The ultimate roadtrip

Great Britain is perhaps one of the greatest places on earth for anyone with a passion for the traditional countryside pursuits: fishing, stalking and shooting. We are blessed with an enormous variety of stunning landscapes - from the rolling chalk downland of south east of England to the marshes and wetlands of East Anglia, to the lush green of the Welsh Valleys and the rugged grandeur of the Highlands of Scotland or the moors of northern England - and each of these offers its own opportunities to pit your wits and skills against nature. The possibilities are endless, and are the fuel for endless conversation and debate. But why choose? One of the conversations that we return to in the office time and again is this: if money and time were no object, and you had the whole of Britain to choose from, what would your ultimate sporting roadtrip look like? 

The perfect vehicle for a sporting roadtrip

What prompted our debates about this roadtrip? As you may know, we’ve been working closely with INEOS Grenadier, following the story of the vehicle’s progress from an idea in a London pub to now, with reservations open and the first vehicles due to roll of the production line in 2022. Naturally when thinking about a vehicle as versatile as the Grenadier, the mind turns to possible uses, hence our little game. 

Now that Grenadier have launched a configurator tool on their website where you can build your own Grenadier, we’ve been having fun speccing out the perfect vehicle for our 'little' roadtrip. We’ve gone for the 2-seater utility wagon vehicle; our trip is going to involve a wide range of activities, from stalking to fly fishing to driven and walked up shooting. This means we’re going to need a lot of kit, not only the tools of the trade, but also the appropriate clothing and footwear, so we’re looking for maximum carrying capacity. When it comes to the drivetrain, we’ve gone for 6L straight six diesel engine and front and rear differential locks, because we want to be able to tackle any terrain, and for the same reason we’ve chosen the 18” steel wheels with BFGoodrich All-Terrain tyres. 

In terms of aesthetics, we’re choosing the forest green for both the body and roof, because: obviously. We’ll have the safari windows, because why wouldn’t you? At the back we’ll chuck on an access ladder becasue it looks cool and might come in handy, plus running boards. Inside, however we’re keeping it real, with the ‘utility trim’, designed to handle all the mud and muck, plus the heavy duty flooring with drain valves, for when we inevitably need to hose the thing out.

When it comes to the accessories and gizmos, we know that Grenadier are keen for there to be a range of ‘open source’ bolt-ons, but from the range that Grenadier are currently showing, we’ll take the high load auxiliary switch panel and electrical system, an integrated winch and a camp table.

Finally, we’re going to do a bit of our own customisation: In the cargo area we’ll have a custom-made, lockable gunbox, like those made by the Bespoke Gun Cabinet Company, and we’ll ask them to put a dog crate on top, so our four-legged friend can come on our adventure. We’ll probably need somewhere to stow our fishing rods - perhaps some straps from the roof? I also think we’re going to need a refrigeration unit (hence the need for the electrical system) to store our shot game in. 

The trip

We’re going to take London as our starting point, at The Grenadier pub where the vehicle was first conceptualised, and then do a broadly clockwise circuit of the UK, before finally returning to London. October feels like the best month, offering as it does the widest range of opportunities. 

Day one - Monday - Chalkstream fly fishing in Hampshire

We want to ease into things, so a gentle pootle down the M3 for an afternoon’s fishing in the stamping grounds of Halford and Skeues seems the ideal way to do that. Since we’re aiming for maximum sporting opportunity, we’ve chosen October as the best month, so we’ll just squeeze into the back end of the trout fishing season. The mayfly will be long-gone, but if it is a year like this one the daddy long legs fishing should be to die for. Having hooked a few nice brownies, we’ll pack down our rods, stow our waders in the exterior stowage box, and head east into West Sussex for an overnight stay. Hopefully we’ve remembered to pack our dinner jackets, as the estates in this part of the world tend to be towards the smarter end of the scale. 

Overnight - Welldiggers Arms, Petworth, W. Sussex

Day two - Tuesday - Driven downland partridge in West Sussex

It’s our first day out with the shotgun of our road trip, and since we’re still easing our way into this journey, we’re not after anything too testing or dramatic, just a nice traditional day’s shooting in a beautiful setting… the undulating chalk downland is just the ticket: beautiful in an unthreatening way, timeless like village cricket, yet ancient in a very real way… and proper partridge country. A cup of tea and a slice of cake, and we’re on the road - we’re heading west and we’ve our first real drive ahead.

Overnight - Arundell Arms Hotel, Lifton, Devon

Day three - Wednesday - Bluefin bonanza in Cornwall

From the Downs to the wild Atlantic coast, but this time the guns are staying in the gunbox. Day three sees us ready for an experience unique in the UK. Falmouth is now considered the UK’s bluefin tuna hotspot, and a catch-tag-release recreational fishery has been established there - the data gathered through the “CHART” programme is adding to the overall understanding of how Atlantic bluefin populations behave helping to promote a sustainable population of these magnificent predators… with some exhilarating fishing to boot! We’ll need an early night, as we’ve a longish drive in the morning.

Overnight - The Idle Rocks Hotel, Truro, Cornwall

Day four - Thursday - Exmoor exocets 

A sporting roadtrip just wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Exmoor; a wild and rugged part of the world where our Grenadier will be right at home. The area is positively brimming with world-class high bird shoots that have been known to strike the fear of God into even the very best of game shots, but we've opted for North Molton's 15,000 acres of valleys, combes, goyles and high moor for our first high-bird test of the tour. This is where the trip really starts to get a bit spicy. Buckle up!

Overnight - Bettws Hall, Powys

Day five - Friday - Brigandage in Powys

How do you follow up a day’s shooting on Exmoor? With an overnight stay at one of Bettws Hall’s famous shoot lodges, and day at Brigands, of course. Famed throughout the shooting world for breathtaking driven pheasant, partridge shooting and hospitality to match, ‘Brigandos’, as it is affectionately known by those who have visited, is a must for our roadtrip. The vertiginous tracks will be another good test for the Grenadier’s
off-roading capabilities too.

Overnight - Graythwaite Hall, Cumbria

Day six - Saturday - Lakeside luxury and challenging driven birds

We’ve ticked off England and Wales, but we’re still a long way south. Time to head North. Now we could power on up the M6, straight into Caledonia, but that would be passing up a prime chance to enjoy the spectacular landscape of the Lake District. Graythwaite Estate is a perennial favourite with GunsOnPegs members, and offers a wonderful blend of high-fell drives and glorious parkland-style shooting that could be transplanted from the home counties. The hospitality is almost as highly regarded as the shooting, so we’ll overnight again at the fully-staffed Graythwaite Hall for some much needed down time. 

Overnight - Graythwaite Hall, Cumbria

Day seven - Sunday - Rest and Relaxation

Back-to-back-to-back days of high bird driven shooting can leave one with a sore shoulder and a crick in the neck, so we’ll have a bit of a lie in, maybe a hot bath, or, if the sun’s out and we’re feeling brave, a dip in Lake Windermere before we get back in the saddle. Our destination this time is north of the border, but not before we’ve dropped in at John Norris in Penrith to stock up on salmon flies. Our destination… 

Overnight - Drumlanrig Castle

Day eight - Monday - The Pink Palace, red grouse

Ahhh… Scotland. The place has a somewhat mystical flavour in the mind of any true blooded sportsman. Maybe it’s the vast empty spaces. Maybe it’s the heather. Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe it’s the midges. Anyway, after a lot of driving in the last week, and a few days standing on the peg, it feels like we had better stretch our legs a bit. What better than to walk up a few grouse on some of Drumlanrig Castle’s 90,000 stunning acres. You might think that walking up grouse is a waste of a visit to such a renowned driven shooting estate, but there is a method to this madness: we’re getting in some practice.  We’ve got a big few days ahead of us, and we need to make the most of them, so we’ll settle for a morning’s shooting, make use of our camp table to rustle up a fresh grouse lunch in the field before hitting the road. 

Overnight - Amhuinnsuidhe Castle

Day nine & ten - Tuesday & Wednesday - Hebridean Macnab, Isle of Harris 

It wouldn’t be the ultimate trip without a Macnab attempt, but this won’t be just any Macnab. We’re heading to our furthest point north and west of the trip - Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on the Isle of Harris - to try to bag ourselves a stag, a salmon and a brace of red grouse between dawn and dusk. Achieving  a Macnab is no mean feat, so we’ll give ourselves a couple of days to increase our chances. If we’re lucky enough to get a beast, our winch will come in handy for extraction and potentially we can jerry-rig something using the ladder to help us with the butchery. If we’re using the Grenadier for extraction, we’ll put the wash-down interior to good use as well.

Overnight - Amhuinnsuidhe Castle

Day eleven - Thursday - Bruhaha

With the pinnacle of sporting achievement hopefully under our belts, we’ll have plenty to talk about in the vehicle as we make our way south. Our destination is the Scottish Borders, but en route we’ll have to stop off at the famous “Harrods of the Highlands”, the House of Bruar, perhaps for a celebratory lobster lunch, and to restock on flies, and snacks from the foodhall.

Overnight - Schloss Roxburghe Hotel

Day twelve - Friday - Tweed salmon

After the excitement of a Macnab attempt, successful or otherwise, it will do us good to unwind with a day’s salmon fishing on the Floors Castle beat. Although October isn’t the best month for fishing on this part of the river, there’s still a decent chance of connecting. But then when you’re casting in the shadow of a ruined castle, catching a fish is probably incidental to the overall experience.

Overnight - Schloss Roxburghe Hotel

Day thirteen - Saturday - Driven grouse

You didn’t think the trip would be complete without a day in the purple office did you? As well as amazing fishing and pheasant shoots, The Floors Castle estate has two grouse moors totalling 10,000 acres, and offering some of the most consistent and productive grouse shooting in Scotland and some spectacular scenery. The Grenadier will look particularly good in this landscape!

Overnight - Schloss Roxburghe Hotel

Day fourteen - Sunday - South of the border

Time to head south of the border - our destination: God’s Own County.

Overnight - Feversham Arms Hotel, Helmsley, N. Yorks

Day Fifteen - Driven pheasants at Duncombe Park

Located near the North Yorkshire shooting Mecca that is Helmsley,  Duncombe Park is among the most respected shooting estates in England. The estate’s 13,500 acres offer hugely varied shooting terrain, from deep ravines to parkland drives and, with the common factor being birds to challenge the very best. What more could we ask for from our final day of driven shooting on the tour? With plenty of fantastic accommodation in the local area, we’d be crazy not to stay for a second night, and since the area is awash with shooting teams, we’ll find plenty of people to dazzle with tall tales of our adventure, so nearly at its end.

Overnight - Feversham Arms Hotel, Helmsley, N. Yorks

Day sixteen - Teal flighting Norfolk

A longish drive means we won’t get a full day’s shooting in, but is there anything as exciting as an evening flighting teal into drainage dykes on the marshes of Norfolk? We’ve not had a huge amount of really wild shooting yet, but this should go some way to redressing the balance, as should…

Overnight - The Dabbling Duck, Kings Lynn, Norfolk

Day seventeen - Walked up snipe

Widely regarded as one of the hardest of all quarry species owing to their jinking, darting flight when flushed, snipe feel like a more than suitable way to round off our epic journey. After a day yomping over the marshes, we’ll be tired, cold, and covered in mud, I expect. Good thing we’ve got those wipe down seats and the hose-down flooring!

Overnight - The Dabbling Duck, Kings Lynn, Norfolk

Day eighteen - Journey's end

After such a long trip, we’re going to round it all off with a slap up meal at one of the best known game restaurants, the Michelin starred The Harwood Arms. Perhaps we’ll be able to persuade the chefs to lay on a meal using some of the game we shot on our travels. Preceding the dinner, we’ll go to some nice hotel and make use of the pool and perhaps get a massage to ease our aching shoulders.

The above trip is obviously pretty silly. It’s overblown, over-long, overindulgent… all the things that the Grenadier resolutely is not.  What’s more, there are no doubt readers looking at our list and thinking to themselves that we’ve missed out an obvious leg, that we’ve inexplicably ignored huge swathes of the country… so if that’s you, drop a comment below telling us what idiots we are, and where we should have gone instead. And if you’re planning your own trip, why not have a play around with the configurator tool to design your perfect shooting roadtrip vehicle?
 

This article was produced in partnership with INEOS Grenadier. For more information on the Grenadier, or to reserve your vehicle, visit the Grenadier website.