Miles and Miles of Motorway

I do lots of driving with my job. Last week I did about 600 miles, together with leisure trips this mean my cars have to go 30,000 miles a year.

So, I know motorways quite well. It's a good job I enjoy it. I think one of the reasons I like it is that I can switch off and let my mind wander. I usually have the radio on, except when there's no reception or if The Carpenters or Good Tradition come on.

Some folk might say driving so much is boring, but I have no trouble entertaining myself.

I spot odd things like shoes or gloves by the roadside. These things are a bit of a mystery, I mean why is there often just one welly boot? I mean a pair is fair enough; perhaps someone left them on the verge when they were getting their spare tyre out of the boot. And I can imagine someone driving away with gloves on the roof and they get thrown off with the first gust of wind etc... hhmmmm. (Upon googling, I found this particular subject to be quite popular... here's another link).

It's becoming more accepted knowledge these days that the verges of roads, in particular motorways, are mini wildlife havens. The UK government have recognised this by launching the Biodiversity Action Plan. When I'm covering my patch, it's mostly through lovely countryside. This time of year, there's lots of vivid pink Rose-bay Willowherb, which is now turning fluffy and setting off "fairies" to the air. Apparantly, it's edible, which I didn't know.

I've seen more than my fair share of the M74 and M6 especially. I'm pleased to see they have started work on upgrading the link between the two. I blogged about this dangerous road back in March when there had just been another fatal accident. Since then, they have closed the lay-bys (woo-hoo!) ... I would like to think this was partly because of my complaining, but probably not, because it was so startlingly obvious that this was hellishly hazardous.

So, bring on the roadworks, firstly the resurfacing of the nastily narrow bridge over the River Esk... If you look at that linked picture, please notice the complete lack of hardshoulder and consider that "for safety" they have narrowed the lanes further recently with temporary barriers, but not applied a slower speed limit. (Cue insane nutter drivers up the arse, and cue me touching the brakes to make them increase the distance from my bumper to more than six inches)

Grr this was supposed to be a positive post about how nice it is to drive around a lot, and it's ended up being a rant about mad drivers.... ah well, that just about sums it up!

Cumberland gap upgrade 1

Cumberland Gap M6 / A74 highways Agency website

24 July 2006 - work finally started