Long day's journey into night

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Safely home and fed now. Here's the last bit of the journey:

I forgot to look at the odometer when I set off, but working the miles out from route planner websites suggests that it's 679 miles. Maybe a bit more as I didn't necessarily go via direct routes in every case. So the best part of 700 miles. The only ill effect was that my foot was a bit numb where it had been pressing on the accelerator throughout the long trip home. So the Defender is excellent for long journeys As if there could ever have been any real doubt in the first place.

Yes, loads of discarded Irn Bru bottles in Stranraer. It was like wading through the remains of some epic Irn Bru battle.

The Land Rover was positively flying along on the way home. As far as I can tell, the only problem is a slight oil leak. I think it's coming out from around the rocker cover. Most of the things that could wear out - bearings, bushes, seals, springs, brake pipes and linings, wiper motors and control units, window winders, fan belt & jockey wheel, fuel pump, pressure regulator and some of the pipes and much more - are fairly new as I've replaced them since I've had the car. So barring sudden Britpart failure, that's all going to be pretty reliable. What I have to get the AA out for is sudden electronic failures, which are harder to predict.
 
Well, that's what I got it for - so I could explore bits of the countryside I hadn't seen for a long time or that I hadn't had a chance to look at before. So it's earning its keep in that respect.
One day soon I want to go and see the trees in Benmore Botanic Gardens (to the north west of Glasgow). There are some real whoppers apparently.
 


You could go the easy route (Gourock - Dunoon ferry) but take the long way round and you'll get views like this:
arrochar-450.jpg
 
We must off passed at some point, Ive just travelled from Blackpool to Fraserbourgh and back in my 1999 td5 110 towing a twin wheel caravan, aprrox 1000 miles and no hint of trouble from the motor,. today its a reload and off to Peterborough,
 
johnlad said:
We must off passed at some point, Ive just travelled from Blackpool to Fraserbourgh and back in my 1999 td5 110 towing a twin wheel caravan, aprrox 1000 miles and no hint of trouble from the motor,. today its a reload and off to Peterborough,
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Don't think I saw you. Though I did quite a bit of waving at other Land Rovers, and spotted a very well accessorised 2004 90 in Stranraer that looked like it belonged to an enthusiast.

Going up the west coat of Scotland on a sunny day like yesterday was great. It just makes you want to go further and further. From Girvan and Ayr you can see the mountains to the north of the Firth of Clyde, and made me think that maybe I could be there in another two or three hours. Then there'd be the experience of looking northwards from Oban towards the Isle of Mull, and then the next one, and the next one. One day . . .

Very pretty Mr Wattfield. It's my intention to Land Rover my way through the lot, in fair weather and foul (oh, the foul, especially the foul) before I'm finished.
 
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I'm guessing Scotland is shortened on maps of the British Isles. It a long way to the top, even from where I live up North. Beautiful place though. Loads to see and do. The north west coast looks like another world. Fantastic.
 
Yes, maps seem to make Scotland look smaller in relation to England. like in the days of the British Empire when Britain was drawn bigger on the maps. For example from where I am to Glasgow is about 300 miles, but from my house to Durness (on the north coast of Scotland) is nearer 600. So at Glasgow you're just a fraction over halfway. Now that's a long drive.
 
I used to hate the commute from Leominster to Thurso everyweek. Get to Glasgow and go yaaayyyy... I'm halfway... arse

Then you get to inverness and go yaaayyyy that last city before thurso.... oh bugger another 110 miles....
 
Turboman said:
It is interesting! :)
No been to Stranraer for about twenty years.
Really think there should be a road trips thread, think maybe there is, not sure!
M74/M6 should be nice at this time of year, tourist traffic has cleared. Hope the Manchester Liverpool work traffic is gone by the time yu get there!:)
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I tried a 'Where have you been in your Land Rover today?' thread a while ago, in the hope that people would write stuff in, like they do with 'What have you done with your Landy today?' In the event it was mostly me posting , so it died off. No interesting trips this week - just been trundling to Nottingham and back, and ferrying colleagues around in the Land Rover. We've got people in from London and Sheffield for meetings so I'm taking them around to hotels and stations etc. This has proved popular. Just at the close of today's meeting one of my workmates said he'd take people back to Nottingham station in his Jag. 'Can't we go in Brown's Land Rover?' they said. So once again I struggled gamely round Nottingam's increasingly tortuous one way system, and dropped them off in the middle of the road because I'm too tall to fit in the station car park. They seemed to love it.

Mr Vilguy - thanks for that tip about cheap fuel at Asda in Carlisle. Sadly it arrived too late for this trip. However, I shall bear it in mind next time I'm in the north west, as it is useful to find supermarkets that sell diesel near junctions. I resent paying motorway service station prices.
 
Well, I'm proud to say I have only needed to put diesel in on a motorway service station once in over three years since I've had the Land Rover. But looking at the prices, I'm glad I don't. I have an auxiliary tank under the wing which gives me around 35-40 litres more than standard, but I like to find a supermarket and top up every two or three hundred miles. That way I'm not going to get into difficulty and still pay a competitive price for my fuel. When I do the north of Scotland I'll take the jerry cans with me.
 
Brown said:
Well, I'm proud to say I have only needed to put diesel in on a motorway service station once in over three years since I've had the Land Rover. But looking at the prices, I'm glad I don't. I have an auxiliary tank under the wing which gives me around 35-40 litres more than standard, but I like to find a supermarket and top up every two or three hundred miles. That way I'm not going to get into difficulty and still pay a competitive price for my fuel. When I do the north of Scotland I'll take the jerry cans with me.
Click to expand...
Don't forget to take sandwiches...wouldn't want you to be supporting the local economy now....:(
 
Brown said:
Well, I'm proud to say I have only needed to put diesel in on a motorway service station once in over three years since I've had the Land Rover. But looking at the prices, I'm glad I don't. I have an auxiliary tank under the wing which gives me around 35-40 litres more than standard, but I like to find a supermarket and top up every two or three hundred miles. That way I'm not going to get into difficulty and still pay a competitive price for my fuel. When I do the north of Scotland I'll take the jerry cans with me.
Click to expand...

ah, didn't realise you had the second tank, much better, holds about the same as a couple of jerries
 
Beneagles said:
Don't forget to take sandwiches...wouldn't want you to be supporting the local economy now....:(
Click to expand...

The local economy does quite well out of me. Certainly, my pockets (and my bank account) are empty by the end of the month. Anyway, at Stranraer, it looks like I was too late. Most of the local economy seemed to have shut and sprouted Buddleia some time before I got there to give it a cash infusion. Next time, I shall try to get to North Perthshire before it shuts!
 
Brown said:
The local economy does quite well out of me. Certainly, my pockets (and my bank account) are empty by the end of the month. Anyway, at Stranraer, it looks like I was too late. Most of the local economy seemed to have shut and sprouted Buddleia some time before I got there to give it a cash infusion. Next time, I shall try to get to North Perthshire before it shuts!
Click to expand...
I know what you are saying, Brown. But, there are many positives to living in less densely populated counties. :)
 
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