Tomorrow morning, I set out on yet another crazy car collection caper – this time, it’s Cornish!

The car in question is a Honda S-MX. It is located in Plymouth, so my first challenge will be to get there. I will be using a combination of Perodua Nippa, awful Arriva Train Wales and then a hopefully-more-pleasant Cross Country fast train from Birmingham. The train is costing £59.75, though I’ve saved about £60 by booking through Split Ticketing. This website has become an essential tool in the car collection caper business, because it uses clever calculations to break up your journey into the cheapest possible format. You could do this yourself, due to the utterly stupid way in which our railways are run, but it would take many hours.

This actually is my new car. Hope it’s ok!

In effect, my journey is broken into several chunks, even though the reality is that I’ll be on the same pair of trains as if I’d paid full price. My first ticket takes me from Caersws to Birmingham, but the next leg is broken down into Birmingham to Cheltenham, Cheltenham to Bristol, Bristol to Taunton and finally Taunton to Plymouth. The only minor inconvenience is that I have reserved seats for each ticket, and they’re not the same for each leg. I shall combat this by either hoping the train is quiet, and just staying in the same seat, or taking an unreserved seat all the way.

It’s annoying that such tactics are necessary. Rail travel in this country is hopelessly expensive. The normal £129.50 price for this journey is just ridiculous.

Train travel can be grim. These Arriva Trains Wales things are horrible.

I’ll be arriving in Plymouth at 1742hrs (all being well) where I shall set eyes upon my new car for the first time. Assuming it is as described, money will change hands and I’ll then head to Cornwall. I will then find somewhere to sleep in my new car, because the seats transform into a bed, and I need to test this. Immediately.

My ultimate destination will be Redruth, where a friend will perform a timing belt change on my new steed. There doesn’t seem to be any mention of a belt change in the history and at £750, this car goes down as an expensive purchase by my standards. I need to protect my investment. We’ll also give it a good going over to see what else is going to be necessary in the future. I’d guess the transmission fluid hasn’t been changed in a very long time. I’ll also assess whether it needs a general service, but may wait until I get home to sort that out.

It’s all very exciting and I look forward to seeing what my new car is like, seeing what it’s like to sleep in and seeing where I manage to find to park up for the night. Stay tuned!