longest journey time ever

[solarman216]

Finished my job today in St Leonards at 5pm expected to be home around 5.30 after calling in for a bit of shopping on list given me by wifey am, all of 4.5 miles but can be a bit of a bottle neck at times so not unusual to take 45 mins, even though it had been snowing most of the day, saw no real problems and after all I have two or three routes to choose from, direct along the 259 sea front, up some back doubles and cut some of it off but slower roads, and the long way via a couple of small villages in the sticks, being as I was on a main route to the sea front and seeing the traffic very slow as it is a down hill route, decided to take the back doubles, mistake, got to the top and ground to a halt after half an hour of so slow moving came to a road that would take me to the long route, shot up there only to discover my front drive was absent, no matter took the hill it its stride, but when got to the top in the direction I needed to go, the traffic was not going, sat there for another half hour, saw blue lights a many, so went the other way now heading back to the sea front, as this route was clear, till I got to the 259 again and after an hour joined it and there I was stuck with everyone else, so to finish here what time did I get home, half past bloody nine 4.5 hours, and the reason, a small grade (cannot call it a hill) past the Bull pub was defeating almost all drivers, but this is an A road so why was it not gritted? I believe some drivers were in that hold up for 6 hours or more, why oh why does this country default so badly when it snows, rant over, Rick

 

[makeitfit]

oooph, bum deal Rick I trust you are now sat cosy with your feet toasting by the fire and a tipple to warm your cockles
No snow here just arctic winds at 45 mph , sheesh it cuts through many many layers
Have a better day tomorrow :thumbs

 

[solarman216]

yes mate nice and warm now and sorted the near side auto locker that had a broke brake ring, odd cos I rarely use 4 wheel on the road motor, any way happier now I have sent a nice email to the head of east sussex county council demanding the sacking of the person in charge of gritting, and demanding a direct reply or I go to the press, we will see, I am sure there will be many others complaining as well, but on the other side of thee coin I was well impressed with the motor that it did so well in only two wheel drive, I mean I pissed past many that could not make it at all, but I did miss the slowing down aspect of 4 wheel, found the rear jumping in lower gears on the glassy stuff but on virgin snow no probs, Rick

 

[briggie]

i think the majority of people who get stuck/ stranded in the snow are totally unprepared for the conditions ..... probably low profile tyres ..... spinning wheels when trying to set off thinking it will give them extra traction :doh...
......
over the last 6 months or so ive only ever had to use 4wd once in my truck .... and that was to pull a corsa out of trouble which had slid off the road at cullingworth ( gets quite bad up there in snow ) and the corsa was half blocking the road down a fairly steep incline creating a hazard for other vehicles .

i always carry a small bag of rock salt ,tow rope ,a fully charged mobile phone ,and sometimes my ham radio , i also make sure my tyres have plenty of tread ..... its all about preparation ........ it only takes one idiot to get stuck on a single lane road ...... and everyone is then stuck ...... fgs use a bit of sense

 

[maverick fox]

totally agree, think i would have preferred some snow, as have had freezing cold and the same arctic howling winds for 2 days!

 

[solarman216]

been called to Eastbourne now, surgery with no heating, ffs hope I can get there, again I have three options, but see what the 259 is like first, time will tell, Rick

 

[briggie]

been called to Eastbourne now, surgery with no heating, ffs hope I can get there, again I have three options, but see what the 259 is like first, time will tell, Rick

take care mate ...... and watch out for juan kerrs on the road

 

[arcascomp]

Good luck with that, Edinburgh's been getting a reasonable amount of snow last couple of days and equally, no one seems to have a clue on how to drive. I think our council was caught on the hop too as the roads seemed fairly untreated first thing yesterday.

I find myself flicking into 4WD for some of the side streets as they turn to glass very quickly and Edinburgh council would prefer to spend our money of trams instead of clearing roads properly. I don't need the extra traction, just prefer the extra drive train braking effect!

When I was a kid in Aberdeenshire, we had loads of snow most days in winter and the roads were usually kept open. Plough drivers used to take their lorry home at night and start the next day from their front door. Then the tax man claimed that was 'home to work' so they had to leave the lorries at the depot. Next morning they were snowed in and far less roads are kept open because of it! :doh

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

We popped out at 10:30pm last night for a quick drive in the snow, and to have a look at it up on the Downs.

We live on a side road, so no gritting or ploughing, put the Fuzzmobil in to 4H, and drove away no problems at all. After 3/4 miles, got to the A25, and it was stopped...

Were we live in Sevenoaks is basically a dip at the bottom of several hills, Some the roads take the long route, and level out, but one or two are reasonably impressive, just not very long.

Where our road joins the A25, is in a dip where once upon a time the Mill pond was, so there is a small Down and Up hill on the A25. The A25 looked exactly the same as our side roads, the cars were just tracking right through the snow onto the black ice underneath, and then the cars could not even get up the small hills.

We were hoping to take a side road a bit further along, so sat it out for a bit as the cars slowly got up the hill, expecting it to be moving after that. A guy crawling in the other direction asked us how far the queue was going in his direction, and told us the queue our way went all the way past our little hill, up the the steep hill out of Seal, and then stretched for about 8 miles to the next village.

We turned around and went back home, having done 2 miles, and taken 30 minutes at 10:30 at night.

I dread to think how long some of those poor people must have been out there.

 

[solarman216]

no problems at all today, roads been gritted and completely clear, and next to no traffic either, they have all stayed at home, thank f, sorted heating in Eastbourne then another call to a leak in Hastings, then another job back in Bexhill, did not get back to the kitchen I started yesterday, no matter there is always tomorrow, but glad all the plonkers stayed at home today, Rick