Land-Rover Series Club

Already the seventh installment of the yearly leaf-sprung Land-Rover event saw like-minded Land-Rover owners once again descend on the small central Bohemian town of Kutna Hora, located about 75 kilometres east of Czech Republic's capital, Prague.

Kutna Hora's Santa Barbara Camping's decent facilities and a central location within walking distance from most of Kutna Hora's most famous landmarks guarantee that unless the weather lets us down, the meeting should be to everyone's taste.

During Friday, most of the participants arrived to the campsite and met at the pub for a chat and a few beers. Weather continued to be unpredictable, but wasn't entirely bad – not at least until 10:00 AM on Saturday morning, an hour before the whole long column was due to set off for the highlight of the meeting, the greenlaning trip.

We moved out cross-country to Malesov, where a short guided tour of the privately-owned local castle was arranged for the participants, along with a lunch. An hour or so elapsed before we boarded our trucks and started again for the main part of the laning route.

The rest of the afternoon was spent crossing forests and water-soaked meadows, splashing along over-grown lanes, through muddy puddles. The campsite saw us arriving back in force just before six, ready for the planned hog roast dinner.

Saturday night was stormy and wet, but despite all this, there were still 12 crews who made it to our last waypoint – the National Agricultural Museum's historical machinery display at Caslav. On the same date as Birmabright Weekend, the exhibits in the museum come alive with clouds of steam and diesel fumes, during the museum's own event, the “Granddad's Tractor” weekend, which was to be the program for the last part of the meeting.

Feedback was positive – the weather actually made the event more interesting for those who would otherwise complain about dust and too easy driving conditions. All those who braved the rainy forecast and came along enjoyed themselves and the photos are evidence that not only sunny lanes can provide a nice backdrop for an event of this kind.