Viewing 32 posts - 1 through 32 (of 32 total)
  • commute from h*ll
  • grynch
    Free Member

    I was speaking with my brother in law last night…his commute home yesterday took him just over 7 hrs.

    from Henley on Thames to Lane End, High Wycombe … a distance of not quite 10 miles

    can anyone beat that? ( I certainly hope not )

    dmiller
    Free Member

    Did god not give your brother legs? 😉

    flatfish
    Free Member

    thats the price you pay for living somewhere overly congested but i've got to agree with dmiller.

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    grynch
    Free Member

    dmilller, I was thinking that.. that he could have walked faster and as a bonus with a few good pubs enroute ( probably would have taken him longer come to think ) but the problem is you just never know how long it's going to take doncha?

    the eternal optimist myself I can remember being stuck in blizzards / heavy traffic thinking.. "oh it's going to blow over in a min"

    simon_g
    Full Member

    Nearly 7 hours from near Swinley Forest to home in north London. Roads weren't too bad, most abandonments seemed to be people running out of fuel (ffs!) rather than getting stuck. Just lots and lots of people all sticking to the main routes rather than risking the back ways.

    grynch
    Free Member

    and that is the other side of the coin.. for everyone that says – fug it I'll walk – their abandoned car makes it more difficult for the next guy

    atlaz
    Free Member

    When I worked in central London I walked home a few times in snow/ice because tubes stopped. Colleagues with a similar length commute tried to use public transport that was still running.

    My walk took me about 3 hours including a quick stop in a pub to warm up. One colleague took nearly 4 hours which was mostly standing around waiting for buses.

    prettygreenparrot
    Full Member

    It's rather harsh to call Henley 'hell'. Although it is in the south I suppose…

    10 miles, even in snow, is a nice distance on a bike. Ooh, I see more snow drifting down here.

    grynch
    Free Member

    prettyparrot.. my bro in law on a bike?.. even if he didn't have the gammy leg I don't see it happening.

    Capt.Kronos
    Free Member

    I thought I was doing badly when it took me an hour to get over Lindal Hill yesterday. Dual carriageway, short sharp snow/hail storm as I was approaching it, and cars/wagons/vans were falling off the road everywhere!

    When will people learn how to drive in slippery conditions in this country! There was an Audi RS4 behind me slithering all over the spot with the wheels spinning manically. I didn't see him on the far side so I suspect he deposited it in the verge.

    Just debating where I should go today, I had planned St Bees, but as it is snowing again I am not confident on that one. May head up to Ambleside, but will check the conditions down the back lane (where my car is parked) and see if I can actually get out or not first!!! There was a van doing it's best to rearrange the panels on a few cars down that way when I came in last night, so it could be carnage up there.

    jon1973
    Free Member

    Did god not give your brother legs?

    Think it can be quite a big decision to abandon your car, especially if you happened to be stuck on a (normally) busy / main road where you can't get it safely to somewhere where it won't be an obstruction in the morning. It also looked pretty risky as a pedestrian if you had to leave your car and walk along these roads with cars sliding all over the place.

    It took me 3 hours to travel about 10 miles, and while I was warm and had plenty of petrol I think I would have stayed put for a while. Could have done with flask of coffee though 😉

    mudshark
    Free Member

    I'm surprised at how conditions have varied so much over the SE. I'm in Leatherhead and all looked fine yesterday so I went to work in Rickmansworth. No problems though there was more snow on the ground in Rickmansworth than at home. The only reason for me to go in is to be with my colleague as we are able to work from home but he didn't go in. I decided to leave at 4pm and saw that snow was falling heavily and worried about getting up the hill from where I'd parked the car – I struggled but a gritter appeared and I managed to follow it up the hill. M25 was OKish then the snow turned to rain around the M4/M40 and barely saw any snow on the roads after that. But I hear of major problems not much to the west of where I was; I think I was lucky really – staying at home today. Supposed to be driving to Shropshire tomorrow and unsure how sensible that is.

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    Most people round here (South Manchester) seem not to be risking it, the roads have been much quieter than normal the last couple of days. I'm driving in – I'd normally ride but it's too icy to risk it at the moment. I don't mind the car sliding around but bikes don't slide, they just throw you onto the tarmac!
    The main problem is other drivers – no one has the faintest clue of how to drive, I've seen people wheelspinning, slamming brakes on and sliding around but worst of all is the people who drive everywhere (even clear roads) at 10mph.

    hora
    Free Member

    crazy-legs Over the past few days from Sale/Stretford-way down to Manchester via Chester road Ive seen people driving at way over the speed limits as though its a hot summers day 😯

    grynch
    Free Member

    hora, people are just crazy … I live on the local version of an English country lane and there is a woman up the street who always drives down far to fast , in her stupid little Suzuki 4X4. Yesterday she drove past at no more than walking speed ( so I gave her a toot on the horn just for fun )
    a happy medium would have been fine.

    hora
    Free Member

    Its crackers. No understanding of varying braking distances. On Sunday my Subaru was allover the place at low speeds and required gentle opposite corrections and throttle changes- I was being driven past by people in front wheel drive cars and had one look from a guy in a Mondeo as though I was some sort of pussy. Idiot.

    oneoneoneone
    Free Member

    4 hours to get from selsdon (croydon) to new addington (croydon)

    no more than 3 miles!!! i couldnt leave the car as it has shoping in and i had to rescue mrs 1111.

    woffle
    Free Member

    my brother had to abandon his car yesterday as people had effectively blocked every way of getting out from where the traffic had stopped. Droves were just leaving their cars in the road meaning others couldn't get past, even if they did have the patience to wait in line.

    He left the office at 3pm. I went and rescued him when it became evident that no trains were running and he'd be stuck. We got home around 12:30 this morning. It took me 5 hours + to do the round trip of about 40 miles, a fair bit (like 25 miles) of which was on the M25, it was just the non-motorway roads that were being closed / icing over. Not quite 4 hours to do 3 miles though…

    hora
    Free Member

    oneoneoneone – you could have covered the shopping up and gone back for the car later when the traffic died down?!

    4hrs – Croydon to Croydon? how much fuel did you waste sat at idle?

    grynch
    Free Member

    rereading this thread ( which yes I started ) I was just doing a little reminiscing. You can't talk to a NewEnglander ( me ) about winter without one of us bringing up the storm by which all others are judged… the Blizzard of '78
    arrrrrrrrr….

    mtbfix
    Full Member

    I felt supremely smug riding out of Reading last night and then back in this morning. Journey of 40mins took an hour but town looked weird with cars scattered everywhere and loads of folk walking about the place.

    swamp_boy
    Full Member

    Got back down the M1 from the Midlands to Watford early yesterday evening and it seemed to be running OK, although the snow was fairly thick, but just spoke to someone else who took 6 hours to get from West Watford to High Wycombe last night.

    hora
    Free Member

    This is why I carry two Mountain Equipment full sleeping bags in the boot of my car every winter.

    grynch
    Free Member

    hora, is that what you tell mrs. h then?

    hora
    Free Member

    The second one isnt for her, its for Bingo 8)

    mudshark
    Free Member

    But you share your bag with Bingo for warmth reasons surely?

    grynch
    Free Member

    ??

    john_drummer
    Free Member

    Feb 97 (I think) I got caught in a snowfall in Bradford. It took 9 hours to go from Shipley to Laisterdyke. About 4 miles.

    And the last time it snowed in Cambridge I just managed to get off the M11 but it still took from 4pm to 11.30pm to get to Huntingdon. After that it was all clear & I was home for about 2.30am. Not bad considering I left Halstead at 3pm. That journey normally takes 4 hours

    hora
    Free Member

    Bingo!

    grynch
    Free Member

    😉

    mrchrispy
    Full Member

    that dog is camp as christmas 🙂

    Driving is always crap around chorlton/stretford, its cause most of them haven't passed a test. i reckon we need more ANPR checks

    dmiller
    Free Member

    Hora I thought you had no heart as well!

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