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Plymouth man completes 20,000-mile pub adventure
17 February 2018
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Volcan Cotopaxi in EcuadorImage copyrightALVARO ANDRES PINZON
Image caption
Ben Coombs drove across three continents to complete the challenge
A man has driven a sports car across 21 countries, starting at the most northerly pub in the world and finishing at the most southerly.
Ben Coombs, 38, from Plymouth in Devon, drove 20,000 miles across three continents from the Arctic Circle to the southernmost tip of Chile.
It took him seven months to complete the challenge.
Mr Coombs described the final pub as "a dive", but said "it's the journey that matters, not the destination".
The idea for the adventure came while he was having a pint in a pub on Dartmoor.
Car in BoliviaImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The trip was completed in a green TVR sports car called Kermit
The journey started on the Norwegian island of Svalbard in an abandoned mining settlement called Pyramiden, which has a population of four.
Mr Coombs said finding the northernmost bar "was an easy investigative process".
"Pyramiden is less than 700 miles from the North Pole, is the northernmost settlement on earth with a permanent civilian population, and has only one bar," he added.
"The residents all live in the only building still functioning - the town's old hotel - which happens to have a still-functioning bar."
Northerly barImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The most northerly pub in the world in Pyramiden
To find the most northerly and southerly pub, Mr Coombs looked for licensed premises where anybody could walk in off the street and buy a beer.
Although there are bars in Antarctica they are located on bases and are not accessible to members of the public or are not licensed, he said.
So Mr Coombs looked for the southernmost settlement outside Antarctica, and came across Puerto Williams in Tierra del Fuego, Chile.
Herbie and KermitImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
In Arizona, Ben Coombs' car Kermit came face-to-face with a replica Herbie, a 1963 VW Beetle
Car at Monument Valley, United StatesImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The journey involved 20,000 miles of driving and a range of road surfaces
From Pyramiden, Mr Coombs drove his green 20-year-old TVR Chimaera, called Kermit, across Europe to Southampton from where the car was shipped to New York in August.
He then travelled across the United States to California, before heading south to Mexico.
Car in garageImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The car had a new clutch fitted in a garage in Nicaragua, the only major repair of the trip
A number of friends joined him for various stages of the journey in the two-seater convertible car.
"Central America quickly passed beneath our wheels, before we shipped the car around the Darien gap from Panama to Colombia," Mr Coombs said.
"Then it was just the small matter of an 8,000-mile drive across Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina to get to the last bar on earth."
Rock fall in ColombiaImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
Some of the main challenges were getting across borders and avoiding rock falls in Colombia
Giant hand in Atacama desert, ChileImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The hand-built car dealt well with the journey and will now be shipped back to Devon
The final destination was Puerto Williams, where Mr Coombs arrived on 12 February and found the southernmost bar.
"It's a bit of a dive actually," he said.
"We're talking plastic patio furniture inside, Chilean line dancing on the TV, and a menu which consists only of lager and cheap whisky.
"There are probably more appealing places to travel 20,000 miles to get to, but that's not really the point. It's the journey that matters, not the destination."
17 February 2018
Share this with Facebook Share this with Twitter Share this with Messenger Share this with Email Share
Volcan Cotopaxi in EcuadorImage copyrightALVARO ANDRES PINZON
Image caption
Ben Coombs drove across three continents to complete the challenge
A man has driven a sports car across 21 countries, starting at the most northerly pub in the world and finishing at the most southerly.
Ben Coombs, 38, from Plymouth in Devon, drove 20,000 miles across three continents from the Arctic Circle to the southernmost tip of Chile.
It took him seven months to complete the challenge.
Mr Coombs described the final pub as "a dive", but said "it's the journey that matters, not the destination".
The idea for the adventure came while he was having a pint in a pub on Dartmoor.
Car in BoliviaImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The trip was completed in a green TVR sports car called Kermit
The journey started on the Norwegian island of Svalbard in an abandoned mining settlement called Pyramiden, which has a population of four.
Mr Coombs said finding the northernmost bar "was an easy investigative process".
"Pyramiden is less than 700 miles from the North Pole, is the northernmost settlement on earth with a permanent civilian population, and has only one bar," he added.
"The residents all live in the only building still functioning - the town's old hotel - which happens to have a still-functioning bar."
Northerly barImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The most northerly pub in the world in Pyramiden
To find the most northerly and southerly pub, Mr Coombs looked for licensed premises where anybody could walk in off the street and buy a beer.
Although there are bars in Antarctica they are located on bases and are not accessible to members of the public or are not licensed, he said.
So Mr Coombs looked for the southernmost settlement outside Antarctica, and came across Puerto Williams in Tierra del Fuego, Chile.
Herbie and KermitImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
In Arizona, Ben Coombs' car Kermit came face-to-face with a replica Herbie, a 1963 VW Beetle
Car at Monument Valley, United StatesImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The journey involved 20,000 miles of driving and a range of road surfaces
From Pyramiden, Mr Coombs drove his green 20-year-old TVR Chimaera, called Kermit, across Europe to Southampton from where the car was shipped to New York in August.
He then travelled across the United States to California, before heading south to Mexico.
Car in garageImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The car had a new clutch fitted in a garage in Nicaragua, the only major repair of the trip
A number of friends joined him for various stages of the journey in the two-seater convertible car.
"Central America quickly passed beneath our wheels, before we shipped the car around the Darien gap from Panama to Colombia," Mr Coombs said.
"Then it was just the small matter of an 8,000-mile drive across Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina to get to the last bar on earth."
Rock fall in ColombiaImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
Some of the main challenges were getting across borders and avoiding rock falls in Colombia
Giant hand in Atacama desert, ChileImage copyrightBEN COOMBS
Image caption
The hand-built car dealt well with the journey and will now be shipped back to Devon
The final destination was Puerto Williams, where Mr Coombs arrived on 12 February and found the southernmost bar.
"It's a bit of a dive actually," he said.
"We're talking plastic patio furniture inside, Chilean line dancing on the TV, and a menu which consists only of lager and cheap whisky.
"There are probably more appealing places to travel 20,000 miles to get to, but that's not really the point. It's the journey that matters, not the destination."
Thanks guys.
Not quite there yet; still another 1,200 miles to go until Kermit is on the ship home, but still. Most of the way.
I've copy/pasted something I just posted on the facebook page below. Basically, it seems this is the weekend on which the TVR=reliable message went viral:
On Saturday morning, BBC Devon online ran a short story about Pub2Pub's arrival at its southernmost point. The feature did pretty well and so started featuring on their main news page, where it rose to become the second most read story on the whole BBC news network on Saturday morning. Within 8 hours of going live, 1.5 million people had read about our little trip. And soon, as critical mass was reached, other articles began to appear.
The Mirror declared us 'beer hunters' in their account of the trip.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/beer-hunter-finishes...
Ladbible have poigniantly declared it 'one f
king big road trip'
www.ladbible.com/community/uk-cars-awesome-inspira...
Jalopnik were amazed the TVR held together:
https://www.google.com.ar/amp/s/jalopnik.com/this-...
Der Speigel said... something we don't understand:
www.spiegel.de/reise/fernweh/pub2pub-32-000-kilome...
BBC Radio 2 and 4 featured Pub2Pub in their national news...
And many others reported our arrival at the bar in their own ways, while the requests for content, interviews and personal appearences continue to roll in.
However on the expedition, it's been business as usual. We're down to a skeleton crew now; just Ben getting the TVR 2,000 miles back up across Argentina, to be shipped from Montevideo to Europe next week. Today, we drove 400 miles across Patagonia. Tomorrow, we visit a Welsh settlement at the end of the world.
All in all, things feel pretty surreal at the moment...
Not quite there yet; still another 1,200 miles to go until Kermit is on the ship home, but still. Most of the way.
I've copy/pasted something I just posted on the facebook page below. Basically, it seems this is the weekend on which the TVR=reliable message went viral:
On Saturday morning, BBC Devon online ran a short story about Pub2Pub's arrival at its southernmost point. The feature did pretty well and so started featuring on their main news page, where it rose to become the second most read story on the whole BBC news network on Saturday morning. Within 8 hours of going live, 1.5 million people had read about our little trip. And soon, as critical mass was reached, other articles began to appear.
The Mirror declared us 'beer hunters' in their account of the trip.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/beer-hunter-finishes...
Ladbible have poigniantly declared it 'one f
king big road trip'www.ladbible.com/community/uk-cars-awesome-inspira...
Jalopnik were amazed the TVR held together:
https://www.google.com.ar/amp/s/jalopnik.com/this-...
Der Speigel said... something we don't understand:
www.spiegel.de/reise/fernweh/pub2pub-32-000-kilome...
BBC Radio 2 and 4 featured Pub2Pub in their national news...
And many others reported our arrival at the bar in their own ways, while the requests for content, interviews and personal appearences continue to roll in.
However on the expedition, it's been business as usual. We're down to a skeleton crew now; just Ben getting the TVR 2,000 miles back up across Argentina, to be shipped from Montevideo to Europe next week. Today, we drove 400 miles across Patagonia. Tomorrow, we visit a Welsh settlement at the end of the world.
All in all, things feel pretty surreal at the moment...
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