The Gaffer tape is on the lights and the spider in the wing mirror knows something is up. Arrowheads in the soil on the Somme at Agincourt are quivering cos the Sat-nav has locked onto them and colonies of algae in the fuel filter are quaking in their boots at the thought of their French counterparts coming on board, at the next fill up.
Setting off tomorrow AM. Any suggestions for the best current route from South of Leeds to the Eastern docks? I can just as easily run down the A1M and down past Peterborough if required - although I have never done that on a Sunday Morning.
Usual route is the M1.
Thanks
Edited by oilrag on 20/09/2008 at 16:42
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A14/M11 proved to be a different route for my trip back from the continent last July - also minimises exposure to M1 roadworks and the M25 and takes you past the site of the Battle of Naseby if you fancy a diversion.
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A14/M11 minimises exposure to M1 & M25 roadworks
Don't forget there is an event at Duxford tomorrow - large model aircraft.
Be ready for the roadworks (if they are still there that is!) either side of the Dartford crossing though - we got caught up in these in August when we went to Ghent for a long weekend.
Don't forget your headlight sticky on thingies & all the H&S bits you now have to carry - police were pulling & checking vehicles for these at Calais - cheaper to buy here than over there.
Fuel was cheaper over there than here too.
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Can't advise on the northern leg oilrag, or even which way to go round the M25 although intuition says Eastern side rather than Western. If you come through early enough in the morning it could even be better to go through London, but the extra hassle might not be worth it.
I hate being late and having to rush for ferries though, so would advise leaving a decent bit of extra time. It can be a bit boring sitting on the dock if the journey goes well, but it's a fairly cheerful kind of boredom in my experience.
Hope it all goes well and that your poetic sensibility will return boosted and refreshed. Go carefully.
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Don't forget the glowing jackets! I went down the A1 yesterday, Grantham to Stamford and there was a monumental holdup Southbound. 2 lanes filtering into one at the Southern end of the by pass, about a 4 mile tailback. I suggest that you ask your SatNav to take thru Stamford or else avoid the A1 altogether in South Lincolnshire. Good luck and don't forget wine and beer in Calais - Majestic wine warehouse is good and has wine tasting. I speak as a satisfied customer - not a shareholder!
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You have a hitchhiker in the mirror spider too Oily ? Mine, or perhaps his / her progeny have been to Italy several times. "Short" trips to France and Germany often and he or she accompanies me on approx. 1000 UK miles most weeks. I have often tried to evict "Boris" but he is the most tenacious of creatures and even when he once mistakenly emerged on a French Autoroute he clung on to the remains of his web for hours in the the blast of the slipstream. I have to admit to a grudging admiration for him.
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Do you guys carefully wash round your pet spiders when you clean your motors, or do you just rely on them to hide when you're going through the car wash?
Someone told me yesterday that our garden is full of small striped spiders not previously noticed.
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Mine can withstand a jetwash and a direct peck from a magpie, Lud. That`s the best thing about imaginary spiders...;)
Thanks for the travel advice chaps
As an aside,
We have a group of magpies that tore a hole in the shed roof earlier this week. Only too real unfortunately and cost £50 to re-felt. One was later seen riving at the edge of the conservatory roof.. If it wasn`t for the Wildlife and Countryside Act...
Edited by oilrag on 20/09/2008 at 19:13
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Send 'em round here Oily. I'm about ready for them........
:-(
Sixty quid........
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 20/09/2008 at 19:20
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Magpies aren't protected are they? What you need is a nice gamekeeper's larder oilrag, 'pour encourager les autres'. You know the sort of thing, couple of rotting foxes, a stoat or two, the odd bird of prey...
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Forgot to say Oilrag, have a great trip !!
His Grumpiness,
Humph
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I think I can vouch for the A14/M11/M25 version, across bridge, then do A2/M2.....much better route than M20
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Lud, I know how to quietly take the odd rabbit. My best mate at junior school was from a traveller family and we had lots of adventures in open countryside.
We were only 10 and he was expected to turn up with a rabbit sometimes. His mother had been set up in a caravan on a local farm so my mate could complete full education. His father lived over in Manchester and had an old V8 Pilot (as mentioned before) we used to skin them and then use salt and saltpetre to cure the skins.
All went well until one day we were eating rabbit in their caravan and his mother spotted the skin staked out to dry, outside. I can still hear his mothers screech.. Well, black and white tasted the same... (one of their own)
(sorry to repeat the incident, if you`ve read my other post a year or so ago)
Edited by oilrag on 20/09/2008 at 19:35
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Rabbits, should add, nooses and a dog - not theft.
Edited by oilrag on 20/09/2008 at 19:39
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Little pests, rabbits, although not without a sort of soppy floppy charm at long and medium range (few wild animals have much real charm close up).
Someone I used to know in Sussex under the name 'Mr. Appalling' had, a bit like you, been part-educated by a local poacher. At a car boot sale once he is said to have approached a pen of domestic rabbits on offer for 50p or a quid each and, thinking his dog might like something to eat, asked for one of the rabbits.
'Which one?' the rabbit seller asked.
'This one,' Mr Appalling replied, producing the naked corpse of one that he had quietly lifted from the pen and killed and skinned behind his back.
I didn't witness the event, retailed by my wife's farmer cousin who won't let much spoil a good story. But I can vouch for Mr Appalling's ability to do something like that deadpan and without turning a hair. He was a slow driver though when I knew him.
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"have a great trip !!"
Cheers Humph (and everyone)
Closing the laptop right now, for a week. See you later.
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We used to live in the back of beyond in Scotland. Saving grace was that in our tiny wee hamlet was a proper pub. It was used for an annual meet of vintage Bentley owners and most weekends attracted a selection of of bike or car enthusiasts with attendant interesting machinery.
During the week though, it was very much about the locals. One of those was a Poacher called Johnny. My wife made the mistake of admitting to enjoying rabbit meat. For some years thereafter, several freshly killed rabbits would appear on our doorstep a couple of times a week. We hadn't the heart to tell him to stop and it cost me a small fortune in whisky at the bar for Johnny.
Johnny had a Fiesta van BTW, not sure if he ever went to France in it.
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