Drive through British Isles

Defender SUV was definitely a love at first sight the moment I saw it on the Bettalasur stone quarry a decade ago. The first Land rover defender that i saw must have been 50 years older or so yet looked stronger than the rock pathway of the quarry. I always had a dream to drive it, but never got an opportunity to steer it.

Defender SUV is a British iconic vehicle and the UK had many older defenders vehicle running on its roads. Back in my 2019 visit to the UK, I could not drive the defender because of the emission norms that restricted it in driving at many places in the UK. 

New Defender SUV launched in 2021 had characteristics carried from old defender, and that gave colors to my dream. What else can be a better place to drive the defender other than the country that has a bond with it, so I decided to drive it across the British Isles. The Pandemic delayed the plan by a year or so and finally the dream became true in the first week of August 2022.

The family consisting of myself, my dear wife Manasa and my three energetic kids Samarth, Samrudh and Hita were part of a cross country drive across plains of England, hilly terrain of Wales and Scotland, East and West coast of UK on a 2022 Land Rover Defender having 300 horses (BHP) under its hood to power the wheels underneath.

We started the drive from Wembley in London and headed south of the UK, crossed the sea on a ferry via Portsmouth and reached the scenic 'Isle of Wight'. 

Next we headed towards the north west crossing the sea again via Lymington and reached the British iconic monument 'Stone henge', followed by a stay at 'Bath' of Roman era historical baths of the first century.

We drove towards the Wales coastal side and snowdonia mountains on a clear sunny day and also did a chill cold deep mine tour.

Next, passed through the Lake district, greeted by 'Windermere' beautiful lake and spent the evening in a far away east town called 'Millom' having estuaries on one side and sea on the other side. Next was 'Glasgow', a scottish city known for its brave explorers in the past and a good science center for our kids.

We drove over the Scottish highlands, crossed 'Aviemore' and stayed at a magical town named 'Grantown on Spey' known for a trail connecting most of the famous scotch whisky distillaries in the world. Did a tour of the 14th century well maintained Cowdor castle and drove along the lakes of Inverness, Lochness and Fort William on the scenic road connecting them with towering mountains to the south. Scottish highlands had good weather with great views of Ben Nevis mountain and of course Skyfall at some places with clouds kissing the earth on the valley side. The drive from fort William towards Falkirk was too crowded, Arthur's seat at the Edinburgh was good and the masala dose at the Indian restaurant was also decent.

Moving southwards on east coast, New castle upon tyne and moorlands of Yorkshire was a mesmerising landscape and staying at Scarborough was good with a sealife centre tour for kids.

Celebrated 75 years of our independence completion in front of Victoria statue there was a memorable one for our kids. 

Next we moved to the peak district and the armory Museum at Leeds had a lot of Indian history and hunting as well. The zoo near Sheffield was a good one with healthy wild animals including tigers. The east most point we reached was great Yarmouth beach with Britannia pier and lovely beachside walks and activities.

We drove the boats on Norwich broads and mooring close to cafe and wetlands exploration gave a short break from driving on pavement road to the waterway.

The last three days were spent in London with a drive car inside an already congested City, Westminster, London bridge, British museum, London eye, Basavanna statue, lords statue and travelling through a London tube network were all kids corner fun.

My close friend Pradeep, his wife Shwetha and their daughter Ikshitha were instrumental in supporting us all along the trip from Wembley. Finally thanks to the Land rover Defender 'KM 22 FGV' that took us safely all through the trip on the roads of the British Isles.