A Snow journey

[johnf]

Having spent two days working in Chichester, Fri and Sat, I set off on the 155 mile trip home to Solihull at 2:12 Saturday.

Knowing the weather was bad in the Midlands was expecting problems - but.

The first 100 miles, A27-M27-M3-A34 up to Abingdon was perfect with just wet roads and very little traffic I averaged a respectable 65mph.

Hit the queue at Abingdon at 3:45 and the nightmare began.

It\'s less than 20 miles from there up to the M40 which took an unbelievable
12.5 hours to complete.

Those that know this part of the A34 will know the short section by Abingdon has a reduced speed limit of 50. There is a slight hill at the end of this and the trucks just couldn\'t make it.

The final mile up to the M40 is also a slight gradient, there must have been 15 abandoned trucks.

The A34 hadn\'t been treated - the gritter and snow plough were in the line with the rest of us and as the temp dropped to -15.5 around 2am the road was a joke as it re-froze.

Having reached jct9 the M40 was pretty clear, one lane anyway and had a reasonable run for the last leg.

Finally got in at 6am - 15.5 hours to cover 155 miles.

You see these traffic issues on the news but is does your head in when in one.

[clive]

Blimey John, still at least your home safe and sound, seeing the news looks like many haven\'t been so lucky to even get home .

[Brett]

That\'s not good!

Should have said you were in Chichester, that\'s only 10mins from my place

[kev-yorks]

Similar story John i tried to head south yesterday............Yorkshire to the Essex border on the M11 2hrs from there to Harlow where i gave up and turned around and headed home a further 10.5 hrs...........The deepest snow anywhere on the journey was about 3inch so shouldn\'t of been a problem if not for a combination of the most abysmal driving I\'ve ever seen and what seems like a country wide policy of driving around with loaded gritters but not actually putting any on the ground. I\'d one silly cow decide to park in the fast lane on a up hill section to speak to her husband on the mobile then wondered why i was a bit irate when asked to shove her off. When will people realize your biggest allay when driving on snow is keeping moving at a reasonable pace high gear and low revs, not walking pace and starting and stopping!
Anyway Rant over its been one of those weeks again long hrs and loads of problems......i\'ll get this in now as next week will nodoubt be the same Merry Christmas to all and all the best for next year :Santa

[Skifledanabit]

thankfully, I haven\'t had to make any long journeys in the snow... yet... it was bad enough getting back from manchester in between the last lot and this!!!

[kevint]

I\'ve been up and down the M1/M25 from Epsom to Leeds several times in the Audi over the last few weeks and not had a serious problem. Sunday just gone was the worst, between J13 and J15 and took an hour longer than usual, I\'ve been lucky

Last year took 8 hours from Reading to Epsom (60 miles) in the FD :eek when unexpected snow fell and gridlocked Reading - the Reading locals were handing out mince pies and hot drinks

My FD is due an MOT but is not coming out of the garage until better weather.

[gsb876]

thankfully no long trips planned for me :-)