Bongo Fury

Well what a scorcher of a weekend! Nice to meet up with Brian & Christine (briwy) and having a good chat while a variety of things were barbecued.

The campsite is very good, many thanks to bongo frenzee for the recommendation. We’d certainly stay there again.

Remembering that the whole point of this expedition was to assist Muz Jr cycling over the Hardknott and Wrynose Passes, we took a support vehicle as well as the Bongo, that was so we could leave the Bongo on the campsite, plugged into an electricity supply so there would be plenty of cold beer, and have a car to zip about the hills taking photos, and the obligatory water spraying


Got to get that health food. Pom-Bear Zoo Friends


Checks & adjustments....


....while we await the arrival of the rest of the Team


Fisherground Farm campsite – very nice too....


....with its own station on the Ravenglass & Eskdale railway


Douglas Ferreira running on the longest narrow-gauge railway in the Lakes


More pre-flight adjustments prior to a gentle run on Friday


Meanwhile, Muzette on the zip-wire....


....having a fine time


Camp set up....


....and we’ve some proper health food to eat


Time to fire up the barbie then


Panorama from Birker Fell heading towards Ulpha


Birker Fell


The ubiquitous Team Muz barbecued sausages


Jr just back in perfect time


Morning campers! Do not feed the animals


Another scorcher in prospect, this isn’t really the ideal weather for today’s events....


....but a hearty breakfast is definitely a good idea


Turned out nice again


New front brake blocks might be a good idea at this point


The hour approaches....


....still not sure this is a good idea


....definitely not sure







So far so good






Getting steeper


Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!






Only partway up the first Pass....


....in need of water








Tour de France-style water spraying


Stopping here, there’s no way to restart without dropping back down....




Come on!!




Fail




Another water stop....


....aided by Muzette....


....perfect!


Onto the Wrynose Pass now, which isn’t as bad, and there’s other nutters having a go!




Looking down to Little Langdale Tarn


Pooped


Back in the support bus at Ambleside


A variety of views on the return over the same two Passes






















Time to recuperate


Briwy’s new bus and very nice too. But wait, there’s something wrong, the sliding door is on the wrong side and there’s no rust on the wheelarches


Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Muzette discovers water
















Get that barbie going again!


Sirloin steaks


Donner kebab-meat burgers


Ribs


Barbecued pineapple with Angostura bitters & brown sugar....


....a perfect finish!


Sunday, and that’ll be right. A sun day


Sleep needed due to the exertion of the previous day!

A cracking weekend in the Muzzes company and well done Chris, must be mad, he even wanted to do it AGAIN.
I think we are going to follow them around more as they always seem to get good weather. First time in years we've been to the Lakes and not got drenched.
Muz is threatening to get "wheel arch rust" and Mazda badge decals for the VW to make it more "realistic".

great effort chris, well done mate, and muzzette the support crew doing the essential water job.

far far braver than I. .

Credit to Muz Jr for that effort,I've ridden the 2 passes many,many times on 2 wheels....
aided by a motor though... and my best time from the bottom of Wrynose to the end by the Birker fell turn is
a little over 9 minutes...It was very early in the morning and the road
was pretty quiet,well it was till my open piped 644 supermoto went up there..

Nice looking bike, you can attack the roads on something like that

In the Bongo I wasn't going for any kind of speed but I did have a camera gaffa-taped to the dashboard. From Little Langdale to the phonebox at the far end of Hardknott (both where the warning signs are as in my pics above) it took 23 minutes heading west and 25 minutes heading east. On a previous mission it took almost 8 minutes for the Hardknott alone from the phonebox to the junction at Cockley Beck and then 8:25 from there over the Wrynose to Little Langdale.

I haven't tried taking the freda over there yet,did you have any issues with any of the off
camber hairpins,I have been over in a Transit (75bhp) and it struggled badly with the climbs ?

I've done both passes at least 8 times in a 4WD Bongo, no problems at all even in the wet. The back wheels scrabble a bit but that's the LSD working. Last weekend the Giulietta struggled more purely on ground clearance, especially trying to get out of the way of twonks who don't know how wide their car is.

I can imagine the fun you'd have on a bike like that, I've ridden all manner of trail bikes, trials bikes & crossers so I know the huge grin you'd have when you got to the Birker Fell turn

Well done Chris!

The elders talk about driving their Bongos though the lakes, you did it on a bike friend

Jo

Aye, going from Eskdale to Ambleside the direct route on a bicycle isn't an easy undertaking. But he still has the Honister, Whinlatter & Kirkstone to do

Hey that is seriously mean!

Good luck with that Chris

Jo x

Muzorewa wrote:Aye, going from Eskdale to Ambleside the direct route on a bicycle isn't an easy undertaking. But he still has the Honister, Whinlatter & Kirkstone to do

Ooh...done those as well...