Darlo's World

大きな地図で見る

Well here we are, the final day of the trip. The main priority was to get my friend to the airport on time as to not miss her flight.

Starting mileage: 204,904

The route to the airport was very well sign posted, so we had no need for the Shat-Nav. We still had it on, and twice it wanted me to turn around and go back through Reading for some odd reason. Bog off Shat-Nav.

Sebastian enters a staring contest with the local champion

Green with envy?

We arrived at the airport with just over an hour to spare before my friend could check in, giving us plenty of time to nose around the shops and check her luggage wasn’t too heavy. Of course this amount of time was nothing in comparison to when I flew to Japan and arrived in London over a day early and had to try and kill many MANY hours.

The time came to say goodbye to my friend who had been on the trip since we met at Glasgow airport over a week before.

Goodbyes can be very said, eh Sebastian

Mileage check at London Heathrow: 204,955

I left London and proceded to head back home to Shropshire. The car trip seemed really quiet, even though the radio was on. Often I noticed I was singing songs to myself that weren’t even on, but thankfully I wasn’t too distracted that I had any accidents or near misses.

I got off the M54 and pulled in to Tesco to fill the car with petrol. Since I borrowed the car from my Dad, I figured the least I could do would be to return the car clean and full of petrol. I filled the car up and went to pay, also asking for the cheapest car wash on the menu, but unfortunately I hit a problem. My card was refused!

Shocked and taken aback slighlty, I left the car at the petrol station and went to the nearby cashpoint to use my non-debit card. It was here I hit another problem, it too had been rejected! Shit! I need money to pay for petrol, but I only had about half of it in cash on me at the time. I went in and explained to the cashier who, having already known my card had been rejected, sympathised and understood my situation fully. After presenting my driving license and taking details from the car, I was given a credit slip that I’d have to pay within the month. I said it wouldn’t be a problem and I’d be back later that day.

I shot home and saw my Dad on the driveway. I hadn’t seen him since the start of the trip, so naturally my first words to him had to be a really interesting greeting.

“Dad, can I borrow £50″ … typical child eh. I explained what happened to him and then headed back to Tesco to pay my bill and wash the car.

When I pulled into the car wash area of tesco, I opened the window and put the code I was given into the machine. This prompted the machine to start up incredibly quickly and shoot me in the face with warm water. Damn electric windows, damn slowly rising electric windows.

Sebastian somehow avoided a soaking.

I then went home, to which my road trip of Great Britain was officially over. It had cost a big chunk of change (petrol isn’t the cheapest thing ever), and my back was incredibly painful. I was still walking like a bit of an old man. But the trip was really fun, and it was an experience I know I’ll never do again. It had highs, it had lows, it had moments of pressure and frustration, and it had me getting sodden in a car wash. I’m definately glad this was the highlight of my Summer.

Start Mileage: 202,521
End Mileage: 205,112
Total Miles: 2,591 miles travelled
Average Miles Per Day: 259.1 miles

End Mileage: 205,112

大きな地図で見る

After a final meal with friends in Charco’s in which I accidentally set off an explosion of ketchup, we were on our way. We had deviated from our original schedule so that we could see more people in Leeds, which meant that from here on in we were on borrowed time. Also owing to a scheduling cock-up on my part, my friend’s flight was a day earlier than anticipated. We booked no hotels or hostels, for the sake of the trip, we were staying in the car from here on in.

Milage from Leeds: 204,071 (That's 1,550 miles so far)

Having been in England and Scotland, we decided that going to Wales was an absolute necessity for us to complete a trip of mainland Great Britain. Time was against us though, so we headed to Denbighshire, a county I was (relatively) familiar with, though that didn’t stop me getting lost and stuck in heavy traffic twice.

Welsh? I think I'll stick with Japanese, it's much easier.

Staying on the coastal road we made our way to Prestatyn, where I used to work during the Summers (and will hopefully work again next year).

The Tower at Pontins, used for PGL activities.

The beach at Prestatyn. If only it hadn't chucked it down.

From here we went over to Rhyl, which is quite typical of a sea-side town (and where we used to go on holiday when I was a sprog (kid)). Timing was unfortunately against us, so following the Sat-Nav we headed back towards the M6.

Stopping at a few service stations along the way to eat, rest, and make use of various free internet points, I started to notice that it was getting quite late. However, with no hotels booked and no fatigue it meant that I could carry on going … and going … and going. Eventual, I pulled over at a roadside stop at junction 26 of the M5 for the night.

End milage: 204,430 (359 miles today)