A team of petrol heads has completed a nonstop road trip across the UK, visiting 12 towns and villages with the rudest names in an unusual charity fundraiser.
Drivers Craig Cheetham, Freddie Gill, James Walshe, and Steph Holloway covered the 874-mile journey in a customised Citroen C5, known as ‘Jurassic Pork’. This 18-year-old estate car was destined for the scrapyard.
James Walshe, driver and Deputy Editor of the historic car publication Practical Classics, which will run the full story in the next edition, highlighted that the trip showcased what older diesel-powered cars are capable of.
He explained: “With perfectly usable cars being scrapped in our throwaway world, this was a chance for us to celebrate a £500 banger that’s helped to raise £100,000 for various charities on various road trips over the last few years.
“It’s a practical, healthy diesel that’s serviced regularly and does 800 miles to a tank. Our carbon footprint is tiny – but the things it can still do surpass that of most new EVs!”
The drivers started their journey alongside several other charity road trip teams in Fareham, Hampshire, before travelling to Sandy Balls and Shitterton in Dorset and Curry Mallet in Somerset.
Briefly entering Wales, where they drove through the village of Three Cocks in Powys, the team ventured towards the Midlands to visit Lickey End and Willey and Penistone and Nether Thong in West Yorkshire.
After heading to Wideopen, a village in North Tyneside, the drivers headed south to Rimswell in East Yorkshire and Fanny Hands Lane in Lincolnshire before finishing the 24-hour trip in the civil parish of Bitchfield.
Although the near-900 miles of continuous driving undoubtedly proved tiring, it was all for a good cause. Team Jurassic Pork was just one of five teams participating in the Up n Down road trip event.
While all teams planned unique routes, with some travelling into mainland Europe on the 24-hour fundraiser, all proceeds raised went to the charity Sophie’s Legacy. Sophie’s Legacy supports children and their families in hospital due to cancer by supplying emotional support, clothes, and transportation.
The fundraiser is still ongoing. The Up n Down event has raised more than £20,000, and it hopes to raise a further £4,000 in the coming weeks.
Steph Holloway, who also runs the popular YouTube channel I Drive A Classic, noted that the trip served as a good reminder of the varied towns in the UK.
She added: “The aim was to do as many miles as possible while completing numerous challenges, but we felt it would have been too easy to just sit on the motorway.
“Britain is full of such fantastically silly place names, so we thought it’d be fun to keep ourselves awake during the 24 hours by visiting some of them while raising money for a great cause.”
