Drive through or around London?

At 2pm via Bkackwall tunnel you should be ok

Just remember that if you step inside THE ZONE £10.00 will be extracted from your wallet.

Mista H

Let the train take the strain!

If Islington is in the Zone plough through but as Mista H points out it will cost if you are not a resident.

Another possible solution is to go east to the M25, over the (toll) bridge and down to RTW.

Good luck with the traffic.

Jono

Have a look at TomTom traffic just before you set off.

http://www.tomtom.com/livetraffic/

http://routes.tomtom.com

Thanks for the advice. I'll give the Blackwell tunnel another try. Just checked the Zone, Islington is just outside, so if I head east before heading south to the tunnel I should be OK. I wonder if setting the satnav to avoid tolls will keep me out of the zone.

I can't go by train, we're delivering something to Islington for my son.

If it were me............

From Islington keep to Pentonville Road then City Road to avoid drifting into the Charge Zone.

At Old Street turn left then fork right into Great Eastern Street then Commerial Street and round to the either Whitechapel (A12) or Commercial Road (A13).

Head out either along the A12 or A13 to the M25,then over the QE Bridge and Tondridge.

Cheers

Don

PS whilst in the Islington area you might enjoy a visit to Grahams HiFi at Cannonbury Yard (between Old Street and Essex Rd. Nice selection of top quality Vynil and CDs - although the chance of an impromtu demo of some of Naim's kit is remote.

Thanks Don.

That certainly looks like a good route. I've just discovered the "Traffic" option on google maps, that route is pretty much 100% fast road.

I wish I'd have asked for advice the other week when I drove down to London, it was a absolute nightmare. Satnav took me along the most congested roads possible. Driving was made more difficult due to the rear indicators on the transit I hired failing. Only break light working was the one on the top. Rear lights very dim. Rear lights went off when I breaked.. Rain leaked in damaging some of the things we where delivering.

But at least it was cheap?

The hire cost seemed to be the going rate. It was back street outfit which I wouldn't normally use. Burnt Tree, who I've used  4 or 5 times over the years let me down. They phoned me on the afternoon before I needed the van advising their long wheel base transit had a mechanical.

Ultimately the van was cheap. I received a full refund.

Just heard on the radio the a12 is flooded.

If the A12 is flooded try the A13 option. Just take care around Aldwich to get on the Commercial Road and then avoid turning off or heading into Docklands

Cheers

Don

Why anyone would drive in the Southeast of the UK is completely beyond my comprehension.

Winky,

North of Chelmsford it really isn't bad at all. From Southend all the way to Windsor it's one awful traffic jam almost all day. I'm lucky, as I joined the RAF at 17 and wouldn't live in south east Essex for all the money in the world. North Essex is a completely different place and well worth a visit if you've time while travelling. 

Tony

Yes, lots of lovely English countryside in England. That's kind of the point. I lived in Bristol for a few years and loved it. Never thought about owning a car, though.

I much prefer just to cycle through the landscape, and avoid driving and traffic wherever possible. Life is too short to spend much of it looking at some stranger's brake lights. I try to live locally in my day to day affairs, and travel only for pleasure/vacation.

Winky

A couple of years ago my daughter's in-laws came over from Canmore for a couple of weeks.

We took them on country walks along the downs in Berkshire. From the top of Watership Down, for exmple. you can see for about thirty miles all round, and appart from the odd farm house, you can't see any towns, villages or houses. OK, they are there, but they are few and far between, hidden in the valleys by the surrounding hills.

I drive about 25 miles each way to work, along quiet country lanes and through only two small villages. Very peaceful and pictureque and not a town in sight.

We can enjoy walks starting from our door-step, but the use of a car opens up a terrific range of countryside that couldn't otherwise be enjoyed.

The same applies in Canada. We live on a hill between Vernon and Kelowna. Beautiful surroundings on the doorstep. But the RAV has opened up the area from Wyoming to Alaska.

We don't often see other people's brake lights.

Cheers

Don

Hi Don,

The interior of BC is indeed nice. I will be spending some time cycling around Penticton and then Christina Lake this summer with some guys from my bike club.

I also like to travel far afield, and do so mainly by means other than car. But it is the day-to-day grind in the car that I really can't do. I haven't commuted by car in over 10 years (walked or cycled instead). I haven't even owned a car in 8 years.

I saw a study a while back that looked at the outcome of people's choices when they trade-off personal space (house and yard size) for proximity to work/school/entertainment/shops etc. What the study found was that people consistently overestimated the pleasure that a big (far-flung) house would bring them, and consistently underestimated the frustration and negative aspects of a long daily commute. (Absurdly, colleagues of mine have attempted to justify their commuting choices by saying that the time in their cars relaxes them!) People tend to assume they will get used to the commute, but will continue to enjoy the bigger house. In fact, people tend to experience the opposite - they continue to be, or are increasingly pissed off by the time wasted in traffic, but become kind-of "meh" about their house and soon start aspiring to an even bigger one. The most satisfied people live in smaller places close to the rest of their lives.

Cars ruin everything I care about.

Hi Winky

My drive to work is anything but a grind. And likewise my current job. We live on the edge of a small town east of Newbury and within 50 yards or so of our house we can be on country footpaths walking up small hills or along a canal.

However, the drive to work takes me deeper into the countryside and the small airfield that I work from is on the edge of Salisbury Plain. The only nearby "city" is Salisbury, but even that is no more than a large town nestling in the Avon valley. Yesterday I was up over Stonehenge at 5,000 ft teaching aerobatics. Salisbury looked almost insignificant and appart from the odd small village, for the most part the countryside is covered in green and yelow fields.

London and its traffic jams might as well be a thousand miles away - rather than a hundred.

I have flown into Penticton many times from Vernon or Kelowna after a beautiful and relaxing flight along the Okanagan Lake. We have also driven that way to Osoyoos and the USA or to Grand Forks and Nelson. The kids always enjoy the float rafting along the canal that connects the Okanagan to the small Skaha Lake to the south of Penticton. The town is quaint but I find the North Shore a bit too commercialised. I would try to find time to cycle along the Kettle Valley Railway through the Myra Canyon (south east of Kelowna) with its trestle bridges and rough hewn tunnels ($40CD to rent a bike so be sure to take your own !)

Lake Cristina and the surrounding countryside is beautiful in its own right as are other parts of the Crow's Nest Highway. We were lost for words when we first saw the lake driving (not cycling) from Nelson back to Kelowna. We hadn't really expected such sights.

I hope you enjoy your cycling holiday, i'm sure you will - appart from the traffic on Penticton's North Shore !!!

Cheers

Don

Netheravon or Boscombe?

Jono

"and the small airfield that I work from is on the edge of Salisbury Plain".

Boscombe isn't exactly a "small" airfield............and Netheravon is really part of the Salisbury Plain complex although they do parachute jumping there as well.   You might have picked Middle Wallop as well btw. Bloody good guesess nontheless.

No, i'm afraid its Thruxton. I'm now officially "retired" and too old to do commercial air transport or military flying anymore, so I do four, sometimes five days a week instruction at Thruxton. But its good fun and really rewarding - in  a non-financial sort of way.

Cheers

Don

Oh dear, you are absolutely right. Just as well fatcat didn't follow my suggestion......................

Cheers

Don

Don,

Sorry I think of Thruxton, Doh!

I know Boscombe well, Ex-QQ, and  didn't think it fitted your description. I used to see Netheravon signs on the run down through Marlborough and Pewsey.

Thruxton does at least have the added fun of watching cars crashing about.

Jono

Aha! Dera and QQ. Better not ask for any more details. Two of the other instructors at Thruxton spent time at the ETPS. I never got an invite.

Cheers

Don

Don

I followed your instructions up the the Blackwell tunnel. Went through the tunnel then, followed your methodology, stayed on the A2 until the M25. It went very well. Thanks.

I didn't visit any record shops. Just got out of London as quick as possible.

Just got out of London as quick as possible.

sound plan of action.

Cheers

Don

Originally Posted by fatcat:

Just got out of London as quick as possible.

sound plan of action.

 

Cheers

 

Don

I've always really enjoyed my time in London. But I'll admit I've never driven a car there! Cars can do that. They distort people's view of places. How can you really appreciate a city if most of what you experience is the traffic, and trying to find parking? What sort of view does one have of say, Phoenix or Seattle if you've only ever seen them from the freeway? Driving in Beijing would be a memorable part of a visit there, but not in a good way.

Slow down and smell the roses. Get out of your cars. They truly do ruin everything I care about.

Hi Winky

London isn't my idea of heaven. Hence my comment above.

However, Mrs D comes from London, she was born in Lambeth and lived there for 28 years until we met. So we visit London quite frequently. Sometimes we drive, other times we go by train. Either way its an hour and a half each way. If we go by car we park at Hyde Park or just off Euston Road then...............walk!!

If I go to Graham's HiFi I can park in their yard (they are a bit out of the city centre, although you can walk from Liverpool Street station).

Same in Vancouver. Last year we drove down through Cache Creek, Pemberton and Whistler to meet friends in Vancouver who were off on a cruise. We drove straight into the city centre and parked up in the Sutton Place hotel car park. We then spent a day or two walking around town (and Stanley Park).

Cars (and planes) get me to a far greater range of interesting places that I can then explore on foot. I offer no apologies for consuming the limited reserves of fosil fuels in the process. One day we'll have jam jar sized nuclar powerplants in our vehicles with 100 year refuel intervals. Or something better.

Cheers

Don