Well done F153: Scotish Photos

[SimonR]

Some 1,900 miles later and I've arrived back in Cambridge from the Highlands of Scotland. F153 managed to average exactly 30 mpg which was very good indeed, considering how fast we went on the motorways, the fact that we also spent many miles driving at about 40mph pointing at stuff and also that she was carrying 3 adults and all of their kit for two weeks! Needless to say that there were no car-related problems at all. I'm also happy to report that I felt no ill-effects from driving her 450 miles yesterday back from Glasgow via Lockerbie and Keele University - took about 12 hours including stops. :)

I took a few customary pictures for you to enjoy - the ones you see here are just zoomed-down versions - click on the link to see a full-sized copy.

F153 at Lossiemouth on the Moray Firth:

http://pages.zoom.co.uk/wonkeydonkey/MaestroPics/LossiemouthSM.jpg

Full-sized version (http://pages.zoom.co.uk/wonkeydonkey/MaestroPics/Lossiemouth.jpg)


At Loch Morlich, with the Cairngorm in the background:
http://pages.zoom.co.uk/wonkeydonkey/MaestroPics/LochMorlichSM.jpg

Full-sized version (http://pages.zoom.co.uk/wonkeydonkey/MaestroPics/LochMorlich.jpg)

In Strathdearn, by the River Findhorn:

http://pages.zoom.co.uk/wonkeydonkey/MaestroPics/TomatinSM.jpg

Full-sized version (http://pages.zoom.co.uk/wonkeydonkey/MaestroPics/Tomatin.jpg)

[John S]

Glad to see you got back in one piece! You can clock up some miles around Scotland. I hope to visit Scotland myself and meet some friends at University and I should be taking my Maestro. I've never seen a white VDP before, they must be super rare and I know white is the most prone colour to rusting. :)

[SimonR]

Yeah, I've never seen another white VP of any type of car...

As for the rust - tell me about it! Still, F153 is soon to be the least rusty white Maestro VP in existance... :)

If you are thinking of taking your car to Scotland, I can thoroughly recommend the A82 between Inverness and Glasgow. It's miles and miles of fantastic road with great visibility and the most amazing scenery including Loch Ness and Loch Lomond. I was very tempted to put my foot down but the scenery was just too good - had to keep stopping for photos. The locals, one in a Subaru Impretza, were having loads of fun, passing the holiday traffic at very 'lively' speeds ;)

[Jonathan]

Wonderful! Hope you had a good time, the pictures speak for themselves. I've always fancied taking mine on tour around the highlands, and stick by my ambition to do LE JOG in him :)

[malcsmaesty]

I did the Inverness run about 9 years ago in B879 JBD(1.3L),from Birmingham,recommend it to anyone! It took me about 12 hours to do.
Looks like F153 had a good time!Well done! Great photos!:)

[Austin-Rover]

Great Photos!

The last one looks very idyllic....

:cool:

[John]

Good shots, must try and get some of my own Maestro, never seem to think of it.

[J199 HHG]

Don't like to brag, but I did a Huntingdon->Edinburgh->Inverness->John O'groats ->Skye -> Glasgow -> North Pennines -> Huntingdon, which was a similar mileage, and I averaged 57mpg over the four tankfulls it took. I was driving a Montego 2.0DLX saloon with only two occupants though.

[F690OTF(RIP)]

I think our fuel consumption figures for the Reading -> Laggan (about a third of the way in between Fort William and Inverness) must be at home, but I would estimate less than 30mpg. We had four adult occupants, luggage crammed into every corner and a roof box! In addition to this, the first 9 hours of the 13 hour journey (with stops) were spent doing 70 on the motorway with a 4 speed gearbox.

I'm just trying to remember... we did 1600 miles in two weeks, 1080 of which were the journies there and back. We usually reckon 10p/mile (a very rough estimate; it's nearer to 12p these days), so that would have been £160 on petrol, but I think it was very close to £200 in the event. I'm not sure of that, though.

[topgear]

sounds familiar to my VDP! Before i sorted out my O ring trouble, a journey from Portsmouth to Winchester (22 miles ish) would easily take out a quarter of tank of petrol! What MPG do you reckon that is? certainly not 30mpg, thats for sure!

[E_T_V]

I've also just come back from 2200miles of scotland. Not in a meastro though as the low ratio 4 speed box in the 1.3 doesn't make for a touring car... We did take a rover 214 mk2 though so at least it was a rover... ;)

[tony]

i went to spain in a montego a couple of years ago,2,500 miles in total needed a new alternator,had to get mine rewinded @£130 they did it in the day apart from that no problems