Fangirl Three wrote:

Earlier I'd tried out that Morrisons that's really close to junction 48 of the A1(M). There's even a sign at the junction:



Never seen the petrol-toilet-cafe pictograms on a Superstore sign before.

I noticed another one at J10 of the M8. Also pointing to a Morrisons.

Driving south again today. Perhaps I'll stop at Boroughbridge again, perhaps I'll try the old M61/M60/Congleton sidestep of the busiest bits of the M6.

Oh. Red roses in landscaping? I thought Yorkshire was white rose territory. Did nobody tell the council?

I despise red roses. I’ve got a mind to email them, suggesting they rip those out and send them to Lancashire.

White roses look much better, and Google confirms Boroughbridge as being in North Yorkshire. Shocking.

Are they even roses? There’s a white rose symbol lurking behind the offence. What were they thinking?

Lovely weather, but an awful journey. Most of the service areas were seething pits of beeping horns and bad temper.

Also it took 10.5 hours, because I had to keep stopping to rest my left leg, which was aching from having nothing to do.

The only bits I enjoyed were the summer morning on the A69, and the beautiful mellow evening sunlight as I drove the last 20 miles across the Essex countryside.

I was on a road btw, I didn't literally drive across the countryside, through barns with all chickens clucking and feathers flying.

Fangirl Three wrote:

I was on a road btw, I didn't literally drive across the countryside, through barns with all chickens clucking and feathers flying.

You never can tell what people will do.

A friend of mine once insisted we take a shortcut through farmland in Sussex. I said it wasn’t a good idea and warned that if we got stuck, she’d be the one getting out to push while I’d transfer to the drivers seat. We didn’t get stuck but the shortcut took nearly an hour longer than the proper route and we arrived at the funeral half way through. There was an awful lot of reversing going on.

Driving north again today. I'm not staying at Darlington any more, because they gave me a crap room last time. Instead I'm going all the way to Dumfries. The M62/A664/M66/M65 trans-Pennine shuffle is a possibility on my dance card.

Ooh, what an awful journey yesterday. Including an unscheduled tour of Manchester's satellite towns. I accidentally drove into Burnley town centre and had to flee.

It was like driving through Final Score for Division Two in 1985.

Had a bit of a crazy drive back to the northernlands tonight.

First, my usual route of the M18 from Sheffieldshire to Doncaster was shut so I carried on on the M1 north past Barnsley and Wakefield, then I got warnings that the M1 was closed and all vehicles were being diverted into the centre of Leeds!

I ended up right by the "skyscrapers" and downtown tower blocks and had to navigate my way through the fly-unders and roundabouts by following signs for Harrogate. Luckily as it was after 9pm it wasn't very busy. The Google Maps satnav thingy didn't give me any prior warnings the M1 was closed.

It added 27 minutes to my journey. But only 3 extra miles.

Oddly I myself was caught in an epic traffic jam on my way back from having my hair cut yesterday. One carriageway was blocked, and instead of setting up a contraflow they stupidly diverted all the traffic through the centre of Dumbarton.

Luckily I had my mini-tablet with me, on Google traffic surveillance mode, and I slipped away from the jam by driving through a housing estate.

Butterfield wrote:

Had a bit of a crazy drive back to the northernlands tonight.

First, my usual route of the M18 from Sheffieldshire to Doncaster was shut so I carried on on the M1 north past Barnsley and Wakefield, then I got warnings that the M1 was closed and all vehicles were being diverted into the centre of Leeds!

I ended up right by the "skyscrapers" and downtown tower blocks and had to navigate my way through the fly-unders and roundabouts by following signs for Harrogate. Luckily as it was after 9pm it wasn't very busy. The Google Maps satnav thingy didn't give me any prior warnings the M1 was closed.

Usually get 3 people undertaking you while you try to get into the correct lane, typical Leeds arrogance.

Fangirl Three wrote:

Oddly I myself was caught in an epic traffic jam on my way back from having my hair cut yesterday. One carriageway was blocked, and instead of setting up a contraflow they stupidly diverted all the traffic through the centre of Dumbarton.

Luckily I had my mini-tablet with me, on Google traffic surveillance mode, and I slipped away from the jam by driving through a housing estate.

It's just the worst when they shut a road in an area you are unfamiliar with and there are no diversion signs, leaving you to your own devices - as with last night. And sometimes the satnav will try to get you back on the road that is shut. You can't pull over anywhere on a motorway or even in a city centre to check any maps!

I'd guess risk of accident is much higher in these circumstances as you don't know where you are and keep ending up in the wrong lane, plus one feels a high level of anxiety and might not be driving quite so eloquently.

My Filofax of strip maps of roads that I frequently drive has on it, amongst other information I've compiled, the nearest place to each junction that you can stop and check a map. Laybys, garages, McDonalds, wide roads in towns etc.

I have it open on the passenger seat, always turned to the right page so that if the tablet (which I have next to it) shows a jam after the next junction, I can turn off and work out an escape route.

It also shows all major supermarkets near each junction so I know where to have a w*e, and buy a picnic.

That's all very good and well thought out. When driving goes well it's very good, but when it goes badly it's terrible.

Yes. And the urge to escape can lead to getting tangled in horrible narrow country roads in the middle of nowhere.

So another thing I mark on my map is whether the side roads are wide enough for 2 cars to pass (such roads are shown in a different colour on the OS map). Particularly useful on the A1 where you don't know if a potential turning is a useful escape route, or a trap leading to someone's farmyard.

Took me 11 hours to get from Glasgow to Essex yesterday. I missed the turn from the M18 onto the A1(M), and thought about turning back at the next junction via Rotherham, but instead I decided to boldly continue onto the M1 and come down that way.

Big mistake, miles of 50mph limits and unexpected heavy Sunday night traffic. And I had to stop at Leicester Forest East which is one of my least favourite service areas.