Day 5 - Back Home
Up early, at 6am, to drive back home. We need to be back in time for my GF to do some tutoring - mock exams are coming up in many UK schools.
We make fairly good time on the way home, despite the M4 being closed due to a collision (so take M5, A40, M40, M25). We hit Oxford at rush hour on the A40 - so that’s no fun.
I treat the car to a good wash when I get home and as I’m checking her over I spot a bulge in the rear tyre side wall. I guess we weren’t as lucky as I thought on the third day with the potholes hidden in puddles.
It also seems that tyre prices have shot up recently - I got the current Alpin PA4 winter tyres for £260 each - now these are over £500. I get Yokohama V907s instead (these Yoko's are rated winter tyres with the 3PMSF symbol and have some good reviews, and I’ve never had a problem with Yokohamas). Even these are over £300 so quite expensive for the two. A bit scary that we did over 300 miles including a lot of motorway miles on this tyre!
Checking the Alpins, I have a good 6mm tread left on the fronts but the rears are worn more than I thought, down to about 3mm. So I guess I have gotten good use out of them before I’ve had to replace them. There’s around 10K miles done on the tyres.
So to recap the trip, I would say Wales is a beautiful place to visit. There’s great scenery everywhere and some great roads to drive. Don’t limit yourself to Snowdonia, the Llŷn penisular coast has some great driving too. The Emira was faultless - even in some quite demanding conditions - no issues at all. Loads of people stopped and commented on it too, asking questions and admiring it. Even with the weather being so bad it was a fantastic 4 days, we may well be back another day* - but maybe in the summer next time.
*A couple of days later and we are already planning a trip back.
