so many buildings survived.

Here we go ….

A cracking day finished off with a BBQ and a drimk or two.

Now at the 360 cinema and memorial at Gold Beach, Arromanches. Some of the Mulberry Harbour still visible after 69 years.

Difficult to imagine what it was like here all those years ago.

Nice a warm, but would be better if the sun came out!!!

Arriving in Caen/Ouistreham at what was Sword Beach in 1944. Can’t even begin to imagine what it was like on the morning of of the 6th June 69 years ago.

Now on the ferry and heading out of Portsmouth. A much needed beer and an hour or so for the crews to relax and partake in some socialising.

Another good run the afternoon, via Southwick House to the ferry in Portsmouth.

Looks like it’s going to be a rough crossing !! Couple of beers in the bar and a long needed snooze.

Next stop France.

Now at RAF Odiham, been told we have a few challenges to do here. But for now we’re trying to get all the trucks parked up in a big H4H formation …… Should be interesting!

Well, off to a good start, fixing broken LRs at the start.

Then off on the first mission and some great byways across Salisbury Plain, picture challenge along the way.

Now at H4H Headquarters in Tidworth for a challenge and a bit if a break before head off again.