@grum – you are one lucky f***er. I would love to live in Arnside, me.

I feel your pain! we did Aberdeen to Devon coinciding with English half term, Bristol/Glouscester on the M5 was gridlock both ways, I think on the way back it was 6hrs to cover 60 miles!

There was a classic 9 years ago when we took the (much younger) kids to Cornwall. The missus wanted to leave Thursday evening to come home, suspecting it would be a nightmare and knowing my uni mates were arriving on Friday afternoon to have an evening down the boozer before going off to 20:20 finals day at Edgbaston on the Saturday.

Her exact words were:

“I’m not getting home with a car full of washing and unpacking and having you piss off down the pub an hour later and not see you again sober until Sunday”.

I said we’d paid for the Thursday night and were staying. We set off on the Friday morning from Fowey. It went well. Until the bit on Bodmin where the dual carriageway ended. After that, I don’t think we exceeded 40 mph at any point. My wife was wrong. We actually got home 25 minutes before my mates got there and we pissed off down the pub.

The finals day was the one where the second semi and interval to the final were rain delayed, so didn’t finish until after 10pm. We were shitfaced. I got home at about 2pm on the Sunday and was useless all day. Then it was Monday again.

We (the missus and I) still ‘laugh’ (grimace) about it now.

😂

Staying in Brixham at the moment in a Sunday to Sunday rental. Travelling on the Sabbath seems more civilsed than Friday or Saturday

Should be Okay though as we’re two peninsulas better than grum

@thestabiliser – Bootle? 😛

@failedengineer – We moved here a few months ago after a pretty tough old time and honestly I count my blessings every day, it’s amazing.

Could be in the US by now. Or Spain, Greece, Italy, Egypt, Turkey.

It took us 11 hours to drive from Munich to 100km south of Berlin a few weeks ago. Should normally be 5.5-6.5 hour drive to Berlin proper. Was a nightmare. Crazy weather. Traffic. Broken down cars.

I always think each time we drive north from Munich to Berlin that we could be in Italy within 3 hours rather than roughing it in Berlin after a good six hour drive.

Bikepacking?

Does Berlin still smell of stagnant drains and sewerage in the summer months?

Edgy = stinks of shit. Like Manchester 🤪

I dunno.
I did a wee 24h tour of England the other day.

Left Edinburgh at 8pm. Motorways dead all the way.

First stop in Manchester city centre for a midnight pint and to observe the wildlife.

Couple more hours south on empty motorways to our accomodation – no booking required. Found a wee lane, two hours kip on a camp bed in the back of a van. Quiet and peaceful.

Back on the road at 5am, get to Somerset for stop three (picking up my new Ducati Monster S2R). Visited a cider orchard. The people were weird but it was nice. Temp up over 30c by now (around 10am).

Drove to Rotherham for next stop. Motorways were busy but not annoyingly so.
Rotherham not so nice compared to Somerset. However my friend was getting his custom race leathers fitted so needs must.

Drove up M1 to Scotch Corner and gorgeous evening drive across A66 to Penrith for dinner. What a lovely town!

Then back up the road and home again. 1000 miles in 24 hours and very much enjoyed my trip to England.

No one trying a staycation? I’ve been away ‘properly’ earlier this year, but trying out my new bike packing tent, we went to a campsite just 20 minutes from home last month. Our next weekend away in the campervan is just 30 minutes drive.

Appreciate it’s nice to go somewhere with big scenery, beach etc, but with kids, a local holiday has got to be appealing until people start flying again?

DannyH could even have avoided 9 years of “no chance, that ship sailed in 2011 when you…” by popping home on Thursday evening to put a couple of loads in the machine and stock the fridge with beer 🙂

Meh, sounds like a first week of the English holidays thing.

We had a torrid time last week, look how busy this beach is.

Off over the border next week to that Scotland place. Leave the packed beaches of Northumberland behind, Monday there were almost 10 people on the beach including 3 of us. It’s been terrible, it took me literally seconds to get parked yesterday afternoon. Mind I couldn’t get a seat in my current favourite bar but then again I didn’t ask for them to keep one free for me. To be fair it is the busiest I’ve seen it but it’s still not Lakes or Cornwall levels.

We stayed in Betws Y Coed 2 weeks ago , just stunning but they were already struggling with visitor numbers even before the school holidays . If you are going you need to book evening meals well in advance or go self catering which ain’t really a holiday then in my mind .Ro5ey did I read right about bed numbers does that mean you hadn’t boooked anywhere ?

Does Berlin still smell of stagnant drains and sewerage in the summer months?

Didn’t think it was exclusive to summer… 😁

Appreciate it’s nice to go somewhere with big scenery, beach etc, but with kids, a local holiday has got to be appealing until people start flying again?

We’re doing an actual staycation mostly, ie staying at home but doing holiday type stuff most days, but then we do have a beach and big scenery. 😛

We are v close to the actual Lake District but I’m avoiding it like the plague at the mo. I might try and do an evening ride during the week or something.

We stayed in Betws Y Coed 2 weeks ago

Which English county is that in again? 😉

Rotherham not so nice compared to Somerset.

Rotherham isn’t a particularly popular holiday destination even for residents of South Yorkshire. Although there’s now a Gullivers Kingdom…

We’re in Devon, but luckily not an over-touristy town…unless you’re really into Samuel Taylor Coleridge 😉

Not planning on going anywhere further than the beach or Dartmoor, and then it’ll be at sensible times of day to avoid grockles.

A30 was closed due to a fatal crash a couple of weeks ago (probably the jam someone mentioned earlier in the thread).

Unfortunately, rather than follow the proper diversion, every **** tried to take a ‘short cut’ through our small, narrow Laned town.
That was fun.

Overherd: ‘The English’

A plague unto ourselves

Highways England are reporting numerous sections of the A303 with average speeds of <10mph & stretches of the M5 southbound from Cheltenham to Exeter that are <25mph

Highways England are reporting numerous sections of the A303 with average speeds of <10mph & stretches of the M5 southbound from Cheltenham to Exeter that are <25mph

And it’s pissing down in Devon too.
Happy holidays 🤣

Not in west Devon. Most of it seems to have passed us by. Which is unusual…

Hammering it down here Mid Devon. Just gone over the M5 near Taunton…chocker block. I’d hate to be stuck in that!

Woolacombe beach doesn’t look too busy

https://magicseaweed.com/Woolacombe-Surf-Report/1352/

Google maps shows the M5 a nice shade of red from Bristol South

I wonder how many people will experience traffic, rain, midges, crowds, high prices etc in the UK this year, while crammed inside thier New camper/tent/caravan, and go scuttling back to Spain next year?

I can but hope.

Woolacombe beach doesn’t look too busy

https://magicseaweed.com/Woolacombe-Surf-Report/1352/

Google maps shows the M5 a nice shade of red from Bristol South

Possibly related factoids

Went over to our punters in our holiday cottage (in the highlands) next door last night to wish them a safe journey home and ask them how their holiday went. Error. When a conversation starts “this isn’t out kind of thing and we only booked it because would couldn’t go to Lanzarote” you know it’s going to go downhill from there. Everything (inc the cottage) too expensive, no one in their right minds would want to walk up a hill, castles are boring, it’s not hot enough to sun bath (it’s been 20-24 all week). Living next door you could see they knocked around the cottage 20 out of 24 hours a day with the kids playing football on the gravel driveway with rivers and lochs a few minutes walk away and a mega beach a 12 min drive away. But no, they drank themselves to oblivion (one wheelie bin brimmed with glass, the other brimmed with cans – not a bad effort for a mum and day and 2 grandparents in a week).

We’ve clear benefited financially from all this staycation malarkey but I’m ready for it to go back to normal with guests who genuinely want to be here and enjoy it as much as we do living here.

The guests a few weeks before who trashed 10 out of 12 towels with what can only have been a family fake tanning evening and the bedroom floors littered with coke cans and half finished takeaways – cut from the same cloth. It’s horribly classist but so far proving to be sadly true….the families coming from the rougher parts of Glasgow a few hours drive away because other holidays are not available are treating the cottage like shit (and us not much better) and those that have come from further afield (mainly England) seem to be coming from for the right reasons, look happy and are respectful to the property. I was so wanting this year to be the year that those that came from the sort of background that might not have considered a outdoorsy uk holiday could fall in love with it and their own country, but sadly from evidence here at least they are a lost cause.

Here’s to mediterranean all inclusives opening up again next year and a bit more normality. I’ll be poorer but happier.

Why can’t people have a drink whilst remaining respectful?

This still puzzles me after all this time. Why can’t people have a few tinnies, chat nicely, have a bit of a relaxed laugh and sleep it off. Why do we, as a nation, have such a ludicrous relationship with alcohol?

One of the best pissups I ever had was on a ‘Business Trip’ the Netherlands in 2014. We were in a small town called ‘s-Hertogenbosch. One of the lads knocked on my hotel room door and said ‘look out in the street we have to get involved in that’. The street of bars was chocka with screens showing Netherlands vs Australia. We got absolutely leathered with the locals, had a great laugh, few tokes on a spliff and loads of jokey ‘arms round everyone’ photos wearing those orange plastic viking helmets. It was a massive piss up, involving football and there was not one iota of trouble.

The meeting we had to attend the next day was challenging, but only because the four of us were absolutely hanging.

No aggro, no punch-up, no intimidation, a skin full. It doesn’t have to be like it is in countless market towns and city centres up and down the UK – where you stand a very good chance of getting filled in for no reason. Or jeered at or threatened.

Saunton looks empty too. Strange.
Fistral, Towans and Polzeath look semi-civilised. Everyone must travel on a Saturday or have decided to take a break on the M5 instead.

No waves, so no local surfers.
<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>
changeover day so everyone is leaving or arriving. Be rammed tomorrow. </span>

I’m in Somerset near Weston-super-Mare. I won’t travel anywhere except away from hot spots for the next 6 weeks. Fortunately, there are enough spaces away the honey pots that it won’t be too bad for me if I exercise a little jurisprudence.

M5 here has been terrible on changeover day for the last 8 weeks – I’ve never seen it so busy for such an extended period of time.

We have just had a week in Filey. Sunday was the busiest I have ever seen the area but the rest of the week although still busy was ok. We are lucky that our kids break up a week earlier than most. The usual 2 hour journey home took closer to 4 hours but that was due to a ww2 bomb found near Google resulting in all roads in the area being closed.

This was the first time we have had more than a few days holiday in the U.K. for 15 years. It was great but the fantastic weather we have had obviously helped.

Spent last week in Saunton, it was hot, sunny, very relaxing and empty.

Traffic heading back yesterday going the other way was bonkers.

Been subject to UK traffic conditions for decades either from holidays in the UK to traveling to The southern coast to pick up a ferry for France. Just need to choose your journey time that’s all. Impossible to completely avoid heavy traffic…thats a consequence of politicians not having the backbone to build more roads in the last 30 years or so as the number of cars has significantly increased…what did people expect? And to be fair I’ve been stuck in my fair share of monster traffic jams in France too so not an entirely British problem. But you can avoid the worst of it by picking and choosing your journey times..even if it means splitting your journey up and over nighting. Always managed to avoid the worst of it by doing that.

But M5 is crap every year so even when people return to their normal summer holidays don’t expect the M5 to ease up any time soon.

Just had a lovely week in Norfolk, and heading upto the Lakes in October…can’t wait. If you get the weather the UK is as good a place to holiday as anywhere.

I wonder how many people will experience traffic, rain, midges, crowds, high prices etc in the UK this year, while crammed inside thier New camper/tent/caravan, and go scuttling back to Spain next year?

I can but hope.

Fingers crossed for that…sold my camper van in Jan 2020 as it was too small for the family and been looking for a larger camper van/motorhome, even a caravan since, but the prices they’re going for at the moment there is no chance I’m diving in now. Already been stung with inflated costs for a lockdown puppy, so not going to get stung on overpriced campers/caravans. So looking forward to the used market being flooded with unwanted motorhomes/caravans in a year or so’s time as people trundle back off to Spain.

So looking forward to the used market being flooded with unwanted motorhomes/caravans in a year or so’s time as people trundle back off to Spain.

Hope so too, we could do with a newer caravan after the hammer ours has had last year & this!

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/25/drunk-swimming-a-growing-danger-in-the-lake-district

Maybe selfishly but this is the part that bothers me most, quiet special places getting ruined

Watson said social media was encouraging visitors to crowd into previously obscure swimming spots, rather than the main lakes. “There’s the amplification on social media, where a waterfall or a little water pool will appear on Instagram or TikTok and it will become an attraction that we’ve never had a problem with before,” he said.

Hope so too, we could do with a newer caravan after the hammer ours has had last year & this!

Yep…couldn’t have chosen a worse time for me to sell the camper van. I could have either used it more despite it being a bit small, or got another £5k or maybe more from its sale! Oh well, story of my life really.

Just spent the day on Woolacombe beach, not to bad at all considering. Big crowd of lazy people at the carpark/food end of the beach, but we walked with the dogs down past the restricted area and had loads of space.

Came down from herefordshire yesterday our usual week away fully expecting a disaster of traffic and crowds. Pleasantly surprised so far.

Maybe selfishly but this is the part that bothers me most, quiet special places getting ruined

If 20% of the population were dickheads you only have to have 5 extra people show up somewhere to have an even chance one of them is a dickhead. A recent(ish) poll put the dickhead % at 52, so nowhere is safe.

Sorry to hear you’ve had issues Covert, we’ve just got back from a splendid week in the Trossachs, not a drop of rain, we spent pretty much every day out in the woods, on the bikes or wild swimming in the local river.

We headed back south on Saturday and the last queues heading North up the M6 were a sight to behold, looks like we dodges the worst of it