By B Road Final Update
Complete Lands End to John O'Groats
In September this year our Technical Director David Shannon along with his brother Paul completed "A B-Road Adventure", by driving a 1974 MGB Roadster from Lands End to John O'Groats.
As planned, on September 1st they left Lands End and completed the 1,226 mile journey. Their fundraising total reached over £2,240 for Cancer Research, far exceeding their original target. Both David and Paul wish to say a big thank you for everyone's donations which were received from as far afield as the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
David summarises: "The first two days were fantastic. We had the roof off the car as we travelled from the tip of Cornwall all the way to Cheshire bathed in sunshine. Cornwall itself has very few b-roads, and hence we spent most of the day on single track minor roads, flanked by hedges. Our progress was terribly slow and we didn't reach Tavistock on the Devon border until 3pm. However we were then treated to one of the best driving roads of our journey. The B3357 is an open sweeping, undulating road over the moors and was a real pleasure to drive. However, by the time we reached our first nights stop near Cheddar we had been driving and navigating for eleven hours. We were shattered.
On subsequent days we made far better progress by revising our planned route in favour of longer b-road routes where stretches of minor roads were originally planned. After two days we had driven almost 500miles, seen some spectacular countryside and met some great people. One gentleman even approached us in middle of a busy street whilst we queued at traffic lights and began discussing the V8 MG he used to own!
The third day was by far the wettest and saw us travel from Cheshire over the Scottish border to Lockerbie. The b-road route took us through the Yorkshire Dales and passed one of the greatest testimonies to British engineering on our route: The Ribblehead Viaduct. A soggy MGB arrived that evening in Lockerbie were we took a room in a hotel for the night (the windscreen seals are perished and rain seeps in).
Day 4. We navigated our way towards the Scottish Highlands then around them to the east. The areas around Falkirk presented by far the worst standard of roads on our entire journey. At times we proceeded at a snails pace just to avoid damaging the cars suspension. North of Perth we headed east of the Cairngorm Mountains and reached Dufftown for the night (home to a number of Whiskey Distilleries).
The fifth and final day involved yet another early start and a surprising number of A-roads. Our challenge was to use b-roads or less, but there are no b-road routes in this part of the world. However, to put this into perspective the A836 is a single track road with passing places!
Overall our journey was without major mechanical problems, a testimony to the MGB. We also saw that for all the overcrowded roads, towns and cities in the UK, there is far more open space in this country. It's a beautiful place too.
The maps of our route, blog and a several more photos can be found on our website www.bybroad.com. If you set out to try this journey yourself, I'd say enjoy it, have fun but allow yourself more than five days. It was hardwork!"
