For many of us the journey to Qatar and the forthcoming World Cup is a difficult one. There’s passports to find, clothes to pack, flights to book as well as finding a reasonably priced hotel once there. So why make it even harder?
One way of making it more difficult would be to drive there. Imagine it, Wales to Qatar. That’s a fair few miles and borders to cross and a not inconsiderable cost of petrol to consider.
And then there’s the recent story of a few Welsh football fans who have planned to arrive in Qatar on 18 November, 22 days after setting off from the Football Association of Wales’ (FAW’s) headquarters at the Vale Resort, Vale of Glamorgan. Why the interest from MotorMartin? That’s easy to answer as Nick Smith, Scott Young and fellow fans Huw Talfryn Walters and Walter Pennell are travelling by EV, the newly released MG4 no less.
The journey itself will see the boys travelling through an incredible 19 countries, collecting messages of support for Wales along the way as well as visiting a number of football themed landmarks such as the UEFA headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Blimey!
If that all sounds like a recipe for disaster then you’d be very much in the minority, in fact the trip has been planned with great care with the MG4 being chosen for its excellent range and the value for money that it represents to the paying customer.
And it’s a range of up to 281 miles that should prove to be the ace up the MG4’s sleeve as Scott Young explains, “In the northern part of Europe they’re quite widespread (charging points), but after we travel down to Belgrade and North Macedonia, distances are a bit longer and it took a bit more planning.”
“But it should be fine. Then across to Israel, it gets a bit tougher, especially Saudi Arabia, where there’s no electric charger infrastructure. We will have to charge from industrial units or hotels. That’s where the jeopardy becomes real.”
Best not attempt the journey in my own EV with it’s range of 173 miles, I might arrive in time for the next World Cup…
This trip is certainly one to keep an eye on with FAW chief executive Noel Mooney saying that the trip encapsulates “all that is good about Wales” and that he and his team will check in with the guys every day to ensure they are on the right road to Doha and that they have found a socket.”
So there we have it, an epic journey to follow Wales into their first World Cup for 64 years. A Brand new MG4 to travel in and a collection of memories that will easily last a lifetime. Let’s just hope that the boys don’t have to wait another 64 years before trying again.