Land's End to John O'Groats
Discussion
With regards to speed limits, it's not going to have any impact to our attitudes driving on roads in England or Wales. We all know there are areas where "progress" can be made and, yes, we are definitely there for the scenery.
As for the drink driving, same applies. The group of us aren't quite int he market to lose our licenses, so will be sensible when it comes to drink drive limits. One of the reasons why I want to drive 2 up, so we can take turns having a tipple in the evening and alternate driving accordingly.
In other news, I've decided to try and raise a few quid for charity. My charity of choice is Latch ( http://www.latchwales.org). A Welsh Children's Cancer Charity that do some amazing work for the families of children suffering from any form of cancer. Things like research, equipment, toys, places for families to stay in the hospitals or nearby. Some really amazing work and will be doing it in the name of a very good friend. The charity have already sent me a vector of their logo so I can get a massive vinyl made up for each side of the car
. It will accompany a PH Smiley, obviously...
I'll be setting up a Just Giving page soon and (as long as it's not against the rules) will post the link up here for those of you who wish to take a look.
As for the drink driving, same applies. The group of us aren't quite int he market to lose our licenses, so will be sensible when it comes to drink drive limits. One of the reasons why I want to drive 2 up, so we can take turns having a tipple in the evening and alternate driving accordingly.
In other news, I've decided to try and raise a few quid for charity. My charity of choice is Latch ( http://www.latchwales.org). A Welsh Children's Cancer Charity that do some amazing work for the families of children suffering from any form of cancer. Things like research, equipment, toys, places for families to stay in the hospitals or nearby. Some really amazing work and will be doing it in the name of a very good friend. The charity have already sent me a vector of their logo so I can get a massive vinyl made up for each side of the car
. It will accompany a PH Smiley, obviously...I'll be setting up a Just Giving page soon and (as long as it's not against the rules) will post the link up here for those of you who wish to take a look.
Edited by MikeDrop on Friday 30th June 15:21
Superchickenn said:
I think its worth mentioning Mike that we are funding this all our selves and any money raised will go to the charity we wont be offsetting any of our costs etc against the funds. 
Good point... Any money raised will be via Just Giving and will go direct to the charity All parts of the trip will be paid by us lot.
ETA - for those of you who haven't yet worked it out, Superchickenn (above) is the Megane owner on this trip
Prof Prolapse said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
Someone's mentioned the drink drive limit difference, but also be aware that the current practice in Scotland is that 30mph over the limit is charged as dangerous driving which risks a prison sentence and has a mandatory 1 year ban, no matter what the circumstances. Unless you want to be the guy who takes this shocking precedent to a higher and more intelligent court with the objective of getting the case law overturned (I'm sure this will happen one day), then be careful with speed!
In reality this simply isn't true...A true, not indicated, 85+ mph on a 60mph NSL can (and usually will) result in a magistrate appearance in Scotland. Sometimes the police will let you off with a b
king and 3 points. So that's being caught at an indicated 90mph+, in a 60 road, with usually a poor surface, and limited visibility, when frankly, you should be keeping an eye out for hazards of all descriptions.The most likely outcome of this is 6 points and a hefty fine. Whilst I am happy to agree Scottish law does tend to more readily associate DD charges with speed alone, you will not get a dangerous driving charge as a default position if you exceed 85mph on an NSL.
Not from the quote above, but I'm a bit concerned about this chat about the drink drive limit? Unless you're driving like you're pissed, or involved in significant accident, the police won't be breathalysing you routinely. It should be an absolute irrelevance beyond perhaps considering having a weaker beer with your lunch.
Edited by Prof Prolapse on Tuesday 27th June 09:51
cb1965 said:
Luckily as it pisses down all the time I have no desire to go to Scotland which is just as well as anywhere that gives a mandatory 1 year ban and possible prison sentence for doing 100mph on a 70mph road is clearly not somewhere where logic or common sense is especially prevalent in the authorities!
You won't be missed, but thanks for letting us know. For those of you who are interested, updated route below:
Day 1
South Wales down to Land’s End as quickly as possible. Then, from Land’s End following obligatory pics will head up to Ashbourne in the Peak District, through Longcliffe, Rowsley and Hope Valley. Then head over the Snake Pass into Glossop. We will either stay in Glossop, or cut the day short and stay somewhere in the Peak District.
Day 2
From either Hope Valley or Glossop, we’ll head up to Penrith and across to Haydon Bridge via the A686. From there, we’ll shoot up to Fort William. Time depending, we may take the long way around through Ballantrae and Ayre via the A75 and A77. If not we’ll just head straight up the A74(M) and onto the A82. Or we could go through Northumberland National Park if anyone knows any good roads there?
Day 3
Day 3 waking up in the foots of Fort Bill, the plan will be a monster drive to John O’Groats via the NC500 (or of as much of it as possible). Depending on how early we awake, and how well we’re feeling with the previous day’s long driving, we will either head north to Dumnadrochit, or peel off early at Invergarry at take the A87 up to Dornie – this will save us about an hour. Otherwise, We’ll head from Drumnadrochit to Muir of Ord, across to Achnasheen then down to Strathcarron, over the Applecross Path and up to Torridon, Ullapool, Durness and finish up at John O’Groats. Obligatory photos and beers.
Day 4
The penultimate day, waking up at the fresh and breezy John O’Groats, the plan will be to get into North Wales as fast as possible. This will bring us down the East cost of the highlands, down the A9 until we get to the boring motorways. We’ll camp up in Llyn Brenig, ready for a few laps of the Evo Triangle the following day.
Day 5
The final day (boooo). Waking up in the beautiful Llyn Brenig (although not sure how beautiful it’ll be on an October’s morn), we’ll set of for a few laps of the Evo Triangle. At this stage, we will, no doubt, all be arguing who has brought the best car. So we may want to swap and try each other’s cars before we head home. Wait. What!? It’s done before? Nooo!
. Once we’ve killed the cars, we’ll call the AA and head home in comf… joking. We’ll then head from Llyn Brenig down to Tregaron, over to Abergwesyn and down to Upper Brynamman via the Black Mountains. Not sure what route we’ll take here, as there a few good roads to drive. Potentially going down to Aberystwyth and up the mountain road to Elan Valley. Beautiful scenery around there, and some cracking roads too. Then, once we’ve had that fun, it’ll be back home to sink into a slum of depression and the yearn to do it all over again in a week’s time
Day 1
South Wales down to Land’s End as quickly as possible. Then, from Land’s End following obligatory pics will head up to Ashbourne in the Peak District, through Longcliffe, Rowsley and Hope Valley. Then head over the Snake Pass into Glossop. We will either stay in Glossop, or cut the day short and stay somewhere in the Peak District.
Day 2
From either Hope Valley or Glossop, we’ll head up to Penrith and across to Haydon Bridge via the A686. From there, we’ll shoot up to Fort William. Time depending, we may take the long way around through Ballantrae and Ayre via the A75 and A77. If not we’ll just head straight up the A74(M) and onto the A82. Or we could go through Northumberland National Park if anyone knows any good roads there?
Day 3
Day 3 waking up in the foots of Fort Bill, the plan will be a monster drive to John O’Groats via the NC500 (or of as much of it as possible). Depending on how early we awake, and how well we’re feeling with the previous day’s long driving, we will either head north to Dumnadrochit, or peel off early at Invergarry at take the A87 up to Dornie – this will save us about an hour. Otherwise, We’ll head from Drumnadrochit to Muir of Ord, across to Achnasheen then down to Strathcarron, over the Applecross Path and up to Torridon, Ullapool, Durness and finish up at John O’Groats. Obligatory photos and beers.
Day 4
The penultimate day, waking up at the fresh and breezy John O’Groats, the plan will be to get into North Wales as fast as possible. This will bring us down the East cost of the highlands, down the A9 until we get to the boring motorways. We’ll camp up in Llyn Brenig, ready for a few laps of the Evo Triangle the following day.
Day 5
The final day (boooo). Waking up in the beautiful Llyn Brenig (although not sure how beautiful it’ll be on an October’s morn), we’ll set of for a few laps of the Evo Triangle. At this stage, we will, no doubt, all be arguing who has brought the best car. So we may want to swap and try each other’s cars before we head home. Wait. What!? It’s done before? Nooo!
. Once we’ve killed the cars, we’ll call the AA and head home in comf… joking. We’ll then head from Llyn Brenig down to Tregaron, over to Abergwesyn and down to Upper Brynamman via the Black Mountains. Not sure what route we’ll take here, as there a few good roads to drive. Potentially going down to Aberystwyth and up the mountain road to Elan Valley. Beautiful scenery around there, and some cracking roads too. Then, once we’ve had that fun, it’ll be back home to sink into a slum of depression and the yearn to do it all over again in a week’s time MikeDrop said:
Day 3
Day 3 waking up in the foots of Fort Bill, the plan will be a monster drive to John O’Groats via the NC500 (or of as much of it as possible). Depending on how early we awake, and how well we’re feeling with the previous day’s long driving, we will either head north to Dumnadrochit, or peel off early at Invergarry at take the A87 up to Dornie – this will save us about an hour. Otherwise, We’ll head from Drumnadrochit to Muir of Ord, across to Achnasheen then down to Strathcarron, over the Applecross Path and up to Torridon, Ullapool, Durness and finish up at John O’Groats. Obligatory photos and beers.
Day 4
The penultimate day, waking up at the fresh and breezy John O’Groats, the plan will be to get into North Wales as fast as possible. This will bring us down the East cost of the highlands, down the A9 until we get to the boring motorways. We’ll camp up in Llyn Brenig, ready for a few laps of the Evo Triangle the following day.
Day 3, I'd not bother going up Loch Ness, just turn off at Invergarry and head to Dornie etc. It's a great road from Invergarry west. Day 3 waking up in the foots of Fort Bill, the plan will be a monster drive to John O’Groats via the NC500 (or of as much of it as possible). Depending on how early we awake, and how well we’re feeling with the previous day’s long driving, we will either head north to Dumnadrochit, or peel off early at Invergarry at take the A87 up to Dornie – this will save us about an hour. Otherwise, We’ll head from Drumnadrochit to Muir of Ord, across to Achnasheen then down to Strathcarron, over the Applecross Path and up to Torridon, Ullapool, Durness and finish up at John O’Groats. Obligatory photos and beers.
Day 4
The penultimate day, waking up at the fresh and breezy John O’Groats, the plan will be to get into North Wales as fast as possible. This will bring us down the East cost of the highlands, down the A9 until we get to the boring motorways. We’ll camp up in Llyn Brenig, ready for a few laps of the Evo Triangle the following day.
Also if you are tight for time you can miss out the loop round the coast from Lochinver and just head north from Loch assynt to Kylesku at Skiag Bridge. Obviously you'll miss some great scenery but the road is single track and narrow and twisty in places, so not great for making progress, unless you know it.
Day 4, The A9 is boring long before getting to the motorways. As said previously try and get on the A939~A93 from Nairn to Perth.
Turn left at Inverness, either on the A96 or B9006 etc. Or again for time constraints maybe stick with the A9 to Carrbridge then A938 to Grantown and the A939.
Somewhatfoolish said:
Someone's mentioned the drink drive limit difference, but also be aware that the current practice in Scotland is that 30mph over the limit is charged as dangerous driving which risks a prison sentence and has a mandatory 1 year ban, no matter what the circumstances. Unless you want to be the guy who takes this shocking precedent to a higher and more intelligent court with the objective of getting the case law overturned (I'm sure this will happen one day), then be careful with speed!
Wow, where did that law appear from, dangerous posting something that is not correct.Never heard of anyone being banned for a year for 30mph over the limit let alone it being mandatory and possible jail sentence.
Not true and totally inaccurate information.
Very apt username as somewhat foolish post
Edited by tighnamara on Tuesday 27th June 21:26
google maps is very optimistic, from experience it will take you about 3.5 hours from Bristol to Lands End, the A30 from Exeter is a lot better than it was now its dual carriageway for the majority of it but its still busy and the single carriageway sections are slow... better hope its not half term either!....
tighnamara said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
Someone's mentioned the drink drive limit difference, but also be aware that the current practice in Scotland is that 30mph over the limit is charged as dangerous driving which risks a prison sentence and has a mandatory 1 year ban, no matter what the circumstances. Unless you want to be the guy who takes this shocking precedent to a higher and more intelligent court with the objective of getting the case law overturned (I'm sure this will happen one day), then be careful with speed!
Wow, where did that law appear from, dangerous posting something that is not correct.Never heard of anyone being banned for a year for 30mph over the limit let alone it being mandatory and possible jail sentence.
Not true and totally inaccurate information.
Very apt username as somewhat foolish post
Edited by tighnamara on Tuesday 27th June 21:26
Sample recent thread - and only 27mph over! : https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Somewhatfoolish said:
It is mandatory to disqualify for a year for dangerous driving. It is far more likely that speed alone will cause you to be charged with dangerous driving in Scotland than it is elsewhere in GB. Even if 30mph is not "set in stone" then you should assume you will be facing dangerous driving charge even for such comparatively piddling speeds.
Sample recent thread - and only 27mph over! : https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
You changing how your post was written, your post above was and is way off the markSample recent thread - and only 27mph over! : https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
You were implying above that all speeds 30mph over the limit was dangerous driving which is not the case and referring to jail term.
They have been hitting the A9 hard over the years due to the high number of deaths and poor driving, the road he was travelling on has a number of side roads entering and exiting the carriageway.
Hence why the road has now average speed cameras.
Edited by tighnamara on Wednesday 28th June 08:47
Also, just been reading this timely thread: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Couple of points I’ve noted:
Couple of points I’ve noted:
- Driving in the dark could be an issue. I’ll be in a Mk1 MX5 and, to quote Clarkson from the Burma special I watched last night, has headlights like “glow worms in a jam jar”. I do have a set of rectangular Lucas spot lights in the shed, so may look to fashion those onto the towing eyes at the front, to give me some more lumens at a lower, wider throw. Could help if we’re stuck in the twisties at night.
- Single track roads around the NC500 seem to give people the heeby jeebies. So good to note down to take it easy across those.
- Glad I’m not doing it in an overweight, derv SUV
I think your MPD (miles per day) is very optimistic e.g. Day Two: 400 miles in eight hours. On the face of it, that doesn't seem a tall order but I think you'll be lucky to get near that.
You'll also be missing out some cracking roads across The Yorkshire Dales, in my view as enjoyable as anything you'll find north of the border. I know you have time constraints but it does seem a shame to be driving all that distance and not being able to enjoy the best driving routes on the way.
Given the choice and knowing both areas well from the driving point of view, I'd miss out the Peak District and go over The Dales via Tan Hill.
You'll also be missing out some cracking roads across The Yorkshire Dales, in my view as enjoyable as anything you'll find north of the border. I know you have time constraints but it does seem a shame to be driving all that distance and not being able to enjoy the best driving routes on the way.
Given the choice and knowing both areas well from the driving point of view, I'd miss out the Peak District and go over The Dales via Tan Hill.
MikeDrop said:
For those of you who are interested, updated route below:
Day 3
Day 3 waking up in the foots of Fort Bill, the plan will be a monster drive to John O’Groats via the NC500 (or of as much of it as possible). Depending on how early we awake, and how well we’re feeling with the previous day’s long driving, we will either head north to Dumnadrochit, or peel off early at Invergarry at take the A87 up to Dornie – this will save us about an hour. Otherwise, We’ll head from Drumnadrochit to Muir of Ord, across to Achnasheen then down to Strathcarron, over the Applecross Path and up to Torridon, Ullapool, Durness and finish up at John O’Groats. Obligatory photos and beers.
Only change here I would vote to not take the small road close to Lochinver / Clachtoll / Drumbeg - the B869. Yes, you do get some good views, but it is a very bendy, slow, narrow, busy stretch, with lots of sheep. You will save a lot of time just cutting across the A894 straight to Kylesku.Day 3
Day 3 waking up in the foots of Fort Bill, the plan will be a monster drive to John O’Groats via the NC500 (or of as much of it as possible). Depending on how early we awake, and how well we’re feeling with the previous day’s long driving, we will either head north to Dumnadrochit, or peel off early at Invergarry at take the A87 up to Dornie – this will save us about an hour. Otherwise, We’ll head from Drumnadrochit to Muir of Ord, across to Achnasheen then down to Strathcarron, over the Applecross Path and up to Torridon, Ullapool, Durness and finish up at John O’Groats. Obligatory photos and beers.
Note I did not say this about the Applecross loop, that one is worthwhile!
MikeDrop said:
Day 4
The penultimate day, waking up at the fresh and breezy John O’Groats, the plan will be to get into North Wales as fast as possible. This will bring us down the East cost of the highlands, down the A9 until we get to the boring motorways. We’ll camp up in Llyn Brenig, ready for a few laps of the Evo Triangle the following day.
Here I would vote to take a turn east after Inverness, so onto the A938 heading for Carrbridge, then throguh Grantown-on-Spey, Tomintoul, **** Bridge, over the Gairnshiel humpback bridge, then B976 to Crathie, Braemar, Blairgowrie, Perth, Stirling, then onto the M74 / M6 - this is best done out of hours and can flow fairly well! - stop at the Tebay services if you have to.The penultimate day, waking up at the fresh and breezy John O’Groats, the plan will be to get into North Wales as fast as possible. This will bring us down the East cost of the highlands, down the A9 until we get to the boring motorways. We’ll camp up in Llyn Brenig, ready for a few laps of the Evo Triangle the following day.
Peanut Gallery said:
Here I would vote to take a turn east after Inverness, so onto the A938 heading for Carrbridge, then throguh Grantown-on-Spey, Tomintoul, **** Bridge, over the Gairnshiel humpback bridge, then B976 to Crathie, Braemar, Blairgowrie, Perth, Stirling, then onto the M74 / M6 - this is best done out of hours and can flow fairly well! - stop at the Tebay services if you have to.
Good shout. I've driven some of those roads in a Caterham when I hired one last July. Amazing roads Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff