diff --git a/lib/solr_wrapper.rb b/lib/solr_wrapper.rb
index 12a4f27..4aa10e8 100644
--- a/lib/solr_wrapper.rb
+++ b/lib/solr_wrapper.rb
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ def self.default_solr_version
     'latest'
   end
 
+  # A version we can fallback to if we can't retreive the latest
+  def self.fallback_solr_version
+    '6.6.0'
+  end
+
   def self.default_solr_port
     '8983'
   end
diff --git a/lib/solr_wrapper/configuration.rb b/lib/solr_wrapper/configuration.rb
index b46d237..3e5ed0b 100644
--- a/lib/solr_wrapper/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/solr_wrapper/configuration.rb
@@ -156,8 +156,11 @@ def default_configuration_paths
       end
 
       def fetch_latest_version
-        response = Faraday.get('https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/lucene/cms/trunk/content/latestversion.mdtext')
-        response.body.strip
+        path = 'https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/lucene/cms/trunk/content/latestversion.mdtext'
+        Faraday.get(path).body.strip
+      rescue Faraday::ConnectionFailed
+        $stderr.puts "Unable to connect to #{path} to retrieve the latest version. Using a default"
+        SolrWrapper.fallback_solr_version
       end
   end
 end