It was a long bank holiday in central Wales ( Pant-y-Dwr ) to be precise and we had been most wonderfully entertained in the old farmhouse ( now buddhist retreat ).
Leaving on Saturday evening we were all crammed into the Ford Fiesta, which is our family car – not quite an MPV or Estates, but economical and reliable.
The route took us via Leomister ( pronounced lemster ) and Worcerster ( pronounced as it is written –erm…not ) and spouted us on to the M network heading North. We took the M42 near Birmingham ( London 121 miles ) and hummed along to regular RedBulls™.
The car started juddering around 60 miles from London, this getting increasingly bad when the speed dropped below 65.
I assumed that the problem was mechanical ( cambelts, sparkplugs??? ) – I did not suspect a tyre as I had checked these in Bristol and they appeared fine still before leaving.
Anyway – 12 miles from our destination ( Brighton ), the front driver’s side trye blew into pieces at 70mph in the outside lane.
The car hel its course and, thankfully, our Car Insurance company’s roadside assistance package delivered admirably and our new spare tyre was fitted and in use within 40 minutes of the blowout.