Happy New Year Micra People.
Well we talked about it on PollyP's excellent blog a few days back and now we've done it!
15.00 pm December 31st, I collect the wife from her shift at work and straight off down to Land's End. Arrived at 20.30! Nearly zero traffic .... managed a comfortable 70-75 level all the way. Took a quick picture and off we go again.....
So it's nearly new year and of course no champagne but the wife pulls out two champagne glasses and a bottle of fizzy ginger and lime drink. Sounds grim but not bad in fact. And where do we bring in a new decade? Yep, pump no.2 at Gordano Services! The rather excellent lady doing the night shift at the Shell garage even boiled a kettle and gave us hot water for the flask and coffee! Then off again....
Just before midday on the 1st Jan we arrive at John O Groats! No stops save for petrol, not even coffee or a burger. We reckon each petrol stop was maybe 8 mins or so and we stopped four times from memory and I bought a 20ltr petrol can which I poured maybe a quarter out of. Wife packed a load of surplus Christmas fare, a flask and cans and bottles. Again we drove at legal limit all the way ... 70/60 (maybe +5!!!) .... road so clear it was unbelievable. The engine tone didn't vary a jot.
Another pic just out of Inverness going over a bridge .... champagne glasses still on dash. Got a couple of those sticky mat things off Amazon last year. Idea sounds rubbish but they work really well.
Then after taking a pic we drove straight back down to the center of Edinburgh arrived at about 18.00 I think it was, maybe a little later, 26-27 hours straight driving. Checked into a great great hotel, gave them our driving story at the desk and they gave us the best suite in the hotel! I kid you not. Apparently George Clooney stays in it when he visits! Scrubbed up, several cocktails later, we go to the best steakhouse in town, tell our story again and get two glasses of champagne on a board with congratulations written on it! Nice folks in Edinburgh that's for sure. I think the hotel were more impressed by the fact that we still had the energy go out that night till late.
Distance end to end was 874 but we clocked up 1496 with getting to Lands End and then back from John O Groats to Edinburgh. Then to get home a couple of days later it was 1703 in total I think which coincidentally is the same distance if you left our front door and drove to the center of Vienna! And just to add more to the story, Vienna was were I officially met my co-pilot in the photo above some years ago! Spooky eh?
And in the words of the Kaiser Chiefs the car never missed a beat, neither did we. It sat in the Q Park Omni by John Lewis's a couple of days between a new S class and a Q7 under the VIP parking section basking in it's achievement.
Strangely the drive itself was a lot less hard work than I thought. I did the 80%, the wife did some of the later stage. I think the road being clear was a significant help for sure. Two days after (yesterday) I was knackered.
Are we glad we did it? Hell yes .... way way more fun than we imagined. Would we do that one again? Hell no ... would be harder a second time effort wise but why would you? The target was hit. Would I recommend anyone else to do it? Absolutely yes. Was the best couple of NY days I can remember.
Would we do another long distance drive in the Micra? Absolutely yes and it's already in the planning. A visit to friends in Alicante via Lyon, Marseilles and on to Marrakesh and up back up the left hand side of France has been discussed a while now and having done this, it is definitely doable with a few days off work. But not as a marathon, to stop places and see stuff as well ... not just petrol stations!
Well we talked about it on PollyP's excellent blog a few days back and now we've done it!
15.00 pm December 31st, I collect the wife from her shift at work and straight off down to Land's End. Arrived at 20.30! Nearly zero traffic .... managed a comfortable 70-75 level all the way. Took a quick picture and off we go again.....
So it's nearly new year and of course no champagne but the wife pulls out two champagne glasses and a bottle of fizzy ginger and lime drink. Sounds grim but not bad in fact. And where do we bring in a new decade? Yep, pump no.2 at Gordano Services! The rather excellent lady doing the night shift at the Shell garage even boiled a kettle and gave us hot water for the flask and coffee! Then off again....
Just before midday on the 1st Jan we arrive at John O Groats! No stops save for petrol, not even coffee or a burger. We reckon each petrol stop was maybe 8 mins or so and we stopped four times from memory and I bought a 20ltr petrol can which I poured maybe a quarter out of. Wife packed a load of surplus Christmas fare, a flask and cans and bottles. Again we drove at legal limit all the way ... 70/60 (maybe +5!!!) .... road so clear it was unbelievable. The engine tone didn't vary a jot.
Another pic just out of Inverness going over a bridge .... champagne glasses still on dash. Got a couple of those sticky mat things off Amazon last year. Idea sounds rubbish but they work really well.
Then after taking a pic we drove straight back down to the center of Edinburgh arrived at about 18.00 I think it was, maybe a little later, 26-27 hours straight driving. Checked into a great great hotel, gave them our driving story at the desk and they gave us the best suite in the hotel! I kid you not. Apparently George Clooney stays in it when he visits! Scrubbed up, several cocktails later, we go to the best steakhouse in town, tell our story again and get two glasses of champagne on a board with congratulations written on it! Nice folks in Edinburgh that's for sure. I think the hotel were more impressed by the fact that we still had the energy go out that night till late.
Distance end to end was 874 but we clocked up 1496 with getting to Lands End and then back from John O Groats to Edinburgh. Then to get home a couple of days later it was 1703 in total I think which coincidentally is the same distance if you left our front door and drove to the center of Vienna! And just to add more to the story, Vienna was were I officially met my co-pilot in the photo above some years ago! Spooky eh?
And in the words of the Kaiser Chiefs the car never missed a beat, neither did we. It sat in the Q Park Omni by John Lewis's a couple of days between a new S class and a Q7 under the VIP parking section basking in it's achievement.
Strangely the drive itself was a lot less hard work than I thought. I did the 80%, the wife did some of the later stage. I think the road being clear was a significant help for sure. Two days after (yesterday) I was knackered.
Are we glad we did it? Hell yes .... way way more fun than we imagined. Would we do that one again? Hell no ... would be harder a second time effort wise but why would you? The target was hit. Would I recommend anyone else to do it? Absolutely yes. Was the best couple of NY days I can remember.
Would we do another long distance drive in the Micra? Absolutely yes and it's already in the planning. A visit to friends in Alicante via Lyon, Marseilles and on to Marrakesh and up back up the left hand side of France has been discussed a while now and having done this, it is definitely doable with a few days off work. But not as a marathon, to stop places and see stuff as well ... not just petrol stations!
