It's slashing down with rain, getting from the back of the van to the front requires Olympic athlete long-jump skills to avoid the large puddle around the entire back half of the van. Horrid. I've got wet turning off the gas and removing the silver screen, now I've got to put my wet raincoat again on to go find someone to let us out!
The journey is OK until Coles Hill and then all the huge motorway roundabouts, heavy lorry traffic and heavy rain make driving hard. I get the wrong lane on one roundabout and have to force my way back against car horns to avoid being forced onto the M6.
The original plan was to stop at perhaps Buxton or Ashbourne and then again at Leamington Spa. Too wet for that, so perhaps Warwick before leaving the A roads for the M40. Nope the main road to Warwick is closed so M42 it is. That means Gaydon services for or break. At least they reminded me of why I hate motorway services (apart from the private ones like Tebay and Gloucester). Starbucks coffee was not great and I've had beer almond croissant. The tiny Waitrose didn't sell the sort of drinks or snacks we were looking for. It's still chucking it down. Has better days
But it gets worse. There's been an accident on the A34 N Oxford (looks like it only happened about 5 mins earlier). Liz has a cunning plan and we detour via an interesting and narrow backroad. Good job I had slowed slightly for the steep-humpback bridge, because whatever hump I hit about 40m before it hit sent the rear suspension crashing down and bottoming out with an almighty bang! I doubt the MAD assister springs survived that so that's a £400 repair, and there were only new in Jan. I do hope that's the total extent of the damage, it was a very worrying thump!
Of course Sod's law says it just had to stop raining just as we got home!
Here's the just over 200 mile horrible journey
