. The car drove fantastic all day even kept up with modern motorway traffic without any problems.

Ha! Gone are the days of the late 20th century when a dawn start and motorway cruise control set at 85ish would see you at the Cornish riviera in a few hours. These days a 50yr old Reliant Robin would have little difficulty keeping up with today's insp***ated sluggish M-way traffic.

Indeed - you'll probably get stuck (from my route from 'leafy' Herts) just south of Bristol of The M5, or, if you leave any later than 7.30am, by the M40-M4 turnoffs on the M25. And that's on a Saturday outside the main (school) holiday season.

I normally allow 7 hours total, including an hour for lunch and two 20 minute breaks to stretch my legs and 'use the facilities'. Not so bad, given the places I normally go to on my hols don't usually have their accommodation ready until 3-4pm for the most part.

It does mean though, for self-catering holidaymakers like myself that you either take a big risk in doing your shopping first (defrosting grub) or go at 5pm+ and be forced into buying the few bits of r****** left at the end of the biggest shopping day in the week, especially in holiday season.

I'm still awaiting a year when any of the main roads I travel on down there don't have any major roadworks in 'operation' (not that there's anything happening during the day, presumably for safety reasons).

On the upside, back in 2022 I think, my car's mpg average over the trip went up by another 5% over normal (and a record for me), mainly because of the significant roadworks on the M5 for a long distance, where it had a 50mph limit, and for once, drivers were being sensible and giving each other enough room.

I now no longer think of dry, warm days as ones that I'd like to go out for a drive in an open-top sports car, but prime days for a long cycle ride around the picturesque parts of the region, as I (just) managed this past Sunday.