A madcap motorhead drove his battered Citroen 2CV 1,023 miles from England to Ireland – using only B-roads and a COMPASS.<br /><br />Matthew Hollis, 41, took ten days to complete the epic trip from Ness Point in Lowestoft, Suffolk, to Dunmore Head, on Ireland's west coast.<br /><br />He finished his coast-to-coast journey on Friday (12/4), after relying on a compass to find his way and only sticking to B-roads.<br /><br />He almost drove into trouble on the final stage of his challenge when he got lost driving the last ten miles from Dingle to Dunmore Head.<br /><br />What should have been a 20 minute journey turned into a two-and-a-half hour ordeal after Matthew took a wrong turn and ended up driving 50 miles out of his way.<br /><br />After reaching his final destination following ten days on the road, Matthew said: "The biggest challenge was the weather. <br /><br />"I'm not sure I've had a single day where it didn’t rain.<br /><br />“Not only did that mean driving through often flooded roads and fords but it was quite uncomfortable because the car roof leaked.<br /><br />"It's been quite challenging but the car overcome pretty much everything thrown at it.<br /><br />"It took a lot out of me, just driving. I was getting lost a lot and I worked out there was only one place in the car where the compass worked.<br /><br />“This meant there was a lot of stopping and starting but I also met some brilliant people and saw so many things I never expected to.<br /><br />"Even in the last day, when I was only about 20 minutes from the final destination, it took me about two-and-a-half hours because I was getting completely lost.”<br /><br />Matthew completed his journey driving his beloved 1985-registered Citroen 2CV – called ‘Cookie’ - which he bought when he was just 16 years old.<br /><br />The blue and orange motor has a top speed of 72mph but Matthew averaged around 20mph during his travels along narrow country lanes.<br /><br />More than five million Citroen 2CVs were built and were often nicknamed 'Flying dustbins' and 'Tin snails' on account of their distinctive shape.<br /><br />During Matthew's trip, the car suffered a broken drive shaft and needed replacement brake pads. <br /><br />Matthew would stay overnight in hotels, in a tent and even slept in the car after paring up in a multi-storey car park late at night.<br /><br />Despite many wrong turns, Matthew reached the finishing line on Friday, one day ahead of schedule.<br /><br />Matthew, from Northampton, raised more than £2,500 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), where he works.<br /><br />The return journey took just two days, after Matthew switched on his sat-nav.
