Lovely sunny day here today, 15 degrees and dry. Car needs fuel, cheap garage 7 miles away (8p a litre cheaper than anywhere else. Great little road to get there, no real traffic, sweeping bends with good visibility…..haven’t been driving much at all due to my injured right foot and no real need or desire to do so. Foot is nearly at 100% so off I went. A really old fashioned drive, giving the Audi its legs….what a fantastic return to motoring…Mr Blie Sky happened on the radio….real driving pleasure
Roll on spring
|
Had the opposite on Thursday.
Went to a nice country pub, The Compasses nr littley green nr Braintree just off the Chelmsford road.
Dull drizzly day to drive there but Boy oh Boy the steak and ale pie was worth the drive.
|
Up to the NEC today for the Caravan and Camping show.
Usual stuff on the M1/M6 going; better homebound.
Took the A5 after J18 for a bit of variety. Hardly saw another vehicle.
|
Drove to my rugby club to watch England v Ireland.
I didn't like the way it was going and there were a load of footy types with no interest in the game, so I decided to watch the game in the village Club, walked in the door and England were 15? points down!!!!
Stayed until 20 minutes before the end and then went home, I couldn't stand any more. Disastrous.
|
>> Stayed until 20 minutes before the end and then went home, I couldn't stand any
>> more. Disastrous.
I don't follow rugby, or even understand how the game works, but I share your grief.
Daughter's household - her husband is Welsh by birth - was only slightly less let down.
|
I sometimes watch the rugby but who do I support.???
Father Welsh, Mother Scots, Grandfather Irish, Daughters French.
Worst of all is the Footie with VAR stopping the game for up to 11 minutes recently just for entertainment.
|
Pulling this firmly back on topic (not some silly game where men keep falling over and bumping into each other)
Went to Dursley in Hampshire yesterday. Route A3 south, left onto A272 at Petersfield through Meon Valley. Strange anomoly along that route. Northbound a NSL sign (so 60mph) followed by an average speed camera section.
On the way back its this sequence. NSL post, Average speed camera start, stretch of road, 50 mph post, stretch of road ASC end camera.
Now 1/ ASC sections normally have a posted speed limit, not a NSL, 2/ We have two different speed limits depending on direction on a single carriageway road, 3/ We have a change of speed limit in a timed camera section, how does the system work that one out?
|
|
Are you sure there was only an ASC at start/end of enforced section and not an interim on at point where 50 is applied?
|
>> Are you sure there was only an ASC at start/end of enforced section and not
>> an interim on at point where 50 is applied?
Yeah pretty sure, I tend to drive to enforcement methods, not speed limits, so pretty aware and diligent on that.
I know why its enforced, its an enthusiasts driving road, and leads to a bikers cafe, the Famous Meon Hut. Had its share of bike deaths.
|
"Had its share of bike deaths."
But also the locals get mightily pee'd off with the noise the bikes make.
|
>> Now 1/ ASC sections normally have a posted speed limit, not a NSL,
Arguably you could be driving at 80mph slowing only for the fixed camera.
2/ We have two different speed limits depending on direction on a single carriageway road,
Perhaps there is an entry/exit to a school, industrial estate, retail park on one side of the road
3/ We have a change of speed limit in a timed camera section, how does the system
>> work that one out?
It is quite easy to establish a minimum elapsed time between two points even if the limit varies along the route. No different to any other ASC section.
It may be a well thought through bit of road safety, but as you suggest, more likely a c0ck up.
|
<< Stayed until 20 minutes before the end and then went home, I couldn't stand any more. Disastrous. >>
Despite growing up in Wales and going to a rugby-playing school, I ignore the 6 Nations. The Scrum section of the paper is the first to go. The game used to have a degree of finesse, now it's just for 30 gorillas.
|
Back from our hols in Madeira week in a fully inclusive hotel (booked before the diagnosis) first long trip of the year was A55/M56 to the Mcr Airport. Nice drive (and back today) I'd forgotten how good motorways can be, especially with Sunday traffic.
I was pleasantly surprised with Portugal, what a lovely place, plenty of modern motors, especially old School Defenders (90s in the main) of various ages, unmolested and proper, our taxi from the airport was an E46BMW 320 Touring of all things - in lovely nick despite its 360k Kilometre life, needs a rear wheel bearing though, an equally ancient VW Passat estate was this morning's ride back, 360k Km. I noticed ver few EVs
Didn't bother with a hire car, just chilled all week. Highly recommend the place, booked via Travelzoo - £1400 quid for both of us....£100 a night for a nice hotel/room, good food and decent wine (gone off beer atm) and an excellent Ryanair return flight ! Bargain
|
Just booked this morning for 4 days South of france with Ryanair.
Flights for 2 £106.36 from Stanstill 40 minutes away from us.
4 nights decent 3*** Hotel with breakfast @ £68.oo a night. Fully refundable as usual.
Parking with Maple Parking as 20% discount for silver members, next time will see as a gold member and 25% off. Park secure compund and shuttle to the airport.
Will take youngrovergirl to Avignon for the day.
Bus into Nimes from the airport 2 euros each..
Whats not to like?
And on the subject.. If you play by Ryanair rules it's entirely acceptable.......
|
<< Back from our hols in Madeira ... our taxi from the airport was an E46BMW 320 Touring of all things - in lovely nick despite its 360k Kilometre life, >>
It must be at least 15, maybe 20, years since we visited Madeira for the third or fourth time. Altho it is Portuguese I don't regard it as 'Portugal', it's too different. Glad to hear that pensioned-off taxis from Lisbon are still the norm, just as they are in the Azores !
Funchal airport used to be considered the second-trickiest one to land a big plane after Hong Kong, but that one is no longer used, so maybe Funchal has top spot ?
|
Been to Madeira twice in last 10 years with friends…stayed just outside Funchal..a40 minute walk for us. Enjoyed the island but the capital was overwhelmed by cruise passengers during the day.
If we returned we’d stay away from Funchal…
CBlanca soon for 3 weeks in a rental villa. Lots of walking & scrambling , sightseeing inc maybe 2 nights in Valencia for the Fallas, 3 nights based in Alcoi to explore a different area and walk up Mijhorn
Forecast currently poor.
Last edited by: legacylad on Sun 1 Mar 26 at 19:15
|
>> Funchal airport used to be considered the second-trickiest one to land a big plane after
>> Hong Kong, but that one is no longer used, so maybe Funchal has top spot
>> ?
Still pretty tricky I think. Winds twisting around mountains and down valleys can turn direction in no time
Not unknown for the three windsocks of the aerodrome to all point in different directions.
There is now at least enough runway to have space to stop even if the aircraft floats over the touchdown zone but not a place for mistakes.
If you Google 'madeira airport live streaming' there are two or three folks with You Tube feeds.
If you're there in person there's a fuel station snack bar with a terrace you can watch from.
|
>> Funchal airport used to be considered the second-trickiest one to land a big plane after
>> Hong Kong, but that one is no longer used, so maybe Funchal has top spot
Everyone parks on the road up the side of the mountain overlooking the airport. They all turn up for the Ryan Air flights, who are notorious for dramatic landings there.
Hong Kong Kai Tak, flew in there on a BA jumbo, got us seats on the R/H side to get that scary view of the low right turn through the Kowloon district. Her indoors never knew what was coming.
|
Funchal airport used to be considered the second-trickiest one to land a big plane after Hong Kong, but that one is no longer used, so maybe Funchal has top spot ?
It was dodgy there on Friday/Saturday 34 kt crosswinds, planes stacked up in the sky everywhere !
Perfect conditions today for us....
|
Where were you staying on Madeira?
We're back in May staying at Santa Cruz. So good for plane watching.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 1 Mar 26 at 19:14
|
|
Hotel Pestana Royal,Sao Martinho close by to Funchal. It was good. Never had a bad Travelzoo deal.
|
|
Had a Mustang go over yesterday, north American as apposed to ford! First warbird of the year for me.
|
‘ Everyone parks on the road up the side of the mountain overlooking the airport. They all turn up for the Ryan Air flights, who are notorious for dramatic landings there.’
In fairness to the Ryanair drivers, the Boeing 737 has a reputation for not being the easiest aircraft to ease onto a runway.
Very short landing gear means a tail strike is more likely than the equivalent Airbus, and landing speeds are higher.
So, in windy and blustery conditions, the preferred SOP is to land ‘firmly’.
|
|
Funchal is one of the few airports these days that has an outdoor viewing area on the terminal roof .
|
<< Very short landing gear means a tail strike is more likely than the equivalent Airbus, and landing speeds are higher. So, in windy and blustery conditions, the preferred SOP is to land 'firmly'. >>
On one of our visits to Madeira the front row was occupied by some trainee pilots. Before landing the captain announced that the secret was Wheels down early, then brakes on hard ....
|
|
We went with Ryanair,.....the landings were er...firm but brakes on full reverse thrust as soon as we "hit" the ground,,,,,,both in Funchal and Manchester.....
|
|
Just had a call from the travel agent (old school) to check whether we were home or not, chaos in Funchal due to high winds...loads of travellers stuck at the airport.
|
<< Just had a call from the travel agent (old school) to check whether we were home or not, chaos in Funchal due to high winds...loads of travellers stuck at the airport. >>
The planes may be on Porto Santo next door (which is flatter), where they used to refuel back in the day after taking off nearly empty from Madeirs :-)
|
>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1InpKa3W0A
>>
>> Funchal Airport live...
There are at least four peeps doing feeds from places across runway/road from the terminal.
If you're there in person there's a bar/cafe co-located with a filling station nearby where you can have an incredbly cheap beer while watching the planes.
|
|
There's a terraced roof top bar in departures with excellent views.
|
>> There's a terraced roof top bar in departures with excellent views.
Similar view to those when you could walk on the roof of the piers at Manchester.
There's also a section of the terrace accessible from the main terminal ie pre secutiry.
|
That used to be an evening out fr us, Bromp. Five mile trip with the Ayatollah when we were stepping out, a couple of hours gricing the jets then coffee and a bun under the chandeliers. No parking or security problems in the mid-sixties.
The earlier terminal was the old RAF huts and you could park on the old runway which was also the road to Wilmslow with manned gates either side of the live runway. We used to take the hood down on the Herald and sit on the rear deck.
I recall watching a Boeing 707 take 7 attempts to touch down and having to go round and have another go each time
Ted
|
|
It was a pack up lunch halt on my Advanced at Lancs in 84. Viewing area at the back of the airfield.
|
>> It was a pack up lunch halt on my Advanced at Lancs in 84. Viewing
>> area at the back of the airfield.
HaHa...Remember on mine, a packed lunch on the quay at Conway at 0200 hrs. We used the Forest Cafe in Delamere Forest, sadly gone, for breaks in daytime. Handy for a cuppa after bandit chases on the Northwich by-pass ! Probably a 3.8 Jag !
Ted
>>
|
>> We went with Ryanair,.....the landings were er...firm but brakes on full reverse thrust as soon
>> as we "hit" the ground,,,,,,both in Funchal and Manchester.....
>>
Better firm than floaty as long as it doesn't bounce. They can stop quicker and being Ryan probably want to exit the runway sooner and bank a bit of time.
I used them a lot for a while and it was usually plonked down very positively.
|
Motoring ramblings - ORB>>
