Scotland Road Journey - Not By M/c

NOT MOTORCYCLE RELATED!

I'm delivering a new car from Exeter to Tobermory, Mull on Wednesday of this week. Google directions suggests that I should follow the A82 around Loch Lomond, then take the A85 at Tyndrum.

I rather fancy the idea of taking the A83 at Tarbet and the A819 at Inveraray, then join the A85 at Kilchurn.

Bearing in mind that I'm committed to get the Mull ferry from Oban at either 1000 or 1200, can anyone comment on whether there is likely to be any serious risk of delays in my preferred choice of route - Google maps tells me that the journey will be 4 miles and 5 minutes longer the way I'm proposing? My very limited experience and instincts say it will be more scenic and less traffic busy - bar, maybe, some logging trucks.

Is there anyone local to the area that can provide a comment on current/likely conditions, potential delay hazards, other reasons to reconsider, etc., please?

BTW., much as I'd like to take the coast road, I'm obliged to take the most cost effective, safe and shortest route. I'm assuming 4 miles is within the margins of allowance!

Any advice would be welcomed - especially if it's contemperaneous.

Slaintje.

 

The plan is :-

Bus from Tobermory to Craignure
Footpassenger on the ferry Craignure to Oban
Oban to Glasgow on the train
Overnight at Travelodge Glasgow airport
Flight from Glasgow to Exeter

Job done!

There may, however, need to be a change to 'Plan B' as the customer may want to take delivery in Oban! BUGGER! Tobermory hotel booked and now beyond the free cancellation term! And I was SO looking forward to a night in Tobermory and a (relatively) easy journey to Glasgow! C'est la vie.

 

Thanks for that Dougie. That would have been a GREAT shout ...... unfortunately booking.com must have cottoned on to that, as even a change of date at this point in time constitutes a cancellation and is full rate chargeable!

Kinda hoping the customer will change her mind and take delivery at home and I get to take the car out to Mull..... and walk down to that beautiful harbour on Thursday morning!

Still, customer is always right and I'm just the driver!

 

Hi Dougie. Thanks for asking and thanks again to all who responded with invaluable advice and guidance!

The trip was just fine. My usual midnight start got me to my first stop at Tebay at about 0430. A fairly short stop for coffee, Bakewell muffin and a calculated shot of fuel for the car - we're obliged to hand over the car with not less than 1/4 of a tank and I didn't want to make another stop just for fuel - then back into the fray for the madness of the motorways around the Glasgow metropolitan area.

The weather was good and the sun made a few welcome appearances as the morning progressed. I did take the route via Inveraray and enjoyed some fabulous views over Loch Awe from a road almost completely devoid of traffic - definitely a good choice! I doubt that I lost much, if any, time on the journey as I arrived at the Oban delivery point at about 1115 'ish. Oban is not, unfortunately, very well endowed with car valeting facilities - you guys need some more Poles and Romanians up there ! Nevertheless, I managed to personally give the car a half decent wash, handed over just before 1200 (so missed the 1200 ferry!) and 'stopped the clock' for my paid journey. I'd already decided that I would take the opportunity to head to Mull and use, rather than waste, the accommodation booking at Tobermory. Another right decision - I was on a roll.

The crossing was just breathtaking - flat calm sea, some sunshine, colder than a witch's tit and an all new experience. I wasn't actually getting paid to do this bit of the trip but I'd been paid to get there and the expenses were covered so I was definitely ahead of the game here and didn't even feel tired. Had a pleasant stroll around Oban, caught the 1400 ferry across to Craignure and that's where my luck ran out. I had a 2 hour wait for the bus from Craignure to Tobermory - just because it was Wednesday ..... no 1500 bus! Guess that's how these things work in places like this. There's really NOTHING to do in Craignure on a cold winter's afternoon so it was a LONG two hours. By the time I got to Tobermory it was dark and I was shot so I walked to the hotel,checked in and crashed!

The return ferry to Oban and train trip to Paisley (for the airport) were fine - some of the views from the train were also stunning as it was sunny in the late morning and early afternoon - and I was back on the clock so I was blessed with being paid for the joy of soaking in some of the splendour of Scotland.

I DO love the Scotland trips, and especially the further ones into the Highlands, the country is, overall, a magnificently beautiful jewel and getting paid (very little!) to see some of it is as much a privilege as it is a pleasure.

Apologies for the length of this reply - I do get carried away once I get started!

 

I was delivering a Mercedes Benz A250 AMG Line. Not really 'luxurious' but comfortable for sure. It was a nice car - the current model A Class has a much updated and very impressive interior and, whilst not quite in the same league for comfort and for 'toys' as a C or E Class, it really is a step change over the old one. It's great to sit in the car and say "Hey Mercedes, play Planet Rock" and, without so much as a blink of an eye, Planet Rock comes on and the widescreen dash is updated! Yeah, not exactly earth shattering technology, I know, but it's a world away from the previous A Class.

It was a bit of a pain not having a cd player but not exactly a serious issue and the sound system quality is very good indeed. I certainly didn't have any aches and pains after the 520 odd mile journey and would have been fairly relaxed about driving back had the custmoer rejected the vehicle! As it was, they were very happy and I got to see Tobermory and Mull - and got paid for doing it! Can't complain about that kind of deal.

 

Well, I'm no salesman but, IMHO, she should definitely look at the new A Class range. I can't remember the capacity of the A250 motor - it's petrol, but it averaged over 46mpg. on the car's computer having sat on the motorways on cruise control at 76mph in the auto-box's seventh gear.

Like I say, get a high enough spec. one and she wouldn't recognise it as an A Class - the suspension has been updated for a better ride AND better handling; the dash display is really top class, and the seats feel a whole lot better than the previous incarnation. It's not far off the equal of the 'ordinary' C Class models.

I accompanied a colleague a couple of weeks ago in another A Class with a similar spec. but it had an optional interior lighting pack which gave the cabin a very sexy ambient lighting - with the really nice touch that the circular air vents had a backlight that changed colour from red to blue if you changed the car's heater settings.

Yep, I'm a big kid at heart, impressed by frippery but my own car is a 2003 Astra 1.6 (factory dual fuel) so it doesn't really take a lot to impress me! I do occasinally get a bit blase having driven pretty much every Mercedes model over the last 5 years - including a couple of GT's!

Tell the Mrs. to arrange a test drive in a well spec'd A250 - she'll love it!

 

"Have they changed since then?" Hoooo - YEAH, like you wouldn't believe! The A Class is now a proper, grown-up car, though I haven't bothered looking up the engine type/source. I think in the past the diesels have always been sourced from Renault, not sure if that's still the case.

I have ABSOLUTELY NO idea how the company car system works, I'm afraid, but I can see why you'd want to go for something a year old - it's at that point that, historically, it's taken its single biggest depreciation hit.

As a bit of background I work for a company called Mercedes Benz South West, which is a group of four Merc dealerships down yer in the South West. I've been doing this "casual" delivery work for just over five years and you would not believe how much the business has grown and how many cars we're 'shifting'. When I started I was, I think, driver number 13 - there were 15 or so of us, and we were taking out an average of 7 - 10 per day most weeks, with, as you might expect, spikes at new registration periods.

We now have more than 60 drivers on the books; I'm guessing the average deliveries are running at around forty a day most weeks, with peaks at well over 60 a day at new registration times! When I started I'd guess one in 4 cars going out was on a lease or contract the rest were purchased; now I'd guess that maybe one in 10 is purchased. These are, I stress, my own very crude and uneducated guess-timates but they are fairly indicative.

The last two years - post referendum, I guess - has seen an exponential increase in the number of cars we hold and shift. There's well over 1,200 vehicles in our compounds - these are NOT main dealer stock, they're just for our operation, though, occasionally one of our main dealers will take a car that has been sold on spec. - and are most often sent out on PCP/lease/contract hire/whatever via brokers who, apparently, frequently find us the best, cheapest and most reliable source of Mercs in the country!

So, point of all that verbal diarrhoea - well, like I say, I'm just a delivery driver. I pitch up in a nice car, demonstrate and extol its virtues (which, I admit, are many) confirm the customer's requirements and get them to sign for it before I head for the nearest train/bus station to start my journey back! Tough life - but someone has to do it. Not the best money in the world, but you're unlikely to get paid for anything easier!

I'll look forward to hearing how Mrs. DD. concludes her search. If she needs any Merc. information I might be able to obtain it, beyond that I'm pretty useless!