Who says that British cars are unreliable?
Inspired by the annual "Le Jogg", on June 10, 2014, I set off alone from Männedorf on Lake Zurich in my Triumph TR4 A to ride to John o' Groats in Scotland. I had been planning the trip for almost a year, reading lots of books and spending many an hour exploring websites. Of course, I also carried out a maintenance service on the TR4 before the start of the trip.
In the trunk were tools, fuel pump, ignition parts, hoses, wire and anything else you might need in the event of a breakdown. There was only room for the bare essentials.
The car and I covered over 5000 km in three weeks, avoiding big cities as much as possible or driving around them. I mostly stayed in B&Bs or guesthouses, often far away from civilization.
The journey via Reims in the Champagne region to Calais went smoothly in fine weather. We coped well with the passage through the Eurotunnel. On the way, we made a brief stop at the Goodwood racetrack. Oxford, Stratford upon Avon and the Heritage Museum in Gaydon were on our list of places to visit. It was important to me to visit the birthplace of the Triumph in Coventry, even though it was clear from the outset that, apart from a monument, nothing of the standard Triumph remained there.
We took country roads to places outside Manchester, Keswick in the Lakeland district and Largs in Scotland. The Lakeland Motor Museum in Backbarrow is definitely worth a visit.
We reached Fort Augustus via the beautiful Glen Coe and then continued on to Ullapool. On the day of the solstice, we continued over many single track roads to Thurso in the very north of Scotland.
The next day we finally reached our long-awaited destination of Dunnet Head (the most northerly point in Great Britain) and John o' Groats.
At a petrol station, a member of staff told me that a classic car rally was taking place not far from my next stop, Dornoch. Naturally, I attended the event and was able to talk shop with some members of the local Triumph club.
The journey continued to the whisky region, Speyside. The return journey via Aberdeen, Edinburgh and York went smoothly and the weather was mostly fine.
In Kingston upon Hull we took the ferry to Zeebrugge. Unfortunately, I have bad memories of Belgium because of the bad roads and a heavy thunderstorm. After exactly three weeks, on July 1, 2014, we reached our destination, or rather our starting point on Lake Zurich, via Baden Baden and the beautiful high Alpine road in the Black Forest.
It was a wonderful journey that went without any breakdowns or accidents. I didn't need any tools or spare parts. Instead, I made wonderful contacts, saw lots of thumbs up and felt really free.
If you would like to know more about this trip, please get in touch with the editors of zwischengas.com to arrange a contact.
