...rather fired off by the M25 discussion.
Whilst motorways are (often) fine for getting you somewhere in a hurry, I much prefer to avoid them when/if I can do a given journey on lesser roads without undue delay.
I'm sure my attitude to this has hardened somewhat since I stopped driving for work reasons, but even before this, I would essay to avoid all-motorway routes for long journeys, giving a bit of variety in my travels.
As a result of this, I still have a number of routes where I would normally avoid potentially the fastest motorway or trunk routes to have a little more "enjoyment" in my travels.
Some of them seem to make very little difference in the overall travel time, and at the same time put a little relaxation into the day.
Do others do the same, and where?
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No! I hate the people bumbling along on little roads, and you never know what's around the next bend.
I feel much more comfortable on motorways.
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I definitely prefer motorways to the A9!
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When heading to or from south Cheshire to the South West, and if bored by the M6 / M5 drudge I'll use the A49. Very pretty route past Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Leominster, Hereford etc.
Especially pleasing on a summer evening and if not in a hurry. Always seems appropriate to pop some Mozart on.
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I have on many occasions gone 'through' Wales on my way from South Wales to the North West. Take a fair bit longer but a nice drive. But that's the A470 and A483.
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We go to friends just East of Shap a few times a year. For the past ten years we come off at the Carnforth gate...head North and lunch in Milnthorpe. The cafe moved to Arnside a couple of years ago so we divert there now.
Then it's back onto the A6 all the way through Kendal to turn off at Shap.
What's the rush ? It's far more relaxing...in spite of the M6 being empty most of the time !
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...I did wonder how long it would take for a café to be mentioned.......
(and that isn't a derogatory remark - one of my motorway avoidance routes includes just such a diversion)
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I was there last Sunday Ted... Parked at Hucks Bridge about 8 miles N of Kendal on A6. Pleasant circular walk around Borrowdale & Bretherdale. A lovely quiet part of the world, and from the tops nice views W of the Lakeland fells, SW to Morecambe Bay and Arnside Knott, E to the Howgills and NE to Crossfell and Big & Little Dun with the CAA radar globe on the summit.
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Yes, I've done it when time allowed and the alternative appealed. There was a summer evening in 2004 when I had to get from work in Redditch to a friend's house near Lymington and I decided to do the whole thing without motorways. It wasn't a Friday so the roads were clear, and I had a still-new five-cylinder diesel engine that was still usefully quicker than most of the rest of what was out there. It took about an hour longer but was a great drive on a beautiful evening.
You can probably tell from the way I still remember this twelve years on that it's not the sort of thing I get to do very often. Time and expediency tend to take precedence. There were a few weeks last year when visiting aged r. in Chichester took me on an eastern route through Surrey and Sussex to Goodwood - AC's badlands; more involving than the A3 but only temporary.
One factor these days that takes the shine off A-road trips is the abominable surface of many of them. Yes, dodging potholes is involving but it's hardly what we signed up for when we applied for our licences, is it?
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..the potholes are probably less of an issue for me than the creeping 50mph limits (yes, you can ignore them at your peril - most round here are SPECS managed however) on roads that otherwise invite a somewhat faster progress.
A number of my "diversionary" routes have gone that way.
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I sometimes use a non motorway route to the west country. On paper it takes longer, but avoiding the M5/M4 junction can pay off. Route also works better at rush hour times.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Fri 15 Apr 16 at 23:02
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My gf hates motorways. Won't drive on them at all, and doesn't especially like being a passenger on them either. Living where She does (near Humph, as it happens) mways are hard to avoid, but I have established various avoidance routes. The side roads of Cheshire are quite pretty, and timings arnt much different to the motorway if you manage to avoid the town centres.
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>> My gf hates motorways. Won't drive on them at all, and doesn't especially like being
>> a passenger on them either.
Why's that?
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In the dim and distant she was involved in a couple of big accidents, as a passenger. Her issue is quite limiting, as it means I always have to drive if we are traveling any distance at all.
She is planning on taking a driver training course in the near future with a view to getting over the problem.
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My mother in law is like that. Hates motorways ( which is after all irrational given that they are statistically the safest category of road ) and she hates flying. It does have its upsides though in that we don't have to take her anywhere !
;-)
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>> When heading to or from south Cheshire to the South West, and if bored by
>> the M6 / M5 drudge I'll use the A49. Very pretty route past Shrewsbury, Ludlow,
>> Leominster, Hereford etc.
>>
Funnily enough I was at a meeting in Cheltenham a couple of weeks ago and was very tempted to try that route home as it had seemed to take a long time to get there on the motorways - no hold-ups, it was just further than I had in my head.
But I couldn't bring myself to do it. Even taking the A41 North from the M54 always seems painful and I usually regret doing it.
My common diversion if the M6 N is bad is come off at J14 and run up the A34 to Stone then across Cheshire on the A51 - that's usually very quiet.
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Yes I use J14 and that road quite a lot. Doesn't add a great deal of time to my journey and if it's a pleasant evening it's a nice enough cross country drive. Gives me a chance to play with the flappy paddles too.
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I work about 50 miles from home.
The motorway route is slightly further (55 miles).
The back roads (mix of larger and smaller A roads) is 45 miles.
I invariably take the back roads. I do get caught out from time to time when there is a major obstruction.
Last edited by: Tigger on Sat 16 Apr 16 at 06:19
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...it seems views are somewhat polarised.
One of my regular runs is South via (naturally) the M1 and M40, and the "conventional" routing would take me via the M69 and A46 between the two (though TBH, I think the A43 is generally better).
To break things up, I usually exit the M1 at J20, and head down the A5, most of which is easily driven at the NSL (and I seldom hit much that holds me up).
Depending on mood, I then take the A361 to Banbury and the M40 (slowish, especially since most has now been limited to 50mph - but quite an enjoyable drive), or, more often, continue all the way down the A5 to the A43 at Towcester.
The interesting thing is that (for me at least) the latter is much more relaxing than the M1, and seems to cost me very little in time.
Following Ted's theme, from the A43/M40 junction, instead of heading down one junction to the A34, I then tend to take the B430 (the old A43, remembered from driving to Reading in my youth). Again, (particularly in busy periods) this seems to cost very little time (the queues at the M40/A34 junction can be horrendous), and there is a really cracking café at Weston on the Green.
I'm often surprised how quiet some of the bypassed, but still perfectly adequate, roads can be.
In a similar manner, going North (with an option of A66/M6/M74, or the A1(M), give me the A68 every time. Now, that is slow if you get behind "stuff", but the views make it well worth it.
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>> Depending on mood, I then take the A361 to Banbury and the M40 (slowish, especially
>> since most has now been limited to 50mph - but quite an enjoyable drive), or,
>> more often, continue all the way down the A5 to the A43 at Towcester.
That touches on one of mine, the old line of the B4525 from Northampton to Banbury.
Keep on the A5 south towards Towcester but about two miles south of Weedon, at a staggered crossroads, turn right for Litchborough. Continue via Maidford, Adstone, Canons Ashby and Moreton Pinkney to Thorpe Mandeville where you join the current line of the B4525, meeting the M40 at J11.
All in lanes, mostly NSL except in villages. Still quite well signed as a through route to Banbury.
There is an interesting memorial just outside Litchborough where Robert Watson-Watt's team carried out experiments to prove the theory of radar. A superannuated bomber stooged around the area while the scientists tested how it reflected the radio signals from the then BBC Empire service SW transmitters on Borough Hill at Daventry. A carved stone and 'explainer' boards mark the site.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sat 16 Apr 16 at 12:17
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Not exactly motorway avoidance, but is now the time to admit that there were plenty of occasions when we lived in Caversham and I worked in Marlow that'd I'd drive north and join the M40 southbound, then A404, rather than drive through Reading and along the A4. Company car plus fuel card helped ;)
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...I know Henley can be a s*d to get through, but that sounds a bit extreme......
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Wouldn't know. Reading's horrible, though.
Where did you join the M40? Lewknor? Confess I'm not quite getting the logic of getting from Marlow to the M40 to the A404 without using the A404 north as well.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Sat 16 Apr 16 at 15:42
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Yes if I went that way home back to Caversham then I'd have to go north of course. And yes, Lewknor was where I'd join. To be clear I only did it if the weather was nice, and I wasn't in a hurry...it was never my preferred route. But I like driving, I had a swiftish car, with a sunroof so on a nice spring morning it made a change. Plus, the more miles the car did the more often it could be booked in to Aston Green and the more frequently it would be cleaned ;)
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I have lots of these. I'd like to say friends who travel with me marvel at my navigational skills, but usually they can't understand why I don't either follow the motorway with everybody else, or slavishly obey the sat nav.
They aren't as good as they once were, in general. The authorities seem deliberately to make their non-preferred routes slow or difficult, and a lot of cross country routes are now maximum 50mph with a mile of 30 or 40 wherever there is a 100yds of houses, anti-overtaking measures for miles on end, etc.
The A5 between Crick and Milton Keynes was a fast road 20 years ago, with easy overtaking using the now erased centre lane. Now it can be very frustrating with miles of lower limits, worse in a queue behind a slow LGV especially when the leading car will neither overtake nor leave a gap so that others can.
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Drove the West..... ( never mind ) all over France without using motorways. Three summer holidays on the trot. Seemed fitting.
;-)
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>> The A5 between Crick and Milton Keynes was a fast road 20 years ago, with
>> easy overtaking using the now erased centre lane.
Difference of perception here. To my mind the three lane sections were extremely dangerous, to extent that I'd avoid using the middle one unless road in opposite direction was completely clear. Never frightened myself but I saw several others have 'brown trouser' moments and also recall reports in local paper of spectacular accidents with KSI outcomes. Must be nearly 20yrs since they were removed.
The perpetual roadworks between M1/J16 and Catthorpe mean I'm using it a lot recently, combination of Uni runs to Liverpool and trips Mother in Leicester. Tend to stay on as far as Gibbet Junction then use A426 to either M6/J1 or M1/J20. Feels quicker than the m/way and may well be as A5 is much nearer us. An engaging drive with better opportunities for overtakes than most A roads.
Not sure I recognise the 'miles of lower limits' either. There's a short, and wholly justified, 50 gone in in last few years round Watford Gap crossroads (IIRC Manatee's had a 'frightener' there himself). The only other two I can think of are on fringes of habitation at Fosters Booth and further south at Potterspury. Thirty through Weedon and certainly Towcester must be of very long standing.
The roundabouts surrounding the railfreight complex at Daventry are a bit of a blocker though. Looks as though that's now being expanded onto parts of the former Rugby Radio site too.
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Over Easter, the wife and kids were up in the Lakes and I went up to joint them a day or so later. I decided to program the TomTom to avoid motorways and I have a pleasant journey from north Essex through Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire etc and went on some great roads and through delightful villages I would not have otherwise seen.
At one point I followed a car who drove at just the right speed, i.e. he wasn't afraid to stick at 60ish (where appropriate), took corners well and didn't brake unnecessarily basically seemed to drive the way I like to drive. We both seemed to get into this natural rhythm for mile after mile. The only downside to the journey was joining parts of the A1 with its stupidly short on-slips.
The overall journey didn't take much longer than normal and I did not feel any more weary.
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If you want to avoid motorways just pop over to Norfolk. None in Suffolk either for that matter.
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>> If you want to avoid motorways just pop over to Norfolk. None in Suffolk either for that matter.
Most of our holidays are self-catering in the kind of places where the owners of the accommodation provide a guest book for comments. In my experience, the comments tend to include a lot of sycophantic drivel. I read one witty entry, however, in the Minsmere area of Suffolk. It bemoaned the provision of a single toilet roll, because it was used up within twenty minutes of arrival due to the suicidal driving of some of the locals. It was said in jest, but I saw some scary examples of it myself in the narrow lanes.
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John Boy, I was soon taught when I moved to the Fens the way to go down narrow lanes when meeting oncoming traffic.
Select narrow gear and close eyes.....it always served me well:)
Pat
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I can remember moving in to our last rented house, it was in a very small village with various hamlets dotted about it. Even the oh who grew up in a rural county was surprised how little quarter was given in passing each. Stonewalls and thick hedges made no difference in the slightest, there was only one speed to pass each other and at was at full bore.
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>> Select narrow gear and close eyes.....it always served me well:)
Mrs A used this tactic in some country lanes last week. Subsequently, I enjoyed spending an hour removing extensive scratches running from the front wing to the rear wing on the nearside of Mazda.
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Some prat did it to me last week. Straight bit, plenty of notice. I was in a narrow section, he was in the wide bit. All he had to do was lift off and we would have passed with room to spare, but no he kept going.
As we met he twitched towards me and we touched mirrors - not hard or close enough to fold either. No point stopping, I thought, but I could see that he had as I looked in the mirror. I carried on. Small mark in lacquer.
Newish Audi A3, not even a builders van. Iriot.
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Around Minsmere that would be twitchers not locals. No time to be lost if you are afte your first sighting of the Greater Crested Spder Eating Warbler in its summer plumage and you have just had a message on RBA .
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...the wife and kids were up in the Lakes and I went up to joint them...
Butcher!
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We can stop short of High Class Family Butcher, though. I wonder if Vić patronizes one of those.
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I thought you've been to Turkish Grill in Emmer Green? That's where most of my meat comes from.
(i.e. I don't eat much meat, it's a rare treat.)
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I wish I knew a good avoiding route for Edinburgh.
A lorry in the central reservation on the bypass today (took out about 400 yds of armco) delayed us for about an hour.
Heard about it before we joined, but decided any diversionary route would likely be gridlocked. Judging by what we could see, we were right.
In the other direction, incoming traffic on the M8 was complaining of being stuck for 4 hours!
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Where are you travelling from and to?
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He'll have been looking for somewhere to park his motorcamper/shed/van thing.
;-)
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Mrs ON was expecting a friend to visit from Mussleburgh this morning, she was delayed for four hours on the Edinburgh by-pass. Apparently a TNT parcel truck had a tyre blowout, it mounted the central barrier and went another couple of hundred yards before stopping, demolishing the barrier. Not helped by tourist motorcampers/sheds/van things cluttering up the area.
www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/lorry-crash-leads-to-delays-on-edinburgh-city-bypass-1-4104265
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.. helped by tourist motorcaravan motorhome campervan things offering tea, coffee, sandwiches and toilet facilities to strandees.
There, put it right for you!
I was heading A1 to M9, but almost on the bypass before we got the traffic report. Given the radial nature of Edinburgh's roads, and the fact it had been going on hours, we decided to chance it. In retrospect, the right decision. Did consider going via Leith, a route I know, but all the evidence is that we would have got gridlocked, and that the least disrupted flow was the westbound bypass (eastbound was abysmal)
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I can't find it now but yesterday I read that Police Scotland were getting flak for the length of time it took to investigate and clear up the non injury accident on the bypass that caused chaos around Edinburgh. Apparently the lorry went off at 7:15 am and was not removed until the afternoon. There was mutterings about all it needed was a measuring tape some chalk, shut the two middle lanes and get the traffic moving on lane one and the hard shoulder. Leave recovery until overnight. Or is that too easy?
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Motorway Avoidance - Bill Payer
