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Having done about 500 miles over 2 days last weekend, Have now decided to cancel our visit to york, (Train cheap enough, but dog and two carry ons a bit much.)
Heading for Canterbury instead.
Thanks for the suggestions, but my driving "stamina" is not what it was.
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"... my driving "stamina" is not what it was."
I know what you mean.
We're due to head north from here (sunny Hemel Hempstead) in a couple of weeks to visit my daughter and partner, and my grandson No 2 - not seen in person since August 2019. That involves driving to Scotch Corner, where we'll stay the night, and the next day drive for an hour north to Newcastle.
That evening, back to Scotch Corner and the next day an hour so driving down to Leeds to visit my elder son, wife and grandson No 1 - not seen since March 2020. And then back home. It's that last bit I'm not looking forward to. I'll be well knackered by then - possibly more so than I can imagine.
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I suppose it depends on many factors - the length of drive and route, the car, time of day/year, etc. My dad always hated the summer holiday drive either the South Coast or (worse still) the West Country, especially if it was via motorways, which he finds monotonous to drive on, despite their use shortening the time of the journey considerably.
I, on the other hand, don't mind a longer drive IF it's for my summer holiday (normally to Cornwall, 275 miles+ each way), even though I go by myself and obviously will be doing all the driving - 95% on motorways or dual carriageways (5-6hrs driving plus two stops [including lunch] which add about 1 - 1.25 hrs).
I've also done (whilst on holiday) day trips back up the M5 to Taunton (about 90 miles/1.5 - 2 hr drive) to watch a day of a county cricket match on two occasions.
It probably helps that I know the routes/area well, so rarely need to use any satnav, plus my long journeys are almost always before/after the main holiday season when the roads are less busy on a Saturday.
I suspect I wouldn't enjoy such long trips if it were more regular and/or for work on a weekday or school/bank holiday.
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I love driving down to Devon or Cornwall for my holidays, I think it’s part of the “ adventure “ I used to drive a lot as part of my job, but now I don’t, still, we have last years holiday this year, and I’m looking forward to the drive down,
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A1 about two hours plus change into the journey I like to stop at the 50s style OK American diner at Tickencote. Sorry its not highbrow or super special but it's clean with nice food done quick. It's next to a petrol station as well. Bad news if you are carrying a dog as they aren't allowed in. Last time I was there we didn't have a dog. Now we do. So I may now use some of your suggestions instead.
ORB can you say which hotel you found that allows dogs? Because that's going to be very useful on my next trip to York.
Edited by Ethan Edwards on 07/05/2021 at 22:33
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In the UK, most of the alleged 4 stars don't really exist except in someones imagination, and we avoid..
Travelodge does the trick as the dog is £20 per stay,, some hotels charge that per night.
Usually free or low cost parking.too.
When we were able to go to Belgium, we used to be able to take doggy virtually everywhere with us, but our favourite hotel has closed and relocated and changed name too!
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In the UK, most of the alleged 4 stars don't really exist except in someones imagination, and we avoid..
Travelodge does the trick as the dog is £20 per stay,, some hotels charge that per night.
Usually free or low cost parking.too.
When we were able to go to Belgium, we used to be able to take doggy virtually everywhere with us, but our favourite hotel has closed and relocated and changed name too!
I found Travelodge fine (new at the time nearish to Gatwick airport), if a bit 'cheap and cherrful', but it was just a work overniter so I could have a full day's surveying and then drive straight home. They even allowed me to keep my car (parking included in the price, limited number of allocated spaces though [shared car park with a supermaket]) past the check-out time until the afternoon when I was due to leave, which was nice.
I paid an extra £6 - £7 (this was in 2015 if I recall) for a full English breakfast, which they didn't begrudge me going up for seconds!
Those £19 nightly rates are dependent on the time of year and especially day of the week though. Better to book early too.
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We have always found Travelodge to be more than adequate for our needs and excellent value for money. The trip I outlined above involves two nights at TL Scotch Corner. It is an excellent location for our trip and is within easy driving distance of places to eat if we decide we want something substantial; otherwise the rather meagre facilities in the service area suffice.
Since they upgraded their beds a few years ago a good night's sleep is guaranteed, provided the location is quiet. We normally take a portable fridge in the car with stuff like fruit and yoghurt for breakfasts and plug it into a socket in the room, which TL doesn't like, but we do it anyway.
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In the UK, most of the alleged 4 stars don't really exist except in someones imagination, and we avoid..
Travelodge does the trick as the dog is £20 per stay,, some hotels charge that per night.
Usually free or low cost parking.too.
Travelodge for york is Layerthorpe.
Sister and Brother in law rated it as a good'un.
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I love driving down to Devon or Cornwall for my holidays, I think it’s part of the “ adventure “ I used to drive a lot as part of my job, but now I don’t, still, we have last years holiday this year, and I’m looking forward to the drive down,
Ditto for my holiday - I make sure I have a full compliment of my fave music to play on the drive, and make sure I get to my breaks at the motorway service stops outside the busiest times to avoid queuing and the inevitable i****s. Helped of course if the weather is nice.
I must admit that using a satnav with decent traffic monitoring is really useful too, as sometimes I've either stopped early or deliberately kept going to the next suitable service stop if it means avoiding heavy traffic (including going around via an alternative route on occasion) after accidents, etc.
It does help going roughly the same route each year though, with a few variations once I'm in Devon/Cornwall.
Years ago, before smartphones/satnavs, I drove my old mid 90s Micra for a work trip from my workplace (at the time) in NW Herts to an evening seminar at the Rover/Mini factory in Oxford.
I went via Aylesbury on the way, but back home (parent's house in South Herts back then) via the M40/M25 and then familiar local roads, and the latter was by far the easier and quicker journey.
I'm sure that a satnav would've made a good difference (reading maps as you drive by yourself is not a pleasant experience, nor particularly safe), and there wasn't really anywhere I could reasonably stop on the way (it was a longer journey as it was during the evening rush hour), especially as my firm had limited PCs (or with interweb capability) back then (roughly 1 PC between 3-4 staff) and Google was only just out/Google Maps wasn't around back then.
I think the drive there would've been far easier had I had a colleague along with me to navigate.
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I also like stopping at motorway services ( although not the outrageous prices) I love to see all the different kinds of people passing through on their journeys, knowing your not at work so don’t have to rush makes it even better,
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I also like stopping at motorway services ( although not the outrageous prices) I love to see all the different kinds of people passing through on their journeys, knowing your not at work so don’t have to rush makes it even better,
Good planning (as well as knowing the route anyway) of journeys (including normal and backup stops/routes) certainly makes them less arduous/more enjoyable.
I remember when my Dad used to drive the family down to Devon/Cornwall for our summer holiday that we had to get up at 4am (!) to ensure we left around 6-ish to get there (via the 'scenic route' to avoid the motorways, but oddly he used the London North Circular via the Hanger Lane Gyratory System to get to the A3/A4) by mid afternoon. 8hrs+ of driving and 2hrs of stops. Urgh.
I now drive about another 50-100 miles in 1-2 hrs less just by going A1-M25-M4-M5-A30 or A38, starting driving at 7.30 - 8am. But then I always go on holiday outside of the school holidays, avoiding the extra traffic, hoardes of screaming kids/holidaymakers (including whilst on holiday) and saving about 50% on the price of said holiday.
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