Lands End to Lowestoft on midsummers night 2014

[early_911]

Which route are people taking?

I'm thinking A30, A303, M3, M25 North, M11, A11, A47, with a small stint on the A12.

First fuel stop at 160miles at 24hr Esso at South Petherton on A303
Second fuel stop at 306miles at South Mimms on M25.

I imagine I will need to pull over a couple of time in between to get the blood back in the legs.

Phil

[Kesler]

We (us and Topless360) will be embarking on the 25th and look forward to meeting those who are doing it at Land's End

We're leaving for St Ives tomorrow where we'll stay for the night, then Saturday we'll clean up the cars before making our way to Land's End.

Regarding route - I'm leaving that in Topless's hands!

[Writhing]

Last year I went A30, M5, M4, M25, A12. Was on my own and had a no-stop strategy. My car will do 600 miles on a tankful and I had cc set at 75ish the whole way.

Some guys went up the M11 and A11 to Norwich and went along the A47 and down the A12 and got there way before me.

I guess its the choice between shorter distance/lower speed or longer/higher.

[e21Mark]

Unfortunately I'm having to work but plan to head down for the start and take a few pics.

[topless360]

I think the question on the nations minds today is M4 or A303?

The roadworks on the M3 do concern me (and they are rear facing so even the bikers will have to slow, although I'm sure you do anyway).
But then the M4 is 20 miles longer. Hmm... Anyone have experience of both routes and how they compare?

[topless360]

I think the question on the nations minds today is M4 or A303?

The roadworks on the M3 do concern me (and they are rear facing so even the bikers will have to slow, although I'm sure you do anyway).
But then the M4 is 20 miles longer. Hmm... Anyone have experience of both routes and how they compare?

[early_911]

I'm heading down the M3 tomorrow so will have a good look see

[sunbeam alpine]

topless360 said:

I think the question on the nations minds today is M4 or A303?

The roadworks on the M3 do concern me (and they are rear facing so even the bikers will have to slow, although I'm sure you do anyway).
But then the M4 is 20 miles longer. Hmm... Anyone have experience of both routes and how they compare?

I think the A303 route is the "true" route. It was the route we were planning to take, but due to a navigational cock-up we ended up doing M5-M4, and it was too late to change. If (when!!!) we do it again I will make sure we take the right exit - with a Tom Tom we would have been better to enter a mid-point like Andover/somewhere on/near the 303 instead of the end point, which led us astray.

TBH cruising it round the motorways made it easy to achieve within the time limits. I believe the "true" route would have been more challenging, which is, after all, the motivation

ETA: We did have the advantage of foreign plates, so static cameras weren't a worry. We did get lit up at one stage by an unmarked car (relatively early on), but he didn't stop us, just forced us to slow down.

Edited by sunbeam alpine on Friday 24th June 20:41

[chalda]

The "true" route, as driven on TopGear, is A303 and M25 south. Best luck to all who do it tomorrow night. I wanted to repeat my efforts from 2014 but, post-Brexit, I'd rather stay where you want me to (i.e. out).

[James2593]

I'll be there tomorrow night, in the Saab 9-3.

I've been going over the route and i'll be going, A30 - A303 [fuel stop at Andover] - M3 - M25 North - A12.

At 35 mpg, the range is 450 miles, which is way too close for comfort so i've planned a stop at the Shell just before Andover.

I'm heading straight down from Manchester, so i'll be well warmed up by the time I get to lands end!

[sunbeam alpine]

Good luck to everyone running tonight. Wish we were there!

Hopefully back next year

[topless360]

Great run last night guys, good to meet those that took part.
A couple of pictures from the start and end points, sorry I didn't manage to get all the cars in:

[JakeT]

Glad you all had a good time. Any unforeseen setbacks or other issues along the way?

[Matt370Z]

Good to meet you all - you can guess what car I was driving.

Was a lot of fun, still paying the price today though, done for!

[A993LAD]

Who was on the bike?

Think one of my neighbours might have done it this year with his son riding pillion

[early_911]

It was me . . . . . good to meet everyone briefly. I went the A303 route. Took a wrong turn where the A30 joins the A303, had to complete 3 petrol stops and part of the M3 was shut. I was very lucky to have made it in time. A slightly weird event, especially on a bike as it was cold and lonely with wet roads. Slightly unnerving when it starts getting light and you still have miles to go. So far no speeding tickets received.

[amancalledrob]

Sorry for the thread resurrection but I'm looking at doing this for 2017, and with the last few documented on here it seemed like a good place to post.

I'm thinking of going Saturday 17 June as the solstice is on a Wednesday which doesn't really work for me. Anyone else fancy it?

[sunbeam alpine]

Could be up for this again. Have an even faster car now

[amancalledrob]

To do it at the weekend, it needs to be on either the 17th or 24th. The night is one minute longer on the 24th but the sun sets one minute earlier on the 17th... I prefer setting off at the latest sunset I think, what do you reckon?

[blaineuk]

I am planning on doing this with friends this year, we are doing in on 24th, we have 6 cars in our group, hotel for Friday night is booked.