PHer's Pub2Pub adventure!
One PHer sets course for the far side of the world... in a TVR
There are worse first world problems to have. But this is the dilemma which faced PHer Ben Coombs a few years ago. The solution, predictably, was waiting for him at the bottom of a pint glass.
Pub2Pub.
Why not drive from the northernmost pub on the planet to the southernmost?
Such a compellingly simple idea has yielded a gloriously complex road trip, which has a start point only 700 miles from the North Pole, at the abandoned Soviet mining settlement of Pyramiden, on the island of Svalbard, and a finish point in Tierra del Fuego, near South America's southernmost tip. Whichever way you slice it, there are a lot of road miles on that itinerary. About 20,000 to be exact. Across 20 different countries, on three continents, with a route which takes in Europe, the USA, Central and South America. So what car would you choose for such a trip?
Simple. Given this is TVR's renaissance year, by Ben's logic it simply had to be a 20-year-old TVR Chimaera. Which, by journey's end in early 2018, will hopefully have completed the longest road trip ever made by a sports car. Or will have caught fire somewhere in Mexico. One or the other...
The Pub2Pub Expedition left Dartmoor to start the long haul up to Northern Norway on Sunday (2nd July), and we'll be checking back periodically to share their progress with you. In the meantime, for a fuller description of how PHer Ben came to be setting off to a pub on the far side of the world in a TVR, feel free to peruse the blog post here.
Good luck Ben!
In answer to the perennial question, I've generally financed these trips through a) not having a wife, and b) saving up for a few years before each one. This time around is a bit different as for the first time, we've secured some more serious sponsorship and media partners for the journey, but at the end of the day, it still comes down to a lot of hard work - Pub2Pub has taken two years to make a reality, for instance.
To get you up to date, we launched the expedition on Dartmoor this Sunday (BBC video here: https://www.facebook.com/Pub2PubExpedition/videos/... )
Since the launch, we've had a catastrophic head gasket failure in the support vehicle around Sunday lunchtime, which necessitated buying a replacement in Surrey at 2230 on Sunday evening, while en-route to Dover.
We're in Belgium now, and will be pushing on to Scandinavia shortly. I'll keep the thread updated periodically, but if you'd like to follow the expedition closely, your best bets are:
Our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Pub2PubExpedition/
Or our Drivetribe page: https://drivetribe.com/t/the-traveller-GRtRS_MORHW...
And rest assured, unlike V8Nam, notes are studiously being made for an expedition book...
Ben.
PS- here's a gratuitous photo from the launch convoy:
In answer to the perennial question, I've generally financed these trips through a) not having a wife, and b) saving up for a few years before each one. This time around is a bit different as for the first time, we've secured some more serious sponsorship and media partners for the journey, but at the end of the day, it still comes down to a lot of hard work - Pub2Pub has taken two years to make a reality, for instance.
To get you up to date, we launched the expedition on Dartmoor this Sunday (BBC video here: https://www.facebook.com/Pub2PubExpedition/videos/... )
Since the launch, we've had a catastrophic head gasket failure in the support vehicle around Sunday lunchtime, which necessitated buying a replacement in Surrey at 2230 on Sunday evening, while en-route to Dover.
We're in Belgium now, and will be pushing on to Scandinavia shortly. I'll keep the thread updated periodically, but if you'd like to follow the expedition closely, your best bets are:
Our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Pub2PubExpedition/
Or our Drivetribe page: https://drivetribe.com/t/the-traveller-GRtRS_MORHW...
And rest assured, unlike V8Nam, notes are studiously being made for an expedition book...
Ben.
PS- here's a gratuitous photo from the launch convoy:
I suspected a) and certainly appreciate the dynamics of b)
Will be following your progress which has now led me to buying your Africa book.
Have a cracking trip
It's linked from our website at www.pub2pubexpedition.com - go to the tracking tab at the end. It should currently be showing us in a petrol station in deepest Holland...
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