Well, here I am in sunny, yes sunny, Manchester. Last minute hiccups meant I didn’t leave home until 10:15. Silly things, such as one of the rubber spacers on the rack going awol, allowing the topbox to wobble a bit and that nice lady on my tom-tom, deciding she didn’t want to talk to me. Some might say that’s a blessing but after about 75 miles I had to stop and put her straight. The silence was killing me. In truth, I also needed a drink and to rest my bum a bit, so I stopped off at Toddington services for five minutes. I’d been on the road for an hour and a half.
The journey was pretty uneventful really. Apart from the usual traffic hotspots, I was, in the main, able to keep up a fairly reasonable pace. I decided I’d probably stop to refuel with around 175 miles on the clock. As it was, I pulled in to the Hilton services on the M6 with 174.6 showing. Not bad eh?
Q: why in ripoff Britian do we get shafted by the petrol stations on the motorway. Unleaded retails here for £143.9 per litre. That’s 10p more than it was last night when I topped up. I recently went to France, in the car but don’t recall their motorway petrol stations being wildly more expensive than anywhere else. As I said, rip off Britain. Why do we stand for it?
From Hilton services, it’s a little more than 60 miles to my aunt’s place. I arrived sometime around 14:30, I think, but once again in silence. I think this time it was due to the volume having been turned down, accidentally of course but I couldn’t help thinking that I had stumbled across the real reason it’s called tomtom. I’ll not elaborate any more, else I’ll have all the women (all?) after my guts. Very un PC Neill!
Furnished with a sandwich and cuppa, we’ve spent a couple of hours catching up and discussing how long the second part of journey will take tomorrow. It’s only 65 miles or so but apparently Lancaster is a bitch to drive through, so I can expect it to take a little longer than I’d anticipated. My ferry is 11:45 (from Heysham) but I have to check in by 09:15. I’ll be leaving here, latest 07:30.
Right now though I’m sitting writing this and supping a can of cold Stella, with the smell of dinner wafting past my nose. Aaah, bisto!
Journey stats:
Left Chatham: 10:15
Arrived Manchester: 14:30
Total mileage: 241.1
Miles to fuel stop: 174.6
Litres: 14.28
MPG: 47.1
Cost per litre: £1.43.9
Refuelling Cost: £20.55
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