Put yourself in my position. You've got some time off in lieu, the weather's looking pretty good, and you've just had the latest Honda Civic Type R delivered. There's only one thing you can do, isn't there? Road trip!
I live in Derbyshire, with the Peak District on my doorstep, and we're blessed with some wonderful driving roads. But two hours away from my house is Wales, and the mountains of Snowdonia offer some of the best roads in the UK for driving pleasure.
It feels appropriate, too because the new Honda Civic Type R was hailed by one of my favourite motoring magazines, Evo, as one of their performance cars of the year. And it's Evo that spent so long charging around a particular trio of roads in Snowdonia that their favourite circuit has been dubbed the "Evo Triangle".
And that was my first destination in the Type R - a £50,000, 324bhp, ballistic version of the popular family hatchback that Evo hails the "undisputed king of hot hatches".
You don't really slip into the Type R's interior, you awkwardly mount it. And that's because the front seats are sculpted to keep you pinned in place, with high squabs and a clever fabric that grips to you as you settle in.
The interior isn't all that different from the standard Civics, and that's a good thing, because the driving position is perfect, all the controls are laid out exactly where you need them and visibility is better than you'd expect.
What you do get, though, is one of the nicest Alcantara steering wheels you'll get your hands around, and a classic Type R metal gear nob. The pedals are grippier, there's a red logo on the steering wheel, the bright red seats and belts lift the cabin a lot, and there's an innocuous little button marked "R". I'll elaborate on that shortly.
Trundling up the dual carriageways through Stoke, the Type R doesn't feel all that different to the standard Civic. In "Comfort" mode, the suspension is far from harsh and you can turn the triple-exhaust pipes down a few notches to keep up with the refinement.
The seats are softer than you'd expect, which is welcome, and there's a suite of driver aids, including adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist.
The infotainment system feels a bit small and old-tech by modern standards and, although it has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, it can't pipe these out wirelessly, which is a bit of a shame.
It doesn't take long to dust off the dual carriageways, and I'm soon in the Cheshire countryside, edging closer to the Welsh border, which arrives sooner than you'd expect, just after Whitchurch.
It takes a lot longer to start seeing the mountains and I'm nearing my first pit stop at the Rhug Estate's farm shop near Corwen before the scenery is feeling properly "Welsh".
But I'm now very close to the first destination at the start of the Evo Triangle, the village of Cerrigydrudion. The Evo Triangle heads north from here, up through a cluster of small forests and past Llyn Brenig to a junction at the former Sportsman's Arms.
The B5041 is a gloriously well-kept, wide and undulating stretch of long, sweeping bends, so it's a perfect B-Road blast, and I can imagine the testers really opening up the taps here.
Sadly, all that tomfoolery, and the petrolhead pilgrimages that followed, has led to the entire circuit having average-speed cameras installed. Not that I ever break the speed limit, but I find myself prodding the "limiter" button on the Civic's steering wheel so I don't accidentally sail past the 50mph restriction.
It's a surprisingly calm introduction to this automotive mecca, then, but the next stretch, the A543 back to the A5 at Pentrefoelas is slightly more exciting.
Still sticking rigidly to 50mph I'm able to hurl the Type R around a bit more on these more twisty moorland roads. I'm starting to get a feel for the monstrous grip, and the communicative steering. But the circuit really doesn't take long, even at 50.
I feel disappointed. Even though I never break the speed limit, the Evo Triangle is certainly not the playground it once was. I rejoin the A5 and head towards Capel Curig, to take a road I know pretty well, the A4086 towards Beddgelert.
There are no cameras here so, although I never break the speed limit, I'm able to push on a little bit more firmly, and I decide it's time to prod that alluring "R" button.
This mode turns everything up a few notches. The exhaust is louder, the engine is sharper, the suspension is firmer, the steering is livelier, and there's a sense of theatre in the cockpit as all sorts of things start to glow red and the instrument display transforms into a driver-focused layout.
The way the Type R attacks a Welsh mountain road is, quite frankly, magnificent - there's no other word for it. It might have far more power than you should sensibly send through just the front wheels, but the tyres do a fabulous job of keeping everything in check, even on damp roads, and you're rewarded with glorious feedback from the steering and one of the best gearchanges of any current car.
Before long the A4086 becomes the A498, which then becomes intimidatingly narrow as it descends out of the moorland and into the delightful village of Beddgelert, so Comfort mode goes back on and I head for what is probably one of my favourite roads in the country.
Head out of Beddgelert towards Nantmor, watch out for the take-no-prisoners Snowdon Sherpa bus drivers, and turn off on to the A4085, past my uncle's house, towards Garreg.
You're now in absolute motoring heaven. Unlike the Evo Triangle, the Llanberis Pass, the Horseshoe Pass and some of the other popular Welsh roads, this is tight and twisty.
There's everything from technical switchbacks to flat-out straights and, because it's such a tight stretch, you're never going all that fast. Not that, I hasten to add, I ever break the speed limit.
The joy to be had from a road like this is not in chasing high speeds, but in navigating the tight twists, turns, and undulations and wringing out every last bit of excitement from the car.
And what a car. I head back up through Rhyd on another incredible little road, and on to the rather enchanting A487, before heading through Ffestiniog, Blaenau Ffestiniog, and back to the enforced calm of the camera-laden A5, which takes me home again.
I'm left with a few peaceful hours to wonder if there's actually anything to dislike about the Type R. Ordinarily I'd balk at the idea of paying £50,000 for a hot hatch, but you only have to spend a few hours in one to appreciate where the money has been spent.
I could eulogise about the trick suspension setup, the lighter flywheel, the exhaust flow rate, the body rigidity, and the turbo efficiency, but all you really need to know is that it works. Brilliantly.
My brief sortie was, in many ways, the perfect road trip. I love Snowdonia and, if you've never been, you really must go.
The perfect road trip should always be dusted off in the perfect car and, although there are hundreds of cars that would have delivered a healthy dose of excitement, the Civic Type R's blend of a sensible hatchback that will keep a family safe and comfortable on a long journey, with an absolute hooligan that will set your pulse racing at the touch of a button made it, for me at least, the perfect companion.
What a day, and what a car.
You can find Honda Civic Type R deals here.
