London to Haworth

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Vierwielen
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Re: London to Haworth

Post by Vierwielen »

multiraider2 wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 00:03 ... snip
Vierwielen wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 21:41
multiraider2 wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2004 14:47 ... snip ...
I am the only driver and also the only person in the car who can read a map properly, meaning I'll have to try to memorise all the turns beforehand. Is there a more straightforward way?
Any help would be appreciated.
Ian.
If I am doing a trip like that, I prepare a few postit notes (or something similar) with very short instructions and distances. If I am using motorways, I record junction numbers and driver location sign value. Also, I don't put too much info on one piece of paper, I can always stop at a service area and stick a new piece of paper up.
My posting there is 18 years old and now I will look at streetview first for all the turnings (I've got a very good memory for places I've seen) or if all else fails, now stick it in the sat nav if I've got lost. I certainly used to do notes with the turnings/junctions on and give that to my wife. We made it several times all the way to Italy with just that.
It sounds like we are probably "singing from the same hymn-sheet". I make notes for long trips (my wife is awful at navigating), but for short trips such as when I am going to umpire a cricket match as a "panel umpire", I also memorise the turnings after "seeing" them on Google Maps. BTW, Satnav dos not always work for cricket fields as it will often take you to the farmhouse nearest to the field.
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multiraider2
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Re: London to Haworth

Post by multiraider2 »

Vierwielen wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 14:00
It sounds like we are probably "singing from the same hymn-sheet". I make notes for long trips (my wife is awful at navigating), but for short trips such as when I am going to umpire a cricket match as a "panel umpire", I also memorise the turnings after "seeing" them on Google Maps. BTW, Satnav dos not always work for cricket fields as it will often take you to the farmhouse nearest to the field.
Indeed. My cricket playing days were over before I got the sat nav. If it was an away match, it was often a case of "Meet at Tolworth" so we could go in convoy with someone from the team who might have made the trip previously. Other places were more obvious, such as Blindley Heath: "It's right on the road junction".
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KeithW
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Re: London to Haworth

Post by KeithW »

I have had sat nav for a long time but I still carry a set of maps, ring backed notebook and pen for impromptu route plans :)

Then there is the dreaded instruction

Proceed to the start of the route and guidance will start.
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hat
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Re: London to Haworth

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i've found google maps has really improved for navigation. on a couple of long drives recently it suggested time saving alternatives whilst partway through the journey, and at a point where there was time to consider whether to take the suggestion or not
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Vierwielen
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Re: London to Haworth

Post by Vierwielen »

KeithW wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 14:38 I have had sat nav for a long time but I still carry a set of maps, ring backed notebook and pen for impromptu route plans :)

Then there is the dreaded instruction

Proceed to the start of the route and guidance will start.
My great-uncle died in the First World War and is buried in the Bethune Town Cemetry. The instruictions for getting to the cenetry were "From the town centre, turn right in front of the Tribunal and second right at the bottom of the road down to the cul-de-sac where the cemetery will be found." It is a pity that I could not find any building that was called the "Tribunal". I eventually found the cemetry by carefully checking maps. I am pleased ot say that most of the references to the cemetry now assume that you are driving and give directions from the Bethune by-pass (or give grid references).
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KeithW
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Re: London to Haworth

Post by KeithW »

hat wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 15:16 i've found google maps has really improved for navigation. on a couple of long drives recently it suggested time saving alternatives whilst partway through the journey, and at a point where there was time to consider whether to take the suggestion or not
Unless as happened to me in the Welsh Valleys a couple of years back, you find yourself in a place with no reception and it basically announces that you are on your own kiddo. Out came the maps and notebook.
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Vierwielen
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Re: London to Haworth

Post by Vierwielen »

KeithW wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 17:08
hat wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 15:16 i've found google maps has really improved for navigation. on a couple of long drives recently it suggested time saving alternatives whilst partway through the journey, and at a point where there was time to consider whether to take the suggestion or not
Unless as happened to me in the Welsh Valleys a couple of years back, you find yourself in a place with no reception and it basically announces that you are on your own kiddo. Out came the maps and notebook.
I have an app on my phone that gives you your coords. The only signal that you need for that is a satellite signal, so unless you are down one of the Welsh pits, that could prove useful.
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multiraider2
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Re: London to Haworth

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Comments from todays trip.
Blackwall Tunnel. Traffic heavier than I rembember very early. The tube strikes may have had something to do with it, but at least it kept moving. Southbound was barriers down and red flashing x. The man at the front was having a coffee and smoking a cigarette outside his car. Looked like he'd been there for a while. Don't know what the issue was there.

M11 north of Harlow. VMS was indicating outside lane closed but before we got to the obstruction, everything ground to a halt. Long enough for people to be getting out of their cars. But I thought actually stationary for only about 10/15 minutes It was the police dealing with the after-effects of an collision inolving the central reservation. The central barrier was seriously deformed to our side, but the only vehicle I could see was moderatly damaged on our side hard shoulder. There is no way this car could have hit the barrier with such force and crossed the reservation without being totally destroyed. So the vehicle(s) that did this must have already been cleared and perhaps the guy our side was a victim of the barrier suddlly being forced into his path or him swerving in panic. That's all guesswork though. Southbound was still all held when I got past.

Rest of the journey I made exactly as suggested. Rembered all the turns. Comments from family. "why are we cutting through this estate?" They also liked the road afterwards though.

Parked north of Skipton to walk then later took the road over the moors to Settle. Although the plan is to walk mainly in the dales, I'm actually staying near Kirkby Lonsdale and the A65 was closed there because of a serious accident between a car and a motorcycle. Cars from the M6/Kirkby were taking the single track road I'm staying at a farmhouse on to get round the obstruction. All great until a convoy of cars from either direction met each other at the narrowest part with no passing spaces. I thought of going out to try to suggest some of them taking the farm entrance to get off the road, but a woman from the queue had by then gotten out and was very good at directing traffic including yes getting people off the road into the farm entrance. Sorted everything out perfectly. But they all had been there 10 to 15 minutes by that point.

I do think road trouble seems to follow me around.I go on trips a few times a year and it always seems to be some sort of issue.
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multiraider2
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Re: London to Haworth

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Observations from the return trip(s).

Firstly nil points for me for booking the holiday 10 months ago and forgetting about GCSE results. So I came back Wednesday evening to help my daughter collect her results yesterday and to enrol at another school for sixth form. Went up again Thursday evening and back again today. My car, which nearly never gets used, suddenly has another 1,300 miles on the clock from the last week.

Next; night time closures and traffic. After the initial run up the A1, I decided the M6 would be quickest for the evening runs from just north of Kirkby Lonsdale. I guess I am not used to driving in the evening with the sheer number of partial/complete closures that happen on the motorway. It's not a complaint, the works have to be done, but I lost count of the number of "workforce in road" signs I passed together with lane closures. I am guessing that if there is not a concrete barrier and the teams are working near the central reservation they close the outside lane of the opposite carriageway (this based on an observation of a cherry picker working on a bridge on the M40 northbound) but if they are working on the inside lane/hard shoulder of the carriageway you are on, the two inside lanes are closed (this from the M42 amongst other places).

That is aside from whole section closures and there were plenty of those listed on the VMS including M6 J4 to J2 on Wednesday evening, one of the reasons I used M5/M42 to get to the M40 on that evening. There is also the traffic. It's a very long time since I did late evening motorway driving (1999 to Fishguard was the last I think.) Traffic seems to have grown hugely in that time. (Just what is everyone doing on the M6 after 11pm that they cause the variable speed limits to come on because of congestion on a Thursday?) It wasn't until I passed J29 I think it was at about 11.15 that the traffic started to thin out. A 30 minute delay was being advertised on Thursday evening between M6 J12-J13 from way back, but my sat nav sorted me out with a diversion onto the A5/A449. I saw all the traffic sitting in one lane open of the M6 from the A449 before rejoining. The was another southbound complete closure north of there between two junctions and a massive queue of trucks and cars trying to get off.

Today was as expected really. Reasonable speeds (60 to 70) on the M6 but with jams before every junction because of traffic joining. That was the same on the A1 last year. I ignored the sat nav suggestion of the M6 Toll and braved 10A to 8 before joining the M5/M42/M40 and the A40 to the A3200 and Central London as the M25 was rubbish as usual in both directions. There is a VMS on the M40 just before the M25 which shows you timings to the M20 via clockwise or anticlockwise. They were showing as 120 minutes/140 minutes. Blow that.
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