A *proper* rural

[Deadly]

I've done rurals myself but they've been fairly built up so nothing really out in the middle of nowhere with houses miles away from each other. Has anyone done what I'd call a proper rural? Something like the highlands of Scotland or the Lake District with a scattering of calls but covering a large distance and takes hours to do?

[toonshola]

I’ve never done one but I’d be curious to know what number of delivery points a real rural has. Are we talking 20 doors or less?
Would love to be on a proper one in the Lake District, be like a whole different job compared to doing 600 doors in a built up inner city.

[chocolatesaltyballs]

I do one occasionally when they can't get it covered which is 400+ delivery points spread over 80+ miles and takes about 7hrs on an average day.
edit: hope I didn't shatter your dreams.

[toonshola]

I do one occasionally when they can't get it covered which is 400+ delivery points spread over 80+ miles and takes about 7hrs on an average day.
edit: hope I didn't shatter your dreams.

Dreams well and truly shattered haha

[postieblueshirt]

Same here 65 square miles 40 minutes to first delivery point and a 55 minute drive back to office about 350 calls small village then middle of nowhere rural no phone coverage unless your on orange.great in the summer terrible in winter.plus its scotland so there no summer really lol ha ha I'm showing my age I meant ee not orange.

[chocolatesaltyballs]

Same here 65 square miles 40 minutes to first delivery point and a 55 minute drive back to office about 350 calls small village then middle of nowhere rural no phone coverage unless your on orange.great in the summer terrible in winter.plus its scotland so there no summer really lol ha ha I'm showing my age I meant ee not orange.

The one I do is all rural houses and farms with no built up areas and likewise there is no mobile phone coverage for about half of it so you hope you don't have an accident or van packs in.

[Munchboii]

I've done a rural with large stretches of real rural so to speak. But also built up.

I didnt like it really as it was difficult to learn because of all the unique names. The van was destroyed everyday up farm lanes. I would rather do a walk

[Rael, the IAK]

I've done a deep rural for a week. Took ages to find my way about as there were no notes on it and no one in knew it. 240 DPs, about 50 miles driven and ½ an hour out to the start and the same back. Apart from a couple of small stretches of modern close together houses and a very small business park, it's all seperate well spread out farms and cottages.

[wacko74]

lol at 20 calls!

The rurals I cover are all around 3-400 calls and 60-70 miles long, usually start off in a small village for half the delivery then out in the sticks for the other half.

The best thing about a rural is you can usually always get rid of everything, lots of calls on mine don't even lock their doors when they go out.

I do have to remind myself that I'm getting paid to drive around a coastal AONB where people are paying £1000 a week or more to come and stay in a holiday let here.

A rural in the Highlands would be my dream job.

[postieblueshirt]

lol at 20 calls!

The rurals I cover are all around 3-400 calls and 60-70 miles long, usually start off in a small village for half the delivery then out in the sticks for the other half.

The best thing about a rural is you can usually always get rid of everything, lots of calls on mine don't even lock their doors when they go out.

I do have to remind myself that I'm getting paid to drive around a coastal AONB where people are paying £1000 a week or more to come and stay in a holiday let here.

A rural in the Highlands would be my dream job.

Yeah I used to feel that way where I delivered was near gleneagles so very scenic but as others have said I eventually wanted to be closer to office incase of breakdowns etc and to get a decent finish time lol.i used to have cups of tea made for me and you used to check in on some older folks same ones everyday it would surprise people where some people live.but I don't know if the guys have the time to do that now.

[Ricardo44]

Does anyone take newspapers on rurals? Going back a few years some of our rural duty holders used to do papers. They had the most seniority so many have retired now and i dont think it happens anymore. I remember seeing in the courier a postman in the Highlands had a quad bike type vehicle to get round on.

[Deadly]

The one I did dropped newspapers off and also picked up the odd letter to post with money for a stamp, usually a pile of 1p and 2p coins! I found it a bit of a pain if I'm honest.

[mr hil.]

Part of a deep rural I used to do had a section that was delivered by driving down a bridleway, not a real road. I used to meet the local 4x4 tourist company with fee paying customers aboard amazed that my little red van could cope with such tracks. The route had been set up years before when it was done on a pushbike and never updated. The track has now washed away with all this global warming and the drive round the valley takes forever now. I am pleased I don't do it anymore.

[postieblueshirt]

Yeah we did papers but the duty holders didn't always leave the money in the van so it became a pain then.ive done postbus aswell on a rural but in all the years I only ever had one passenger there was a roll of discoloured tickets in the van needless to say I didnt charge him for his journey.

[Seymour Buts]

250 delivery points is the smallest I've seen in terms of delivery points. I've never done the duty but it's actually pretty crap apparently.