It was 2006, and the story had just begun. Along with three friends, ClassicLine’s resident road tripper, Ben Coombs, had just returned to the UK from Mongolia, having completed a rather epic event called the Mongol Rally. Let’s hear the story behind this arctic classic car odyssey…
The thinking behind the rally was simple – get a car with an engine smaller than one litre, and try to drive it to Mongolia. If you make it all the way, great. And if not, then even better – you’ll have had a proper adventure. For four weeks and 10,000 miles, I’d crossed countries and continents with the original Daisy the Mini, before donating it to charity in Mongolia and then returning to the UK, with a city-car sized gap in my life.
On my return, I found that my family had clubbed together to the tune of £200, and bought me a Fiat 126 to replace Daisy. But after 10,000 miles in my beloved Mini, it just wasn’t right, and driving it back home to Plymouth, I decided it was the car from Hell. So, we decided to drive it to Hell.
Hell is a little village near Trondheim, near Norway.
That winter we set off on one of my most memorable adventures ever, to Hell, and then on to the Arctic Circle. The snow was piled high on the landscape, which for hundreds of miles ticked every cliché – brooding fjords, soaring mountains, endless tunnels and roaming mooses. The road gradually became graded ice, though our winter tyres provided just enough grip for progress. Towns became few and far between, days became shorter and more frigid. And then, beyond the circle, the northern lights draped themselves over the moonlit landscape, and began to dance. The dream was complete.
I came back from the trip with a begrudging respect for the Fiat, and a huge appreciation for the snow-stilled vistas of the Arctic. The Fiat was soon sold, but the love of the deep north remained.
I knew that one day, I’d be back.
That day happened in 2012, when we took an early ‘90s Jaguar on a lap of the Baltic, to drive the ice roads which form across the frozen sea. Once again, snowy Scandinavia showed its scenic side, the empty landscape seemingly stretching on forever. Infinite perfection, frozen in time.
My next trip north happened in summer, during the Pub2Pub Expedition, and despite making it in the TVR, it just wasn’t the same. Norway is still stunning when illuminated by the midnight sun, of course. But without the snow, the landscape had lost a layer of drama. I’d been spoilt by the magnificent desolation of winter. And I knew I had to experience it again.
Fast forward to today, and there’s another reason to return – the ClassicLine Volvo. This unsung hero of the Pub2Pub story has so far supported seven of our driving tours, tailing infinitely more glamorous sports cars around Europe, with a boot full of tools and spare parts.
I’ve often thought it deserves its own adventure.
And that adventure should involve a return to Sweden, from where it came. And it should be made in winter, too, when Scandinavia is at its most primal best. So, I figured, why not make the first new driving tour of 2025 a trip to the Arctic?
So, I’m doing just that – it’s called the Snowstorm Rally, and it’s happening this coming March.
This tour is very much a departure from our other trips, which tend to be designed around sports cars and grand tourers, and seek out the sun, rather than snow. However, the wholePub2Pub thing has been built on adventure, and so it’s high time we made a more adventurous trip happen. And driving to the Arctic in March surely ticks the box.
You can read what we’re planning here: https://www.planetpub2pub.com/post/anyone-for-the-arctic
And if you fancy joining the ClassicLine Insurance sponsored Volvo on an Arctic adventure next March, it’ll be great to have you along…
