In the last couple of days I've had to do a round trip from the Lake District to Canterbury in Kent, with a stopover in Rutland either way (& a bit of toing & froing at the Canterbury end).
Being a bit of a quiet Northern country mouse, the thought of doing a journey that was primarily M6, M61, M62, A1, A47, A1(M), M11, M25, A2/M2, didn't exactly fill me full of joy at the prospect of a hassle free & enjoyable length of the country trip - but the reality was very different.
In over 750 miles of motoring on the above roads, I came across no congestion, no accidents, no snarlup, no road rage, no traffic jams, in fact nothing at all to impede my progress - the only things that reduced my average speed was the extensive roadworks on the London end of the M2 (IIRC) where the 'average speed cameras' were out in force.
I wasn't on a high speed run, nor an economy run and for the vast majority of the trip I had the cruise control set on a speed that was 'appropriate to prevailing the traffic conditions and allowing for steady progress' (some people may interpret this as being 80-85 mph), it was simply a long distance trip where the roads/traffic on the roads make it extremely pleasant. It was also nice and easy on the pocket, with my 300C CRD returning 44mpg.
All in all, a good run out, and I thought that you might enjoy reading about a trip that went well, rather than the steady diet of '2 hours to go 20 miles' that we all have to endure from time to time.
p.s. Lake District to Kent and back on a single tank of fuel -- not bad for a (very) large car with an automatic gearbox and a high average speed.
MTC
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Glad it went well and thank you for not implying that your 300C has such road presence that the traffic simply parted before you (although I bet you were tempted weren't you)
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nah, I wasn't even tempted (honest guv), it was just such a surprise to me that a potentially horrible journey had gone so easily, and was really enjoyable.
The rumours of the M25 being the countries largest car park were (for once anyway) completely unfounded. !
MTC
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Hello MTC.
I was in Menton the other day (squeezed in between Monaco and the Italian border at the end of the Cote d'Azur).
Guess what they're using for taxis down there instead of the usual Mercs?
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Give us a clue -- are they really big and do the drivers look like they're happy chappies ?
MTC
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A - yes, MTC, you're right...
B - believe it or not I saw a Rover 800 parked in Menton as well! (Forgot to mention it on 'Unusual sightings'). I took a closer look because I wondered if it was a 2.7 V6 still giving pleasure to someone but it appeared to be a 2 litre, no less.
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If you came from far enough North, well worth crossing the Pennines via Brough/Barnard Castle on the A66 next time.
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Agreed: Nice road. But please don't tell everyone! Lorries can be a pain, though...
Tim{P}
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I'm from the South Lakes so I don't need to use the Death Road of Death route (A66) :)
MTC
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