Seasonal Greetings

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas

and a healthy and happy New Year!

Calendar Girl 2026

It’s that time of year again! Another year over, so time again for my traditional end of year calendar post. Compared to the previous years, 2025 was a much better year from a “driving-my-TR7's” point of view. After fitting the new water pump to ‘t Kreng early in the year I managed to clock up a reasonable amount of kilometres. At the moment the counter stands at 2750 kilometres. Only a few kilometres short of the amount covered in the previous four years together! And with the current weather forecast there is a fair chance that I can take the car out for a final drive before the end of the year. Hopefully I can continue using this car on a regular basis in 2026! But also do some more work on the ’76 car (maybe even finish it!?) and finish the body work for the DHC.

So as the end of 2025 is approaching, I (again I dare say) decided to compile my personal calendar using a selection of pictures from my favourite drivers car, shot over the past year.

The cover:

Three pictures of the car during various local tours in 2025. From left to right;

The car on the driveway of the former fiefdom “Jongenhof” near Lerop - St. Odiliënberg.

A for the Euregio typical large carré farmhouse and former seat for a feudal lord. (30-05-2025 NL);

Slowly decaying field barn in the countryside south of the village of Belfeld (14-06-2025 NL);

In front of the local parish church during the reconnaissance of “De Nachtrit”,

Route de Saint-Antoine in Fays (06-09-2025 B)

January:

Early spring in the estate surrounding Hillenraad Castle in Boukoul - Swalmen (2024-04-06 NL)

February:

Refueling just across the German border, Kölner Straße Kaldenkirchen (2025-05-10 D)

March:

The car on the driveway of the former fiefdom “Jongenhof” near Lerop - St. Odiliënberg.

A for the Euregio typical large carré farmhouse and former seat for a feudal lord. (30-05-2025 NL)

April:

On a gravel track in the country side between Reuver and Belfeld (2025-06-14 NL)

May:

Across the provincial border with Noord Brabant during one of the tours this year,

Philipsweg Maarheeze (2025-10-11 NL)

June:

Roadside chapel (het Waarderkapelke) on the plateau above the village of Rimburg

(2025-11-05 NL)

July:

On my way for a business lunch in the old water tower in Rimburg,

Watertorenpad Rimburg (2025-11-05 NL)

August:

‘t Kreng in front of the temporary influent pumps,

used during the renovation of the sewage treatment plant Rimburg (2025-11-05 NL)

September:

Autumn in the estate surrounding Hillenraad Castle,

Boukoul - Swalmen (2025-11-12 NL)

October:

Along the meandering river Swalm between Asselt and Beesel,

Eind Swalmen (2025-11-12 NL)

November:

‘t Kreng catching the last rays of sunlight on top of one of the viaducts

across the A73 motorway in Belfeld (2025-11-12 NL)

December:

December:A glorious sunset seen from the Korteweg in Belfeld

(2025-11-12 NL)

Mission accomplished

Alongside the “Heerenvennen” part of the national parc

“De Hamert” near the small village of Wellerlooi.

Or another milestone in the 45 year life of ‘t Kreng. Last month I mentioned that I was on a mission with ‘t Kreng. And that mission was to clock up some more miles before the end of the year in order to get the odometer back to its original setting, when the car left the factory about 45 years ago. This would be the second time that happened with this car in my possession. I actually purchased her with 73993 kilometres on the clock. And after the restoration was finished in July 1997, it only took me 2 years before the clock was back to 00000 kilometres:

The next 100000 kilometres took slightly longer. Mainly because the car was relieved of its daily duties at the start of this century. But this morning I set of for the final 160 kilometres of my mission. And it was quite a lovely drive!

View across the river Meuse on the monastery village of Steyl.

Brangk Baarlo

Old monastery wall along the Legioenweg, Baarlo

And when I turned into the forecourt of a petrol station just across the border in Germany, the odometer turned from 99999 to 00000. Call it timing!

Commuting by TR7

Yesterday turned out to be a really nice autumn day. And since it was my midweek morning off from work, I decided to take a little more time to get to the office. Taking ‘t Kreng on a local detour in an attempt to find a few nice photo locations. The outward journey was a very pleasant experience, despite the fact that the planned photo locations were somewhat disappointing. Many trees had already lost all their leaves. Fortunately, not all!

The estate surrounding Hillenraad Castle in Boukoul.

The treelined Hillenraederlaan running along the front of Hillenraad Castle, Boukoul.

Next came the always time consuming business of work. And I again forgot the time. So by the time I left the office it was already starting to get dark. Not good if you want to photograph a car against a background of autumn colours. But I needn’t have worried!

Along the meandering Swalm river between Asselt and Swalmen.

Sunset seen from St. Antoniusstraat in Beesel,

with the corn mill "De Grauwe Beer" in the background.

‘t Kreng catching the last rays of sunlight on top of

one of the viaducts across the A73 motorway in Belfeld.

A glorious sunset seen from the Korteweg in Belfeld,

and also the last photos of this commute. After this the sunlight went out.

On a mission!

I wanted to use ‘t Kreng for the final check of “our“ LTV Nachtrit a few weeks ago, but the weather forecast wasn’t in favour of it. So I used my little Landy instead. And it turned out to be a wise choice. It rained quite a lot over the day, making road conditions quite slippery and treacherous in places. The fallen leaves didn’t help here!

But that left me with a challenge for ‘t Kreng. And I have given myself until the end of the year to successfully complete this challenge. So I have decided to use that car as much as possible for the last two months of 2025. Starting with a works related trip to the sewage treatment plant in the small village of Rimburg which is currently being renovated. I decided to take the scenic route there!

Roadside chapel (het Waarderkapelke),

on the plateau above the village of Rimburg.

Starting with a business lunch in the old water tower of Rimburg.

‘t Kreng in front of the temporary influent pumps,

used during the renovation of the sewage treatment plant.

I also used the car for a trip to inspect the progress on the body shell of the DHC this Saturday. The welding on the rear of the car is nearly finished. A few shots:

And the challenge? Have a good look at the picture below!

DHC repairs #22: Left hand rear suspension points

Various patch repairs to the left hand rear suspension mounting points, including the top off the chassis rail, and the rear bulk head area. Starting with the top of the LH rear chassis leg. As you can see in the picture below it was starting to get rather thin! Time for some solid repair sections from the donor body:

And the repair patch for the left hand side of the rear bulk head:

Slowly but surely the body is getting more rigid:

36th edition of the LTV Nachtrit

Yesterday evening (Saturday the 25th of October) the already 36th edition of our annual "Nachtrit" took place. And as in previous years I did a last minute check on the day before the event with a friend. Usually this is a rather relaxed affair. But this year we were seriously plagued by constant new roadworks starting along the 262 kilometre long route. Which meant constant route changes in the last two weeks before the event.

As the weather forecast for the Saturday had been rather bleak, ‘t Kreng was left at home and my LaRo again was the car of choice. Turned out be a wise choice. The rain kept us company all day long, as a result of which the roads were rather slippery in places. The wet leaves on the road didn’t help here. The permanent four wheel drive of my LaRo certainly was an advantage. And due to the bad weather plus the time pressure, I didn’t stop for some pictures. Though the autumn colours were rather splendid despite the heavy rain.

As for the route; the last version was uploaded to my GPS-device around 11:30 PM on the Friday evening! Roger also had developed three alternative diversions because we were not sure whether the road sections concerned were open for traffic or not. One section which should have been open turned out to be still closed for traffic. But another one that should have been closed was open again. Could be worse. Till we hit the last part of the route. At around 200 kilometres into the route we encountered a road closure in the small village of Solwaster. Sadly it was the only through road through the wooded area between Sart-les-Spa and Jalhay. As the roadbook so far had been pretty accurate we decided to message Roger about the situation and head directly to the start. This way we might be able to assist with these last minute changes.

Luckily when we arrived at Rolduc Abbey, which was again the start and finish location for the event, Roger already had an alternative ready and on a flip-over for the navigators to copy. And at 5:01 PM the first car was flagged of, traditionally this was the Triumph Stag of Léon.

There was nothing more we could do but watch the 37 teams, with 4 different nationalities and a nice mix of oldtimers and youngtimers, heading off into the night. And take a few pictures of course:

After which the long wait, for the first teams to return, could start. Turned out that most teams managed to finish without to many problems. And it was good to hear that most entrants had enjoyed themselves.