LEJOG 2010: THE BLOG

DAY 6: 24th June 2010

Hm. Glad I wasn't driving first this morning. Not hung over, just a little woolly feeling. Up at 0600, tents all away and ready to go at 0700, set off and parked just outside the campsite for 1/2 hour while the Student's second car decided to throw a wobbly.

Eventually, ignition issues were identified and Terry produced a legendary box of tricks which seemed to work enough for us to get on our way. Next stop, quick toilet break then on to Dumbarton for breakfast.

Aside from the usual muppets, and the B719 (the only dual carriageway B-road I know of) having a surface as uneven as bits of Mars, we didn't really have any trouble getting to breakfast, and even getting round Glasgow and to the Erskine Bridge went smoothly. The rest of the day, along Loch Lomond and to Glencoe was basically sitting back and enjoying the scenery, when we could see it. The weather had closed in a bit since we'd left Moffat, and was getting worse the further we ventured into the Highlands. And of course whenever we stopped and car 8 turned their engine off, it had to be tow started. Terry's Multispark seems to have done really well.

So eventually, with Bug temporarily changing teams from Luna-tic to the Students and driving car 7, we got to FOrt William. The only problems were the odd set of roadworks and the weather, both of which cleared up eventually. THedn we hit more traffic.

This time though it was due to a rather nasty accident on the A82, a couple of miles south of Fort Augustus. We were sat for about half an hour waiting for the road to re-open after a coming-together between a small truck and a Freelander, which appeared to have come off worst. The fire crews had done their job though, and we were back on our way.

On the outskirts of Fort Augustus, we missed the chance of a coffee though: lone of the bungalows on the left hand side going North had left a sign out by their gate: LEJOG MINIS COFFEE. Unfortunately though Carol and Michelle didn't realise the sign was there until they were past it, but the rest of us made sure the people waving knew we'd seen it and it was appreciated. Investigations continue as to who they were, if only to say thank you.

And so, past Fort Augustus we carried on along the glen towards the camp site, with plenty to talk about. Running alongside Loch Ness, the sun was trying to come out and when it did, it gave the water an almost sea-like blue. Very nice.

We made the customary stop at Urquhart Castle on the loch, with the customary photo opportunities, the customary dash up the hillside for the men, and the customary swearing from the ladies. A brief stop to stretch legs (and an opportunity for Jo to try falling off a wall (BIG SMILEY)), then soon after we'd made it to Inverness, and into the campsite.

So here we are - set up at the last campsite on the run, 2 nights here, with John O'Groats tomorrow. But of course that's after food and a beer or two and some well earned kip. For now, whilst we're waiting for the former and getting started on the latter, we're all sat in Barry's summer house, reminiscing, chatting and generally having fun. Night night!

DAY 7: 25th June 2010

OK, before I begin, there are some edited highlights of last night's post-blog activities which need to be reported...

Firstly, it has been established, as absolute fact, that you are never more than 50 yards from one of Barry's ex's.

Secondly, it's not the World's best idea to ring your girlfriend at ten past eleven, then pass the phone around in a clock fashion, asking random people to speak to her, Barry.

Thirdly, "ooh Barry, please stop, it hurts" is unlikely to make someone stop making you laugh.

So anyway, on with Friday. The quiet morning was shattered by the sound of Chris' tractor driving over a traffic cone in the camp site, but thankfully this was after our little lie-in as we were setting off at 0800 ish. Our first stop, as ever, was Morrisons for our last breakfast. Nothing special or unusual here (thankfully) and after a quick fuel stop we were on our way north on the A9.

Soon, Tony decided that the land we could occasionally see to our right was Northern Europe, and in fact was Canada, because that's easily visible from the East coast of Scotland...

And so we rolled along with the usual overtaking nutters, and Tinker trying to do Nessie's trick of steering towards the Glenmorangie distillery, with Stacy reporting she had a Renault up her bottom.

We decided to carry on up the road without stopping at the posh loos at Golspie, pressing on instead through some light (and not so light) drizzle for the other usual loo stop at Lybster. Jay's Hill at Berriedale was no match for any of the cars (including Chris' tractor (BIG SMILEY)) but one car did have trouble staying on the right side of the road at the roadworks on the top corner...

And so, bimbling along shouting at cows, finding rabbit-sheep and staring at necking horses, we reached Lybster for a much needed loo stop. Leaving the rather cosy loos, we found the students (having sorted out their ignition issues following a vist from Rich's parents) were trying to top up their clutch system. The slave cylinder had decided to leak in a fairly spectacular fashion, but they felt it would be OK if we could all get down to the harbour.

And so, after having pushed the car into position, it was out with my spares and tools, passing over the spare cylinder I'd brought with me (sale or return is rather cool) and letting them get on with it.

Half an hour, a bit of cake, a cup of coffee and a paddle in the sea later, and the cylinder was swapped, but some serious adjustment was needed before the first attempt at the hill could be made. More adjustment was needed after that, once the car had rolled back down the hill...

Eventually we were back on our way to John O'Groats, with some more drizzle and lots of waving at cyclists doing the same trip as we were. It was an easy run in to the roundabout, and almost before we'd got out of Dennis there were people getting their pictures taken - including Bug in the CHSW teddy costume...

A wander around the shops looking for miscellaneous tat, and then some rolling repairs to the horn and headlight flasher connections, and we were ready to head back to the camp site again.

The run back was largely uneventful, which was good, as we were all rather tired. We stopped at Golspie this time, in the posh loos with the gaps at the tops of the walls. There were words of advice for the ladies ("stamp your feet", "shake the lettuce" etc) and after a little confusion to get out of the car park and back on the main road we were back on the way. A slight issue developed coming to the end of the dual carriageway which was resolved quickly - the Golden Girls had lost sight of us as we approached the roundabout, and with their inability to communicate (no CB), Michelle ended up going right round the roundabout to make sure that they could join the convoy again.

Now we were back into Inverness, the convoy split into two, with some going straight back to the camp site and others heading to Morrisons for evening food and for petrol. Early starts mean that filling up isn't that easy, or is an unwelcome distraction from just getting home.

Managing to get the Golden Girls half way to the camp site before they lost us at lights, me and Tony sorted out as much of Dennis as we could so we could leave as quickly as possible. The usual last night of LEJOG antics ensued: Bug back in the bear costume dancing to MC Hammer's Can't Touch This; Tony getting his head in the bear's head at the same time as Bug and ending up with music himself; the discovery for some people that when your hands are cold, putting them under someone else's armpits warms them up very well indeed; the signing of the bear's t-shirt; Terry's recycled speech (BIG SMILEY) and discussions of how the run had gone.

And so after a few more beers (some more than others) and a quick read through the blog, it waS  time to settle down ready for tomorrow's early start...

DAY 8: 26th June 2010

Yes, OK, I know, it's a bit late, but with one thing and another the - relatively short - blog post for the last day is now here.

So, having set my alarm for 0600, I got up at 0445. Some had already gone from the campsite, some were getting ready to leave, so I managed to say some goodbyes.

I nipped to the loo and on returning, Tony was also surfacing and with little else to do we cracked on with dropping the tents and getting the last bits packed into Dennis.

After a few more goodbyes from others who had got up in the meantime, it was time to hit the road, and by 'eck did we hit it... out of Inverness before we knew it, and on to the glorious boredom of the A9 south to Perth. With Tony's updated TomTom maps, the next instruction showed us keeping right after a mildly humourous 89 miles, rather than last year's roundabout in 126 miles...

And so we went, eating up the miles at a positive rate of knots; hitting Edinburgh and rolling round on the bypass, munching the borders before we realised they were there. First petrol stop was a bit of a shock as the MPG had dived a little, but we were hammering it on the dual carriageways (at or below the speed limit, obviously!).

The run kept going smoothly, and that uppy-downy bit was fun again, more so without the trailer. We rolled on until we were in the Barnard Castle area. TomTom wanted to take us through a ford - which I would have done - but the gates across it, meant to be locked from October to March, were still locked and rather than ring the keyholder, we just took the alternative route. Which had a road closure on it.

So, a half hour detour later to get round the closure and we carried on belting down to Leeds. We reached Scotch Corner without issue, tanked up again then hit the A1 down to Ripon. From here it was a blast through to Harrogate, and then over to and through Leeds.

We made it back to first direct at about 1430, a cracking time and leaving me plenty of leeway to get Tony's stuff unloaded, shake hands and say our congratulations on completing the event, before I headed off to Skegness... but that's another story for another time...

LEJOG 2010 COMPLETED

... and what a fantastic run it was - from Dennis' performance, to Maisie's sickies and then on to Bug's head music, the dull moments were few and far between.

I'd even risk saying that it was the best I've been on so far, and of course I'm full of the desire to do it again next year. For now I'll have to settle on doing the Grand Tour in August; not quite the same but it will have to do. At least I'll be able to see many of our fellow LEJOGgers there, friendships forged by a Mini bond and all that guff.

And so, to the statistical analysis:

- 2 Sainsburys and 10 Morrisons Breakfasts
- An average of 45.42mpg over 2008.5 miles (or 19.31 km/l over 3232.4km, or even 6.36 SPi tanks over 1745.3 nautical miles)
- 2 electrical faults, both fixed
- over £1500 raised for our charities
- an odometer which now reads over 122,000 miles

And, er, that's all the important bits. Until the run-up to next year's event, it's goodbye from me, Tony and of course the Mini that did it for us, Dennis.

A thoroughly enjoyable blog..
Amen.

See you in August..