After slaving away in a field for 3 weeks working for Glastonbury Festival a well needed break was in order. So Alan and Harriet headed off for a bit of wild camping and wholesome camp fire cooking by the coast as a mini get away from it all. In true CampervanCulture style they just headed off in the general direction of Exmoor and after talking to the locals in a random pub they got the heads up on some great wild camping spots. Our usual rule of thumb of supporting the local economy in the places we wild camp was applied and all in all another great get away was had.
Ah well back to more summer festival work for Alan and Harriet now for the rest of the season to save for the CampervanCulture.com Africa trip later in the year.
When we set off on a CampervanCulture.com road trip we never really plan where we will end up or even head to on most occasions. Between the three of us we have built up quite a large list of cool places to stay as well as a bigger list of places we have been told about or have listed while passing on previous trips. Every video we have made never has a pre planned story board and we rely on random things that happen that you could never have found unless they were random.
This latest short trip was as full of randomness as usual but when we found loads of fossils, hung out with a massive group of Saxons, found a village that had been taken over by the army in WWII and has only been open to visit relatively recently and lots of it remains the same as it did back then, then bumped into CampervanCulture.com subscriber Tom and his amazing family in their Syncro Club Joker and we all camped out together in an epic camp spot, we had a random overload. It makes for a good video and we hope you guys like it and comment.
“A truly Original Mint condition Ultra rare Westfalia 16″ Syncro.
This is truly one of the best examples of this vehicle and a perfect
expedition vehicle, it was bought from new by its original owner
driven to Nepal on expedition and then onto Greece and eventually
Ireland where it was dry stored with a dehumidifier.” Continue reading →
This time while Jake was out in his campervan setting out markers for a cancer charity event making full use of the 4WD that the VW Syncro has Jed took a more gentle approach to the weekend. It was another case of heading out and not really knowing where you will end up but they usually end up being the best weekends away.
If you like relaxing, free camping right on a beach, free mackerel, country pubs that are hundreds of years old, ancient villages that all the buildings have either stone or thatched roofs, out doors cooking then this is the video for you…
A weekend away with some fellow CampervanCulture.com subscibers turned into a mission when the vehicles suffered mechanical failures – 3 driveshafts, 3 cv joints, 3 cv boots, broken steering rack, one slashed tire and one snapped drop link!!
It was a case of bad luck for one of the vans owned by Syncro nut and now CampervanCulture.com partner Alan Hayes in his RHD 1.9 mTDI panel van/camper that had most of the issues that contributed to us taking 13 hours to do the Strata Florida trail / greenlane in South Wales. We have got to give Freds Garage a big THANK YOU from CampervanCulture for bailing us out and coming to the rescue by allowing us to use the workshop and a ramp to get sorted as well as providing Alan with a steering rack, CV joints and good old moral support to get things moving again.
Freds Garage is run by a great bunch of guys and fellow CampervanCulture subscribers that do everything from MOTs to servicing and repairs on any campervan and can be found at,
Salem Road
Llanelli
Dyfed
SA15 3PZ
Telephone: 01554 772 341
Despite the dramas a great fun packed weekend was had as its not always about the driving but the laughs you have with mates doing it…
After the recent fuel demonstrations in Lagos we couldn’t but help notice the amount of T3/Vanagons around the place. We have decided to take a tour around the city just to see how many can be found.
We didnt really know what to expect as we did very little research about the place but we do thank Doug and Elvis for giving some top tips on places to visit. You have to love a country who”s national sport isnt football or rugby but rock climbing and hiking, my kind of people. Most people spoke really good english, no litter of graffiti anywhere and an all round awesome place. Before you watch the video I am just going to say NO LOUISE DIDNT STEAL THAT REALLY hehehehehe…. We bought the item in question a few days earlier as we thought we had bought a device for repelling insects, but it turned out we bought a device for mourning the dead…. Wonder why we were getting strange looks in the evening and nobody would talk to us. What the hell am I on about? you will have to watch the video and see….
If you have raised the suspension on your van, you may well find the knock effect is the you require rear shock extensions and front ball joint spacers.
Here we have the rear shock extenders, which attach to the campers rear swing arm, and lift the syncro lower shock mount – which avoids the syncro rear shock topping out. Available from www.futbus.com.
Also, up front we have fitted syncro specific upper ball joint spacers, there several different suppliers out there, these ones also came from futbus.com, they are the same as available at gowesty.com
Both of these have been on the Westfalia for a few thousand miles now, and have been no problem at all. Don’t forget, if you have raised the suspension on your Syncro to get the alignment / geometry checked over!
This is all about a mate of Jake & Jeds. His name is Rob and we have been on the look out for a Syncro camper for him for a while. He was straight in there when as luck would have it a Westfalia Syncro came up for sale with an obscure high top roof, with that in mind the van was bought and that high top roofs days were numbered.
We are already a couple of videos along with this but this is the first video in a series we are in the process of making on the project and we are excited to share it with you all….
Robs Westy Syncro is now stripped down and ready for the fella who sprayed Jakes van and wielded behind the fridge unit in Jeds van, to work his magic. The sprayer (a fella called Pete) was kind enough to let Jed and Rob strip the van down to save some money doing some work themselves. Please note the loss of the hightop and the new pop top fitted.
WOW!!!!! The Westy has now had its new coat of paint and looks great. Hopefully tomorrow it will be all be put back together again.
Part three of Syncro Shopping, a series of short video’s on the rebuild of the ultimate in camper vans. This VW Westfalia Syncro is owned by LHD Rob but we are all chipping in to help him and the van along. The van has now been re sprayed and welded and a solid base for the next stage of developments. This update is where its up to now….
Part four of Syncro Shopping, The Syncro Shopping Westy was driven one hell of a drive from London to Scotland for a new 1.9td engine transplant. Jed was riding solo and with nobody to talk to he only had his camera for company….
PLEASE NOTE: The webshop will be closed between June 14 - June 21 while we attend the Abenteuer Allrad show in Bad Kissingen, Germany. Thank you for your understanding, Jed, Dan and Lou.
