Driving in all of zones 1-9

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MikeB55
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Location: Cambridge

Re: Driving in all of zones 1-9

Post by MikeB55 »

1972/73: zones 2 and 3 as a learner (lived very near the boundary)
1975: zones 4, 5, 1 driving to Cambridge
1978: zone 6 from North Staffordshire to Cambridge
1993: zones 7-9 on a caravan holiday to Scotland
We acquired our first caravan in the summer of 1992 and I had towed it in all nine zones in just over a year!
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solocle
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Re: Driving in all of zones 1-9

Post by solocle »

In terms of cycling the single digit A roads, the easiest to complete has to be the A7. It's never a particularly important road. The A4 is mostly decent, but the bit in London is a bit yuck.
5F4A8E7A-297F-4143-92F8-7641CDBDBBDE.jpeg
Which brings me to the "great road" that I actually have a decent claim to on the bike - the A30.

I've cycled its entire current alignment between London and Honiton. Not counting the multiplex section between Bullington Cross and Michaeldever, where I used the old road rather than the A303. (But then did the spurry bit and rejoined the A303 West on that ride).

In Cornwall, I've done the A30 between Land's End and Hayle, and A30C2CC. More pertinently, I held to the old alignment to Three Burrows. After Mitchell, I did some non-A30 lanes, A39 from Fraddon, A395. From there I rejoined the A30 briefly, before following the historic alignment through Launceston and beyond. Except for Okehampton, where I missed the turn and followed the bypass instead...

So I do have a claim to the entire course of the present/historic A30, except for the 35 miles between Mitchell and Launceston across Bodmin Moor. And Fore St in Exeter.
PaulLothian
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Re: Driving in all of zones 1-9

Post by PaulLothian »

Passed my test in Edinburgh in the spring of 1975, and, on personal and work trips, had driven through all Scottish zones within a few weeks. Visiting family and friends in Darlington, Kent, Surrey, Wiltshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire (taking new baby to greet a selection of elderly relatives) meant we knocked off all the other zones by about Easter 1977.
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Beardy5632
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Location: Forest of Dean

Re: Driving in all of zones 1-9

Post by Beardy5632 »

For me it's:

2013: Did zone 4 (although I live in it so that was easy)
2014: Did zone 3
2015: Did zones 1 & 6
2017: Did zones 7, 8 & 9
2018: Did zone 5

Just need to get zone 2 done now as I've only ever been a passenger or walked in it.
British & Irish cities driven in - 48/75
England - 36/52, Scotland - 7/7, Wales - 5/6, NI - 0/5, RoI - 0/5
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Gareth Thomas
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Re: Driving in all of zones 1-9

Post by Gareth Thomas »

I live in Zone 2, so naturally my first experience driving was there. I passed my test in 2004 after a year of learning. On my PassPlus we used the Dartford Crossing so technically went into Zone 1, but we never left the A282 so I'm not sure that counts.

My first long distance drive was to South Wales, so that ticked off Zones 3 and 4. On the way back from one trip I went via South Mimms rather than via Cobham, so that ticked off Zones 5 and 1. Zone 6 was done when I went to visit a friend in Hertfordshire c.2006.

I have never been to Scotland so whilst I got the first six zones done within a couple of years, there has now been 15 years or so since I visited a new one!

As for sections of the Ax roads?

A1/A1(M): Driven most of it between Elstree and Wetherby.
A2: Driven end to end in one go, and used hundreds of times before and after.
A3: Driven end to end in one go.
A4: Driven end to end in one go. It took forever.
A5: Driven from the M54 to A483 junction near Llangollen.
A6: Briefly driven on in the Leicester area.
A7-A9: Hopefully some day?
My journey with testicular cancer!
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"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads..."
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Owain
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Re: Driving in all of zones 1-9

Post by Owain »

ais523 wrote: Mon Sep 20, 2021 01:44 I can't drive, but on a trip to Bristol, I once intentionally crossed the A4 in order to set foot in zone 3 (which I hadn't been in before).
I like your style... you're not the only one here who does things like that!

On a mega road trip in 2017 I drove from England to Italy with an overnight stay in Liechtenstein, just so that I'd been to that country. On the same trip I drove to Croatia by accident; while staying in Italy I made a day trip to Slovenia, where I took a wrong turn and was too arrogant to stop and look at a map. When I saw the border checkpoint I thought it would look a bit dodgy if I pulled a U-turn, so I went through and spent an hour driving around in Croatia before heading back. About a week later I deviated from the easy route across France to drive two laps of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit, and the day after that I deliberately drove through Spain to get to Andorra rather than approach from the French side. Apart from France and Italy, I'd never been to any of those countries before.
----

As for driving in each of the British zones:

1994 - Zone 4: learnt to drive in Forest of Dean and passed test in Monmouth

1998 - Zone 3: took my future wife to places like Bath and Stonehenge

2001 - Zones 5, 6 and 1: bought a car while living in Lancaster; being married to an Italian meant frequent trips over next few years to Stansted Airport

2002 - Zone 2: my first continental road trip took me into 2 for the Channel Tunnel (the only time I've ever used it with a car!)

2005 - Zones 7, 8 and 9: saw Italy play Scotland at Murrayfield claiming 7, and later in the year went to Stirling and Perth, claiming 8 and 9

So that's 11 years from date of first driving a car.
Former President & F99 Driver

Viva la Repubblica!
WeirdKerr
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Re: Driving in all of zones 1-9

Post by WeirdKerr »

I live in zone 9 so thats a tick
Zone 8 tick
Zone 7 tick
Zone 6 tick
Zone 5 tick
Zone 4 tick
Zone 3 X
Zone 2 tick
Zone 1 tick

so only zone 3 to drive in
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haymansafc
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Re: Driving in all of zones 1-9

Post by haymansafc »

Zone 1: Often covered on my trips to the North East to see relatives and my brother in Ipswich (Chelmsford prior to that).
Zone 2: The only one I've got a real question mark over. I know I've walked on a couple during my trips to London, but I'm fairly confident I've never actually driven on a Zone 2 road.
Zone 3: Covered in my many holidays to Devon.
Zone 4: I work in Wales, driven on plenty of Welsh Roads and also covered plenty in the Cotswolds.
Zone 5: I live here, so that's the first to tick.
Zone 6: Crossing the 'backbone' of the country and the odd Lancastrian drive.
Zone 7: Passed through en route to Zones 8 & 9.
Zone 8: Covered plenty of them on my Scotland tours in the 00's.
Zone 9: My least-covered zone outside of Zone 2. Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Perth and Balmoral we're the main destinations.
The journey is never over until the arrival.
mfmman
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Re: Driving in all of zones 1-9

Post by mfmman »

Zone 4 - passed my test in March 87 so thats that one
Zone 3 - I lived in Bristol only just north of the A4 so this would have been almost immediately after Z4
Zone 2 - Getting out on my own as a mobile service engineer, I can remember visiting Brighton probably in 90ish
Zone 5 - We had a contract that included Milton Keynes about the same time which was the first trip over the A5
Zones 6 &1 - I went to Denmark Via Harwich in 1991. First time I think I used the top of the M25 and A12 etc
Zone 7 - First time I drove to Scotland was to Kilmarnock in about 1993
Zone 9 - My cousin moved to Edinburgh and I did her a favour by hiring a van locally, loading up her furniture and driving it up for her. Flew back the next day. 1998
Zone 8 - New job with sites to manage nationally, flew to Glasgow and hired a car to visit a few of them. 2005
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