We spent over an hour planning our route down to MOH.
It was going to be a killer.
It wouldn’t matter which way we went, we’d hit a bottleneck or rush hour traffic somewhere, so tried to work out the best day and best time to go.
We knew we would have to stop every hour or so to stretch eight legs and give Maggie potty breaks.
Even if we didn’t, we were looking at travelling time of over 6 hours, so you could add another two on top of that, and pray we wouldn’t hit the
It took MOH over 10 hours to get home when he left us after his mini break last month.
Admittedly he did a small detour to get some parts for a motor bike he’s restoring, but he got caught in roadworks on two major motorways, plus the UK’s biggest car park, the M25.
We are obviously going to try and avoid all that.
When we lived in Lincolnshire before, we managed a few visits Down South to see my Mum, but it was a journey each way of as much as 7 hours, and we were all younger, fitter and more resilient then. Being further North now, we’re at least another hour on top of that and there is no way we could do it in a day now due to extended health issues, hence the plan to visit from MOH when we stay with him for a few days.
However, getting to him in the first place is going to take a lot out of us.
We put in various scenarios and leaving times, and apart from leaving in the middle of the night on a weekday, it appeared that starting off at 9am on Sunday would get us to MOH around 4pm. Our return journey would depend on when I go to see Mum, the weather, and how tired we all are. However, if we go to see Mum first, that’s an even longer journey but only once, and a couple of days to recover with MOH before the return journey home.
Again we will leave around 9am and should be home by 4pm (takeaway will be collected from the local chippy on arrival).
All well and good in theory until you throw in a couple of tilts.
I had my diabetes eye screening booked and MOH’s brother was visiting for 4 or 5 days.
As we get nearer to Christmas, traffic and major towns are going to be heaving.
MOH has also had a bout of the ‘flu, so we don’t want to share or pass it on to anyone else, especially my Mum, so he had to sound pretty fit and bug free before we went anywhere.
Plus we have another belt of bad weather forecast and there’s no way we want to be travelling in that.
It’s not just where we are that matters, but where we’re going and how we get there.
pensitivity101 
I take it that trains are not an option…. I love trains, but they are difficult to find on our side of the pond, too.
Trains are too expensive, indirect as we would have at least 4 changes time consuming and inconvenient especially with the dog. I thought about the coach if I was going on my own, but that would be a 12 hour journey and I would still have to find transport from the station to my destination and accommodation for the night as Sis wouldn’t offer to put me up.
Sounds like you and your sister have as many issues as I do with my own.
Safe trip!
Thanks. Sadly sis and I were never really close to begin with, but she’s pushed me too far now.
My sister pushed way too hard too…. is yours 6 years younger than you, too?
No, 5 years older and has always come over as the Big I am. She took great pleasure in picking arguments with me in front of her friends to make her look good, so I stopped rising to the bait. I have no interest in her friends or what they think of me purely on her sayso. Ho hum. At least we can pick our friends.
Interesting – I had the same problem with my ‘little’ sister, who was actually bigger/taller than me by the time she was 12…. IMHO, she has mega issues with her ego and needs to actually listen to good advice instead of lashing out. Her problem, not mine.
Her ‘friends’ tend to be transient, I have about the same group now as I did decades ago.
We have very little in common anyway but I’ve given up offering the olive branch to try and find common ground. Family 😦 (sigh)
I know just how you feel. She has always been more political than I am – and always had a wildly different point of view. But she absolutely went too far about a year ago, when President Trump won. I’ve never heard such language! It has been like she is oblivious to reality and rabid because Obama is no longer ‘her president’. The way I see it, the voters spoke and their voice needs to be respected. Frankly, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well he is doing, particularly since the ‘deep state’ is doing everything in its power to sabotage him. A few months ago, she got more foul-mouthed than ever when I suggested that she focus on 2020 (our next presidential election) … when I suggested that if she can’t respect the man, she should respect the office, she disowned me.
Hate to admit this, but life is much more pleasant without her and her views, which don’t quite match the reality I see.
Ours is family politics.
Just as bad, if not worse, since those can get bitingly personal.
I’m exhausted already.