|
The toll road is very good most of the time - and as said, your £8.00 isn't going to encourage the politicians. Remember to pack flat cap and whippets (like a small greyhound) and say Ee uup to all and sundry.
|
>>Remember to pack flat cap and whippets (like a small greyhound) and say Ee uup to all and sundry.<<
Stop it, you're killing us.
|
|
|
The 3 x fun bits about using the M6 toll road are.
1) Theres hardly any traffic on it.
2) Throwing the money in the hopper thingy.
3) The race off agaisnt over drivers from the toll booths.
|
Even at £8 quid return the toll road is just great; journey time from Northampton to points north is almost predictable
Some alternatives:-
1. Stay on M1 at junction 19. Instead leave at 24 taking the A50, all dual carriageway to Stoke, then A500/A34 to rejoin M6. As somebody else said the section round Warrington will still be slow.
2. Go all the way to Leeds on the M1 then take the A65 via Ilkley, Skipton and Settle to Kendal. Very scenic and lots of stopping places along the way, but traffic will be heavy in places and weekend bikers bound for Kirby Lonsdale make it quite frighteneig on Sundays. A few years ago I'd have reccomended a stop in Guiseley for Harry Ramsdens, then the worlds greatest chippy. But since Granda/Compass took over it's become just another fast food place.
3. Go round the west side of London and use the M40/M42/M5 to pick up the M6 at Bescot.
Best route for Keswick from the M6 is to stick with it to Penrith then take the A66, but if you don't mind chancing the traffic in Ambleside the route via Windermere, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise and Thirlmere is breathtakingly scenic.
|
2. A65 via Ilkley....
Indeed, that's the way I would go.
Instead of Harry Ramsdens, which have gone badly downhill of late, I would now go into the centre of Skipton, and go to Bizzie Lizzies chip shop & cafe on the corner of Broughton Road and Coach Street - excellent quality food.
All being well, I should be getting a chance to sample both the route, and the fish & chips later on this week!
The other potential food treat on this route is bacon butty and a mug of tea at the van by the bridge in Kirby Lonsdale - even SWMBO found it to be up to scratch!
Number_Cruncher
|
|
|
|
|
4) Wrestling the coins out of a front jeans pocket and counting them in the last 100 metres whilst braking from 85 mph and calculating which queue will move quickest.
|
Unless you are going to be travelling across the bit of the M6 where you have the choice of the toll road instead at anywhere near the rush hour then the old M6 is not that bad at all. Most of the congestion is found at peak times in the week, so if you want to avoid the toll it is quite feasable to do so.
It was also suggested that you could stay on the M1 up until J24 and then cut across the A50 dual carriageway to the M6 near Stoke and that isn't a bad route either. I would guess that it is a little longer but you will certainly avoid the toll road completely.
I understand what you are saying about not encouraging toll roads and I feel the same way myself. Some tolls are almost unavoidable (such as the Dartford toll crossing) without going a long way to avoid it, but if you have a viable alternative such as using the old M6, then I agree with you about trying to avoid using it.
|
|
M6 Toll is worth paying for for letting the car have a leg stretch. Look out on the A65 for Speed Cams. Where are you staying I can recommend eating and watering holes...
|
As I've mentioned before I live on the North West coast. No one I know - and I have many friends who are, for instance, company reps - use the M6 toll road.
I can recommend the cross-country A50 method as it's normally a quiet dual carriageway route for many miles; however I used to drop down from Fenton towards the M6, going pastTrentham Gardens at one point, to join the M6 at junction 15 as the bit through Stoke can be busy in the peak periods.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
|
Trentham Gardens - RAC Rally 1981.........happy days
|
2. Go all the way to Leeds on the M1 then take the A65 via Ilkley, Skipton and Settle to Kendal. Very scenic and lots of stopping places along the way, but traffic will be heavy in places and weekend bikers bound for Kirby Lonsdale make it quite frighteneig on Sundays.
This is fine if you have plenty of time - allow two hours from end of M1 to M6 - but it's not to be done if the whole trip is to be done in a day. If you stick to the A65 just getting through Ilkley can take over half an hour on a July weekend - the place is becoming an absolute nightmare to drive through and I'm sure demands for a bypass aren't too far away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
