Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Guess the Fare ?
When we started the Journey we turned the taxi meter on and left it running and running ... Any one care to guess the final fare ?
Some Stats
Total miles covered 933 start to finish.
Time to complete drive 48hrs 26 mins
Previous best time to complete this journey and world record was 59hrs 21mins.(yes it's been done before us). I suppose this means we are now unofficial world record holders for this journey !
£50 tuktuk fuel
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Pictures
Above Kel asleep at Loch Ness
Kel At John O'Groats, and its raining heavily !
Johnny At John O'Groats Post
Me and Johnny getting very wet !!!
Tuktuk being dwarfed by a huge Lorry enroute.
Breakfast time !
tuktuk and co in Edinghburgh just approching Forth Bridge and having a quick tea break.
First big milestone. England - Scotish Border. What a great feeling it was to have reached here.
Friday, 19 June 2009
Day 4 : The Journey Home
Hi every one. It's Sanjay. well the journey home was great too. We visited Loch Ness late evening and then started the trek home. With the tuktuk tuk'd away in the trailer we left Inverness to try and get back to Nottingham in quick time too ! Kel was having a well deserved sleep so I started the driving first and drove till 01:30 am and then Kel took over. Johhy bless him being the youngest was too tired and need his beauty sleep :-)
Well the journey home was not with out insident, at around 07:00 we had to change one of the wheels of the trailer. Luckily we had to stop for fuel when i noticed that one of the tyres was about to blow out. As a result of our earlier trailer problems one of the tyres was now wearing quite heavily on the inner side and thank god i saw it as it would have blow and then we really would be in trouble. Well that's it for now. I will confirm in the next few days the time taken for our Journey and also post one or two more pics for the blog. I will in due course be writing a little book about the journey and how we did it and what to do / planning so watch this space....
I would also like to say a big thank you for all the emails of support we have recieved and comments on the blog. It's been an amazing journey and it has surprised me about how many people knew about our travel details, not just in Nottingham but all over the country. Great :)
Well the journey home was not with out insident, at around 07:00 we had to change one of the wheels of the trailer. Luckily we had to stop for fuel when i noticed that one of the tyres was about to blow out. As a result of our earlier trailer problems one of the tyres was now wearing quite heavily on the inner side and thank god i saw it as it would have blow and then we really would be in trouble. Well that's it for now. I will confirm in the next few days the time taken for our Journey and also post one or two more pics for the blog. I will in due course be writing a little book about the journey and how we did it and what to do / planning so watch this space....
I would also like to say a big thank you for all the emails of support we have recieved and comments on the blog. It's been an amazing journey and it has surprised me about how many people knew about our travel details, not just in Nottingham but all over the country. Great :)
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Day 4.... 17th June 2009 John O Groats
At 14:35 the 175cc Bajaj TukTuk which started off in Lands End finally made it across the finish line in style with me at the helm. Although the rain poured throughout the day making the driving conditions terrible over the Scottish mountains we were determined to make it to John O Groats today.
The Final leg of the journey took us along the east coast of Scotland along the A9 going past seaside town Golspie, Dunbeath and Wick. The 90 mile trip took longer than was expected as Sanjay kept driving too slowly because he never got this Mac D’s Happy Meal yesterday night.
Anyways we arrived at John O Groats but unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side this time as it continued to pour down with rain. We managed to take a few pictures which will be shown on the blog as well as enjoying a well deserved cup of tea (glass of milk in Sanjay’s case).
We all took turns driving the Tuktuk today with Kel starting, followed by Sanjay and then by myself. This was the first time on the trip where I drove the Tuktuk and it was fun and a great experience, in these conditions.
The sun has finally come out now that we have left, heading back home. We may make a quick stop over at Loch Ness, may try and spot Nessie .... Watch out Kel ;-). All is well. More soon. Johnny
The Final leg of the journey took us along the east coast of Scotland along the A9 going past seaside town Golspie, Dunbeath and Wick. The 90 mile trip took longer than was expected as Sanjay kept driving too slowly because he never got this Mac D’s Happy Meal yesterday night.
Anyways we arrived at John O Groats but unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side this time as it continued to pour down with rain. We managed to take a few pictures which will be shown on the blog as well as enjoying a well deserved cup of tea (glass of milk in Sanjay’s case).
We all took turns driving the Tuktuk today with Kel starting, followed by Sanjay and then by myself. This was the first time on the trip where I drove the Tuktuk and it was fun and a great experience, in these conditions.
The sun has finally come out now that we have left, heading back home. We may make a quick stop over at Loch Ness, may try and spot Nessie .... Watch out Kel ;-). All is well. More soon. Johnny
Day 4 17th June : The Final Push
Well we woke up this morning at 07:45 after sleeping over. We were expecting to start at 06:00 but we were just too
tired. After surfacing from near death sleepover in the jungle we proceeded to inverness (took abt 1/2 hr) and
found a service station to fill up with fuel and have a freshen up and a bite to eat. While we were hear we met
some BT engineers who thought we had a fantastic vehicle and decided to get us a shout out on the local radio. And
surely enough we had a best whises and good luck from the presenters of mfr radio. 10:30 we have freshened up and
are on our way to John o Groats. This is about another 90 miles away now so should take us about another 3 hrs. We
have made great progress so far ..... Johhny will be driving the last few miles so there is still time for somthing
to go wrong. Mark T, you might be right we might need a new tuktuk !
tired. After surfacing from near death sleepover in the jungle we proceeded to inverness (took abt 1/2 hr) and
found a service station to fill up with fuel and have a freshen up and a bite to eat. While we were hear we met
some BT engineers who thought we had a fantastic vehicle and decided to get us a shout out on the local radio. And
surely enough we had a best whises and good luck from the presenters of mfr radio. 10:30 we have freshened up and
are on our way to John o Groats. This is about another 90 miles away now so should take us about another 3 hrs. We
have made great progress so far ..... Johhny will be driving the last few miles so there is still time for somthing
to go wrong. Mark T, you might be right we might need a new tuktuk !
Day 3 Scotland Update
We arrived and in Edinburgh at around 17:00 hrs earlier today. Whilst Kel and I wanted to drive to the next check
Point Johnny thought it might be a good time to stop by the sea and have a little break and photo session as well as go for a pee pee ! Well we then set off for Inverness. We did not really think we would get that far today but Never the less we tried to go as far as we could.
At about 9.30 we had realised that we had not toasted Johnny’s Birthday. So the plan changed and we decided to find a local pub and at stop at 10 to have a few beers and get our head down. I searched the internet and found a bar / hotel in Struan. Well when we got their after much excitement
It was closed !! Aghhh how can a pub be shut I asked ??? Well I decided to call the hotel up and spoke to the owner and managed to convince her she should open the bar up, all be it only for a short while. The idea was that we would have a few pints and then sleep there in the car and trailer(Kel) and leave in the morning but the landlady was only prepared to let us stay till 11. Well that was that and we decided to find another pub but this task was very difficult (Incedently the land lady of the pub gave us a £ 10 donation to our fund)
Out in the Grampian Mountains in the middle of no where there aint that many places that are open never mind find a pub! Hmm after Wondering the back lanes of Scotland and it getting darker and darker we decided that enough was enough and we had
spent too much time trying to get a pint we decided to call it a day and find a nice laby to pull up in for the night .
Well even that was difficult !!! It was 00:45 before we found a lay by that was off the main road that was safe. After the tuktuk was tuk'd up into the trailer we had a few bottles of beer and cider and then hit the deck for the night. Only thing was though we could hear foxes / owls and everything. Kel was scared ;-)
Point Johnny thought it might be a good time to stop by the sea and have a little break and photo session as well as go for a pee pee ! Well we then set off for Inverness. We did not really think we would get that far today but Never the less we tried to go as far as we could.
At about 9.30 we had realised that we had not toasted Johnny’s Birthday. So the plan changed and we decided to find a local pub and at stop at 10 to have a few beers and get our head down. I searched the internet and found a bar / hotel in Struan. Well when we got their after much excitement
It was closed !! Aghhh how can a pub be shut I asked ??? Well I decided to call the hotel up and spoke to the owner and managed to convince her she should open the bar up, all be it only for a short while. The idea was that we would have a few pints and then sleep there in the car and trailer(Kel) and leave in the morning but the landlady was only prepared to let us stay till 11. Well that was that and we decided to find another pub but this task was very difficult (Incedently the land lady of the pub gave us a £ 10 donation to our fund)
Out in the Grampian Mountains in the middle of no where there aint that many places that are open never mind find a pub! Hmm after Wondering the back lanes of Scotland and it getting darker and darker we decided that enough was enough and we had
spent too much time trying to get a pint we decided to call it a day and find a nice laby to pull up in for the night .
Well even that was difficult !!! It was 00:45 before we found a lay by that was off the main road that was safe. After the tuktuk was tuk'd up into the trailer we had a few bottles of beer and cider and then hit the deck for the night. Only thing was though we could hear foxes / owls and everything. Kel was scared ;-)
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Day 3 16th June 2009 - Scotland
Hey everyone first and for most, thanks you all for the birthday wishes..... Its day 3 in our epic trip across the nation and surprisingly is has been trouble free apart from the fiasco with the support car. Sanjay believe it or not decided to leave the lights on, plug in his tomtom (which by the way is useless) and his mobile phone to the car power supply. Next thing you know the car’s battery was flat and we were stuck whilst the TuKTuk was far gone. Lucky the AA guy came and we were soon up and running but the fun never stops with us as the tomtom grew a mind of its own and took us off course. Luckily for us a couple of police officers helped we out we were soon on our way.
Day two took from Cirencester to High Etherly in Co Durham via Nottingham, Selby and York where we stopped for the night. We managed to cover over 250 miles that day going through some great scenic routes to the north not forgetting Sanjay constantly telling us to stop every time we saw a Mac’ D’s.
This morning we left High Etherly reasonably late 10Am as we all enjoyed a decent night sleep and headed towards Scotland and arrived at the Scottish border around 13:30 where we stopped to enjoyed some good old Scottish cuisine. The drive took us through the Northumberland National park were there we hills the size of mountains, lucky for us the Tuktuk manage to get to the border without any assistance which was amazing .
As it’s my birthday the boys have been kind enough to do the driving for me, leaving me to do the navigating as well as the daily crossword puzzle. Sanjay’s at the helm off the Tuktuk today and Kels driving the support vehicle. I’ve decided to sit in the Tuktuc as a passenger and have been writing this blog and it’s surprisingly difficult.
We have just reached Edinburgh and are making our way the famous forth Road Bridge, let’s hope they allow the Tuktuk on it or else we will be going all the way around Lol.
Finally we would like to thank Johnson Diversy of Nottingham for their generous donation and would also like to thank Sanjay’s cousin for their hospitality yesterday. Many Thanks. Much Appreciated from all of us.
Anyways the weather is ok up here although it is getting little bit cooler than the south and we are also on schedule. More soon. Johnny
Day two took from Cirencester to High Etherly in Co Durham via Nottingham, Selby and York where we stopped for the night. We managed to cover over 250 miles that day going through some great scenic routes to the north not forgetting Sanjay constantly telling us to stop every time we saw a Mac’ D’s.
This morning we left High Etherly reasonably late 10Am as we all enjoyed a decent night sleep and headed towards Scotland and arrived at the Scottish border around 13:30 where we stopped to enjoyed some good old Scottish cuisine. The drive took us through the Northumberland National park were there we hills the size of mountains, lucky for us the Tuktuk manage to get to the border without any assistance which was amazing .
As it’s my birthday the boys have been kind enough to do the driving for me, leaving me to do the navigating as well as the daily crossword puzzle. Sanjay’s at the helm off the Tuktuk today and Kels driving the support vehicle. I’ve decided to sit in the Tuktuc as a passenger and have been writing this blog and it’s surprisingly difficult.
We have just reached Edinburgh and are making our way the famous forth Road Bridge, let’s hope they allow the Tuktuk on it or else we will be going all the way around Lol.
Finally we would like to thank Johnson Diversy of Nottingham for their generous donation and would also like to thank Sanjay’s cousin for their hospitality yesterday. Many Thanks. Much Appreciated from all of us.
Anyways the weather is ok up here although it is getting little bit cooler than the south and we are also on schedule. More soon. Johnny
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