BL Challenge 2009

The itinery:

21/06/09 - Bournemouth to Brighton
22/06/09 - Brighton to Southwold
23/06/09 - Southwold to Whitby
25/06/09 - Whitby to Edinburgh
26/06/09 - Edinburgh to John O' Groats
27/06/09 - John O' Groats to Ullapool
28/06/09 - Ullapool to Oban
29/06/09 - Oban to Lancaster
01/07/09 - Lancaster to Haverfordwest
03/07/09 - Haverfordwest to Minehead
04/07/09 - Minehead to Land's End
05/07/09 - Land's End to Bournemouth

We set off at lunchtime from Bournemouth, my carefully planned start becoming chaotic and disorganised due to the town being absolutely rammed with people as the day coincided with the race for life being held there as well as being a hot Sunday. To make matters worse my newly acquired Maxi, Marge, decided that what she really wanted to do was dump oil all over the car park she was in. Plugging a hole in the sump with some Araldite putty seemed to do the trick and shortly afterwards we were heading out through the traffic and into the New Forest and beyond, stopping that evening just beyond Brighton.

The second day saw us navigate to the village of Kessingland via the Dartford Tunnel. En route I was able to finally remove a wheel nut that had been wedged tight on the front wheel and had stopped me from fitting the new boots I had for Marge. At Kessingland we supped a pint at the most easterly independent pub in England the Sailors Home and found the campsite was next to an African Safari adventure. A strange night’s sleep to the sound of hippopotamus followed.

Of concern to me from the previous day was the ever present and worsening sound of graunching coming from the front brakes. It was with great relief that I received a phone call from Ernie Jackson arranging to meet up and drive with us. This enabled me to beg him to bring some new pads with him, and after an eventful drive we met up with him just north of Boston. Gwendoline led our three car convoy proudly to the Humber Bridge, pausing to change the pads and to grab a cup of tea and a scone. As Ernie peeled off one way and we continued onwards we marvelled at the bridge itself and the fantastic view it provided.

We had given the route a lot of thought by this point, and realising that we were going to be very tight for time had decided to drive through our scheduled day off, which saw us camp on a farmer’s front lawn on the Yorkshire Moors. From here we headed ever more northwards, spotting the Angel of the North and stopping briefly in Berwick upon Tweed where we marvelled at Englishmen walking around speaking with a Scottish accent. Full of Ginsters and Red Bull we decided to stop at Lindisfarne for a bit of tranquillity and peace before heading into Scotland proper and camping in Glenrothes. I had to suppress a laugh as Dom camped on a bee’s nest which was not apparent at the time he set up his tent.

Further north we headed through ever better scenery including dolphins at the Moray Firth and some stunning bridges and roads. After spending the night in Wick we made our way to John O’Groats and from there to Dennett Head the true most northerly point of mainland Britain. We travelled along the northern coast road as far as Tongue before turning inland and following a single track A-road down to Ullapool. This was a certain highlight of the trip, reminding us both of the Chur valley route we took last year, only longer and with the occasional loch to stop by and take photos of. From Ullapool we headed back to Inverness to follow the A82 along Loch Ness although we were unable to find any sign of Nessie. Although the cars were proving infallible and covering the miles with no problems we were feeling tired after three days of very high mileages and were glad to find a campsite right on the Oban peninsular.

After a good nights sleep we settled in for a day of motorways, after following the coastal roads we hit the M8 which heads through Glasgow and was instantly forgettable. The only slightly worrying thing being the warning signs to traffic reminding us not to drink and drive. As this was at 12 in the afternoon I was wondering if the Glaswegian stereotype was indeed accurate. The M8 became the M74 and then randomly becomes the M6 once you cross the border and head back into England. We decided that we had had enough of motorways and headed into the Lake District to find a campsite and the roads here made up for everything Glasgow had thrown at us.

Marge was in no mood for some of the roads we now encountered getting out of the Lakes, no incline was taken at more than 15mph, her automatic gearbox complaining bitterly at the effort. Despite this we were able to make our way to Blackpool where out of the blue we received a phone call from Ian Houghton asking if we wanted to call in and meet him which we did. After a cup of tea he showed us his collection of restored bikes (I was particularly taken by the Royal Enfield Continental GT) and his Maxi. A swift stop for photos and we were back on the road and into Wales. Dom had been complaining all day of a lack of power from the Dolomite and at a routine stop for more pasties Edward the Dolly cried enough. We failed to get it to turn over despite cleaning the distributor cap and rotor arm and just as we were thinking of calling in the AA a travelling mechanic arrived and helped out. It turned out the points gap had closed up and after a bit of fettling Edward sprang to life and we were away into roadworks, arriving on Anglesey not much before 10. The following day we made our way to Haverfordwest to meet up with my family and a well deserved day off.

Almost as soon as we arrived in Wales we set off again, pausing in Port Talbot to meet up with a 16 year old who had restored a Maxi and was eager to show it to us. His family owned a garage and were renowned in the local area as restorers of BMC/BL tin and they were very welcoming to us. And so we made our way back into England for the last time, surviving horrendous tailbacks on the M5 to make our way to Lynton for the evening and from there to Lands End. Our campsite was slightly annoying as we had to turn back on ourselves to get to it, the first time in our journey we had to go backwards!

Having now been at the most easterly, northerly and westerly points of the country, for our last day on the road we headed down to the Lizard, the most southerly place on the mainland. Here we met up with Nick and his Maxi and he joined us for a large drive along the coast, taking in the chain ferry across the Tamar. After a brief stop at a Little Chef we parted company and we made our way back to Bournemouth and from there to a pub just outside Farnham where we were met by friends and family.

The two cars had made what turned out to be an even harder journey than last year fantastically well despite one or two little niggles. We were both able to visit parts of the country that neither of us had seen before and that provided superb driving roads and scenery to match any of that we saw last year. We were able to raise £1500 for our two charities Marie Curie and CLIC Sargent. Big heartfelt thanks to all those we were able catch up with, helped us out and donated; we hope to see you all again for next years BL Challenge.