8th January 26 Come Down

After the last week's trips up the east coast to Inverness and across to Campbelltown and home. Today's journey was a horrible come down. Carlisle to Aylesbury and the south of England, is a journey I have done numerous times over the last 45 years or so. And now it takes longer than ever, due to traffic and today's motorway driving unawareness. Basically awful driving practices.

So it's just a 60-70 mph relax, when possible and M6, M42, M40 to Bicester and A41 boring drive. Done in around 6 hours. Not really possible to do it in less due to ever present roadworks, speed restrictions and speed cameras.

I can remember a time when our very regular trip was from Dumfries to Central London. We could do that trip in exactly four hours door to door.

Leaving at 8pm and no speed restrictions or cameras existed. We would leave Dumfries and the motorway was taken at 90-100mph with no real worries about being caught speeding. Only a rare unmarked car would catch you. They never did. We'd hit the M40 and take that all the way into London. No stupid speed limits then on the elevated section over Shepherd's Bush and Notting Hill then down towards Euston station. Turning right onto Marylebone High Street, eventually crossing Wigmore Street then Oxford Street and home on Binney Street.

Yes in four hours. !!

If you think that's crazy.

I once, I admit very stupidly. Made that journey from Dumfries to Addlestone Surrey. In two and a half hours. On a Kawasaki ZZR 1100. I tried. Foolishly I know. But I made it unscathed and unpunished. By trying to do the whole motorway section, fuel stops excepted. By not dropping the bike below 100mph.

I kinda succeeded. Doing the journey in the said time. But I paid the price of making myself ill with adrenaline. And ended up in bed for two days.

The 100% concentration needed to do that was obviously too much.

That's a true story.

Back to normal work tomorrow.

Image for illustration purposes only