Detours - look for the positives

[The Other PaulG]

When the sign ahead says the M1 has serious delays, and you need to be somewhere, your heart sinks.

I am a regular up and down the M1 and used to predicting arrival times - now I'm going to be late.

So off I get somewhere just north of Sheffield and follow my nose north west towards my target near Halifax.

But hang on, maybe this isn't so bad....

We all get so used to zipping up and down motorways, we unfortunately miss great chunks of our country, and some of them are fabulous.

Yesterday at about 08h00 it was a superb crisp morning and the sky was an impossible blue. I'd watched the sun rise on my right and it had been glorious. Now I was on the A616 and as I turned off to wiggle my way up to Holmfirth and Huddersfield, I was treated to the most magnificent countryside.

Rolling hill after rolling hill, a wonderfully peaceful rural landscape that looked like it might have been unchanged for centuries. The roads were twisty enough to be fun, good enough to make progress and undulating enough to really get the feel of this spectacular bit of our Islands. The kind of roads that make you want to come back the next day on your bike.

What a treat. And the crazy thing is, I must have passed this area on the M1 literally hundreds of times. I can't wait until I can stop working and really explore our own back yard - so much to find.

Anyone else had a diversion turn into a great experience?

 

[Deleted account 231211001]

I know the precise location you mention very well and, yes, it is indeed the kind of place that you want to return to on your bike. ( I do frequently, especially early in the morning in summer before the buffoons come out) . I once got diverted off the A1 in County Durham after a closure and by following my nose ended up driving some of the most amazing roads up to Durham itself. I went back in the summer on the bike and fell in love with the whole area of North Yorkshire, County Durham, and then later off up the North East past Newcastle on the road to Edinburgh through Kielder Forest.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Funny how much we miss ordinarily, isn't it?

Last year I cycled from London to Edinburgh - and of course on a bike you look for the very quietest roads. There were some real surprises...

Leaving London towards Cambridge, it was amazing how quickly we were in very pretty villages. Lincolnshire was surprisingly lovely.. time and again we were really pleasantly surprised.

 

[Traffic893]

Funny how much we miss ordinarily, isn't it?

Last year I cycled from London to Edinburgh - and of course on a bike you look for the very quietest roads. There were some real surprises...

Leaving London towards Cambridge, it was amazing how quickly we were in very pretty villages. Lincolnshire was surprisingly lovely.. time and again we were really pleasantly surprised.

Surely you mean motorcycled…lol

 

[Lord Snooty]

2021 - four of us on the GSes heading to Fort William for a week in the Highlands, four miles from Fort Bill just past the Corran Ferry the road is closed doe to a fatal RTC. The road is going to be closed for hours as an investigation unit will be sent from Glasgow. It is about 4pm, closure is expected to be for at least 6 hours so we turn around and head for the top of Loch Lomond and head east, pick up the A9 and go over the top and go into Fort Bill from the north - a diversion of 160 miles! It was a glorious ride in strong July evening sunshine, some great scenery and we arrived around 10pm after a stop for something to eat. Turned a 240 mile day into a 400 mile day but very memorable.

 

[GSite]

I agree 100%, many folk don't know the local area and the beautiful countryside they live in or near as they just commute on main roads and don't see a reason for venturing off the beaten track. I have been guilty of this myself until events 30 years back brought a change of mind set. At the time the main bike had been sold and I was looking for replacement over winter, the car suddenly developed major issues, was in dock and I needed to get to work 16 miles away. Fortunately had kept the dirt bike on the road so thought I would try and get to work mainly "off road" if possible. After a few practice runs of route and timings it became a pleasure that would set me up for work in the morning and get me out of work mode later in the day, albeit 45-60 mins each way depending on which lanes I took. Discovered some really great views and a much better knowledge of the area and wondered why I had not made the effort earlier just for pleasure.

 

[King Rat]

The ironic thing is, the motorways and trunk roads are the way the modern, electronic, routing will send everyone, trucks, vans, repmobiles, anyone with no imagination.

I learned a few years ago to turn off motorways on my Zumo.. I can punch in a postcode and follow the pink line, but that is about my lot with the electronic things. I had photographed a bike in Shoreham, on Shoreham beach on the wooden walkway... we were done by 14.30, so I set the Zumo to take me home (Uttoxeter, near Alton towers for those who want a target they can imagine). I let it do the sums... A23, M23, M25, M40, M42, A38.... and looked at the time of arrival at destination. Then I rejigged it and got it to calculate the route home avoiding motorways.... the difference in arrival time was a revelation, this was a trip of about 240 miles and provided the motorways were running freely, some chance of the London peripherique at close to school run / going home time! The difference was a mere 23 minutes.... less than half an hour but on some fabulous roads with barely anything on - everyone was sat on the blue routes complaining of congestion! I have avoided mways ever since and enjoyed the rides.

Over Holme Moss is a great run though.

 

[squibb34]

Didn't the Germans invent the idea, as a cunning plan to expose more of their country to the tourist. Umleitung.

The advent of the satnav has rather spoilt the concept.

 

[Davey B]

Yesterday at about 08h00 it was a superb crisp morning and the sky was an impossible blue. I'd watched the sun rise on my right and it had been glorious. Now I was on the A616 and as I turned off to wiggle my way up to Holmfirth and Huddersfield, I was treated to the most magnificent countryside.

Paul, call here next time you are up that way, it is great for a brew and cake, meal, mooch about

https://www.thecardingshed.com/