A Journey East.

[JohnC6]

Last Saturday we left home to travel to the east coast ...Horsey...to see the seal pups which are born between late October and early February. I noticed a few things on the journey.

A lot of road kill. Having had negative experiences ..long holdups...on motorways we gave the M5-M42-M6 a miss and used A roads...A429-A46-A11-A14. The road kill included four pheasants..they were mainly here in the Cotswolds where the landed gentry breed them so they and their ilk can indulge in their favourite pastime of killing creatures. Two badgers...three birds of prey..difficult to tell which ones..kestrels ?. A small deer..Cotswolds again. Three rabbits ,two blackbirds, a few pigeons and early in the journey two juvenile foxes. At a place called Acle , Norfolk, there were two fox cubs on the offside of the road and one on the nearside at the same location. It looked like a recent incident. There were other corpses which were unidentifiable, possibly, hedgehogs. I'm sure one was an owl.

During the 232 mile journey the I saw only one police vehicle and that was exiting Cambridge services heading west. I didn't see any on the return journey. Near to this location were two very impressive suspension bridges (white) carrying, what appeared to be, a single track service road ..for a farmer's tractor etc..maybe ??...over the A14 dual-carriageway .They looked out of place.

I can't recall which service station but one had a very large number of EV charging points. It was on the A11 or A14....somewhere east of Cambridge.

As we travelled further east the cost of petrol became more expensive. Here in Gloucester it's 148p per litre. Never mind that small '9' some of us once had a discussion about... and in Norfolk it was 164p , which was the most expensive and exclusively at BP garages alongside a M&S shop...a food shop, I assume.

The Services at Cambridge were good (a spicy food stall just inside the entrance) but the tops was the Rugby Moto Services on the M6 on our return journey . The A14 runs into it but we soon came off it west of Coventry and onto the A46. The Rugby Services is 3 years old. At the Costa Coffee shop there was a fantastic Irish lady taking the coffee orders. What a character and she smiled/laughed and engaged every customer in friendly chat. She commented on my wife's soft Scottish accent likening it to that of Mrs Doubtfire(actor ..the late Robin Williams) The design was futuristic ,the very large dining area was so spacious and the tables a couple of metres apart and there were even booths for two..a small table and two chairs..very private. There were several retailers including Greggs..sausage rolls,pasties,sandwiches. A WH Smiths ,M&S, Pret, Burger King and KFC. I see that last year it was voted the best in Britain https://www.itv.com/news/central/20...vices-named-as-motos-rugby-services-on-the-m6

Amazingly, in 11 hours driving (there and back) ie 464 miles... there were no accidents.When we go to Cornwall, using the M5 ,there are always accidents either south-bound or north-bound.Same going to Scotland M5/M6 and in September we were on the M4 across South Wales to Lampeter , near New Quay.. and had to get off it because of an accident and a 2hr 40 minute journey took almost 5 hours.If we can use an A road...and many are dual carriageways, we will do. Far less traffic and far less stress

We left at 9.30 am this morning and were surprised with this..The outside temperature shown inside the car was 0.5C

 

[Cobra]

Here in Gloucester it's 148p per litre. Never mind that small '9' some of us once had a discussion about... and in Norfolk it was 164p ,

It's Just below £160p here for Sans plomb & just over £160p for that other stuff.
When I was working in Norfolk it was always a lot cheaper than MK.
It actually fell ( out there) to 99.9p during the covid wars

We left at 9.30 am this morning and were surprised with this..The outside temperature shown inside the car was 0.5C

It's on its way here then, unless it gets trapped by the chiltern's
It'll either not arrive, or hit them and bounce straight back, and repeat.

 

[JohnC6]

It's Just below £160p here for Sans plomb & just over £160p for that other stuff.
When I was working in Norfolk it was always a lot cheaper than MK.
It actually fell ( out there) to 99.9p during the covid wars


It's on its way here then, unless it gets trapped by the chiltern's
It'll either not arrive, or hit them and bounce straight back, and repeat.

That's a lot. 160p. The 148p here is at one of the two Morrisons stores but a BP station, nearer to us, is 160p and,once again,as in North Norfolk, it's at the same location as a M&S food shop. They must think that people who shop at M&S are the more comfortably-off people and will be able to afford the higher price It beats me why people get their petrol there when a 5 minute drive will get them 11p a litre less .Maybe it's only company vehicle drivers who do that.

I think the snow flurries today will stay on the east coast and not reach you but Cornwall is getting snow, now.

 

[Tringa]

What 164p.

I was in NW Scotland last week and even there it wasn't as expensive.

Dave

 

[Cobra]

That's a lot. 160p. The 148p here is at one of the two Morrisons stores

That's at Tesco! and sometimes the BP garage, around the corner from there is cheaper.
Most garages are a very simlar price, hence the speculation of price fixing, locally!
There are always complaints here on social media, And yet surrounding area's are a lot less.
But far enough away to make the journey not viable.

 

[Humphrey]

Costco Filling Station in Gateshead is at £1.33.9 for unleaded as I write this, and that is a drop from 1.41.9 when I filled up 3 weeks ago. It is still about 8p litre less than the Asda next door. It is a 5 mile detour from work to fill up, but it is worth it. The Shell I pass on the way to work at Newcastle Airport is at £1.58. We buy petrol at work wholesale and without the VAT at about £1.09 a Litre, mind it's still expensive when you get 6/7 thousand litres at a delivery.

 

[tarric]

It's Just below £160p here for Sans plomb & just over £160p for that other stuff.
When I was working in Norfolk it was always a lot cheaper than MK.
It actually fell ( out there) to 99.9p during the covid wars


It's on its way here then, unless it gets trapped by the chiltern's
It'll either not arrive, or hit them and bounce straight back, and repeat.

I thought it was expensive with me at £1.41 but that's ridiculous, how do they justify it, It's a bit like home energy just another postcode rip off the powers that be just think we're all stupid.

 

[Cobra]

I thought it was expensive with me at £1.41 but that's ridiculous, how do they justify it, It's a bit like home energy just another postcode rip off the powers that be just think we're all stupid.

TBH it seems to have got worse ever since QE 2 officially dedicated MK as a city as part as some anniversary or other before she died

 

[Nod]

Not sure what it is here. I only look at the Diesel price - never use the headline priced petrol, only super-unleaded.