Wales Meet coming in 2 months. More details here! Registration form added!

"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
01/16/2018 at 06:38 • Filed to: europpomeet, Wales, oppomeet

Thanks to Alex for creating this picture

As !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! last Summer, we’re planning on doing a big European meet in 2018. There has been some talk about a trip to the Nurburgring in Summer but the most concrete plan now is the Easter multi-day meet in Wales (UK). It’s time to talk about details and inventorise who considers joining. Registration form added!

At the outer parking lot of the Nurburgring, March 2017 (mild ‘shop by combining 2 pictures taken at the same place)

Dates

The trip will take in the week before Easter, Monday March 26th until Friday March 30th . The weekends are for traveling to/from Wales. It goes without saying that you’re free to attend fewer days as well.

Driving

Our own mister !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , or ‘Matt’, is (somewhat) local and has created 5 preliminary routes to drive, one for each day. The routes are not set in stone but they show what we have in mind. It’s usually about 200-300 km (120-180) miles a day, which considering the types of roads will be about 4 (?) hours of pure driving a day. Routes: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . We’ll try to add activities in between to keep things interesting.

One road we’ll be driving, near Brecon

Sleeping

While driving 24/7 may sound appealing, a multi day trip requires places to stay. As we’re talking late March in Wales, camping might be a bit ambitious. There might even still be some snow. You’re free to camp obviously but many/most will prefer something heated and less damp. While some may want to find a place to stay individually, we’ll be booking something for those who want to share a larger place.

Llanberis Pass, Snowdonia... and on our route

Our plan is to use two central hubs, 2 nights each. One in Brecon Beacons National Park in the south of Wales and the other in Snowdonia National Park in the north of Wales. As the exact number of people who will attend isn’t known at this point (that’s what this article is for) we haven’t booked anything just yet. There have been 25 people who filled out the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! last summer and a few others who’ve shown interest elsewhere.

Llanberis Pass

Who’s welcome?

Everyone! And their mom! It does help if you enjoy driving and talking bullshit about car-culture though.

Transportation

This trip obviously requires a car. Or motorcycle. It’s not going to be a race and everything street legal can join. A flashy new sports car, a rusty piece of junk (with MOT) or a rental car , everything is welcome. If you don’t have your own transportation someone might want to share their car with you.

Alternative transportation

We’ve been brainstorming if it’s feasible and economically viable for non-UK residents to actually buy (and insure!) a car for a few hundred Pounds in the UK for the week, and sell it afterwards. With help of UK members obviously. The result is that it is in fact quite feasible and probably cheaper (and more exiting) than a decent rental car. Given that it’s only slightly over 2 months to go anyone interested should be taking steps to arrange this shortly though. Just reply below. Mister !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! has most knowledge about this subject.

Costs

Two-way air rates for one adult, as quoted on January 11th.

That’s the hard part as it depends on many variables. Too many. I’ll address them regardless and you can make your own calculation.

Trip to/from Wales. If you’re from the UK you don’t need my rambling here. If you’re from the US, view the image on the right or look up your own rates (I used the Skyscanner website). If you’re from continental Europe, check costs of the ferry and the Tunnel. Looking right now I get quotes of €141 for a 2-way ferry trip for 1 person with 1 car. The Eurotunnel will be over €200, or so it seems. You can choose to fly too, for about €75-100 two way, but you’d have to source a car in the UK.

Lodging. I’ve seen group housing for about 50 Pounds for 3 nights, which would result in 100 Pounds for the week. I’d say expect something in the 150 Pounds range when you’re willing to share accommodations to be safe.

Fuel. About 750 miles/1250 km for the trip itself? Ł1.20 or so for a liter of gasoline/Petrol and similar for diesel. That’s Ł4.50 a gallon (US). If your car were to consume 10L/100 km (23.5 mpg US, 28.2 mpg UK) you’ll end up spending Ł150 for fuel, excluding your travel to and from Wales.

Food/drink. That’s too hard for me as a non-UK resident to guess. Make your own calculation on what you’re used to and add 50% to be safe.

Activities

We haven’t come up with that many day time activities just yet. There’s a kart track or two on the route, so we’ll visit one. There’s a suggestion for a longer hike and a steam train ride. We’ll come up with other stuff and are very open to suggestions . One thing we will certainly do is schedule something for breakfast, lunch and diner. And pubs. Obviously. One thing we did at the meet at the Nurburgring and Spa last year was to ask everyone to bring a few favorite drinks from back home so we could taste some obscure drinks from other countries.

Mailing list

Announcements will be done here, but there’s a mailing list as well. An email will be sent soon. It would be great if everyone interested in coming signs up and everyone on the mailing list lets their plans known. When planning, especially lodging, it’s a lot easier if you know how many people will show up, roughly.

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