Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:31:18 on
Mon, 14 Jul 2008, magwitch remarked:
All I can say is that during the '50s '60s and '70s people managed to
get to Devon or Cornwall for lovely holidays and the 4–6 hour car or
train journey was all part of the fun.

I remember going down there by car pre-motorways, via the infamous
Honiton Bypass etc, and it wasn't much fun. Nor was it 4-6 hours!!

It's not six hours to Cornwall even now! (At least, not if you keep to
the speed limits and don't try to do it in one shift.) You'd be lucky
to make it to the Devon border from Cambridge in four hours - Multimap
reckons 4'24" even on modern roads, and that doesn't reckon in rest stops.

Jon
--
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with 'green-lines'.

Jon Green wrote:
John B wrote:
On 14 Jul, 10:50, Jon Green wrote:
Not a point of view that's popular amongst eco-warriors, because it
reduces them to "*grumble* Shouldn't have a plane on that route anyway
*grumble, mumble*".

OTOH her fare could have made the difference for the airline between
continuing the route and cancelling it as unprofitable.

Yeah, and mistimed butterfly-wing flappage over Brazil has caused plane
crashes.

The Newquay route is a nice little earner for Ryanair. They've expanded
their service there since inception, due to popularity.

If you want to understand why, try lugging a 8'6" mini-mal glass fibre
board, in its carry-bag (plus a bag full of neoprene and clothes) around
a few trains, and through the London Underground system betweentimes. If
you find a way of getting the board undamaged down the escalators
without causing distress and injury to fellow travellers, do let me
know. Or, for a real laugh, take them on the bus instead.

Actually my last time in Newquay was circa 1977 and I took a 3x4'
Marshall amp and guitar case down there (play 3 chords and form a band)
as well as our luggage on the train. I can't remember it being a major
problem. In fact we chummed up with Bruce Foxton and his g/f from the
Jam on the train en-route.

The East Runton (Norfolk) surf's OK on the occasional days when there's
decent long-travel waves down the North Sea and no wind behind to
flatten them, but if you want to surf where it's warm (I surf Runton in
a 5mm suit even in summer!) and you can usually find surfable conditions
_somewhere_, then the West Country's beaches are the usual choice, and
the only practical ways to get there are car or plane.

Given the joys of the A30 and A39, I'd say that the plane is probably
the more green option, bizarrely enough.

You'd be wrong. Travelling in a group in a traditional surfers' combi
surf boards strapped to the roof is the style, whatever Jemima and her
friends bound for Rock for the hols might tell you.

Not that Helen's was a surfing trip AFAICT, but all the same...

Jon

Jon Green wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:31:18 on
Mon, 14 Jul 2008, magwitch remarked:
All I can say is that during the '50s '60s and '70s people managed to
get to Devon or Cornwall for lovely holidays and the 4–6 hour car
or train journey was all part of the fun.

I remember going down there by car pre-motorways, via the infamous
Honiton Bypass etc, and it wasn't much fun. Nor was it 4-6 hours!!

It's not six hours to Cornwall even now! (At least, not if you keep to
the speed limits and don't try to do it in one shift.) You'd be lucky
to make it to the Devon border from Cambridge in four hours - Multimap
reckons 4'24" even on modern roads, and that doesn't reckon in rest stops.

Jon

We used to live 20 miles north of Winchester... I mean (gosh) if you
were travelling to Cornwall from the outer Hebrides it might even take
you 3 or 4 days.

In message , at 13:00:43 on
Mon, 14 Jul 2008, magwitch remarked:

All I can say is that during the '50s '60s and '70s people managed
to get to Devon or Cornwall for lovely holidays and the 4–6
hour car or train journey was all part of the fun.
I remember going down there by car pre-motorways, via the infamous
Honiton Bypass etc, and it wasn't much fun. Nor was it 4-6 hours!!

Well as the irishman said that would depend where you started your
journey (or something).

You are starting near Newmarket I think, and I was starting near
Chelmsford. So not much difference really.

It's around 300 miles and in those days you could average 30mph if you
were lucky. So set off at crack of dawn and get there by supper time
(allowing for breaks).

Nowadays, I suppose children would implode with boredom of the arduous
journey and it would permanently scar their psychology or something.

It takes about half of the time as back then, and they have all sorts of
gadgets to amuse themselves. So "not really".
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:00:43 on
Mon, 14 Jul 2008, magwitch remarked:

All I can say is that during the '50s '60s and '70s people managed
to get to Devon or Cornwall for lovely holidays and the 4–6
hour car or train journey was all part of the fun.
I remember going down there by car pre-motorways, via the infamous
Honiton Bypass etc, and it wasn't much fun. Nor was it 4-6 hours!!

Well as the irishman said that would depend where you started your
journey (or something).

You are starting near Newmarket I think, and I was starting near
Chelmsford. So not much difference really.

It's around 300 miles and in those days you could average 30mph if you
were lucky. So set off at crack of dawn and get there by supper time
(allowing for breaks).

Nowadays, I suppose children would implode with boredom of the arduous
journey and it would permanently scar their psychology or something.

It takes about half of the time as back then, and they have all sorts of
gadgets to amuse themselves. So "not really".

No I was starting from 20 miles north of Winchester at the time about
150 miles further west and another 70 miles south from Chelmsford. I
said it used to take 4 for Devon and 6 hours for Cornwall from there and
was accurate.

In message , at 14:38:45 on
Mon, 14 Jul 2008, magwitch remarked:
No I was starting from 20 miles north of Winchester at the time about
150 miles further west and another 70 miles south from Chelmsford. I
said it used to take 4 for Devon and 6 hours for Cornwall from there
and was accurate.

But hardly on topic for a Cambridge/London audience (see NGs posted to).
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 14:38:45 on
Mon, 14 Jul 2008, magwitch remarked:
No I was starting from 20 miles north of Winchester at the time about
150 miles further west and another 70 miles south from Chelmsford. I
said it used to take 4 for Devon and 6 hours for Cornwall from there
and was accurate.

But hardly on topic for a Cambridge/London audience (see NGs posted to).


Yes it is. We'll be living under a short-haul holding stack and
flightpath in the near future. And Londoners will be enjoying their
third Heathrow runway. Very ON topic actually.

In message , at 15:10:20 on
Mon, 14 Jul 2008, magwitch remarked:
No I was starting from 20 miles north of Winchester at the time
about 150 miles further west and another 70 miles south from
Chelmsford. I said it used to take 4 for Devon and 6 hours for
Cornwall from there and was accurate.
But hardly on topic for a Cambridge/London audience (see NGs posted
to).

Yes it is. We'll be living under a short-haul holding stack and
flightpath in the near future. And Londoners will be enjoying their
third Heathrow runway. Very ON topic actually.

Saying that it was possible to drive to the West Country all those years
ago in 4-6hrs is not topical for a Cambridge/London newsgroup.
--
Roland Perry

"magwitch" wrote in message
...

All I can say is that during the '50s '60s and '70s people managed to get
to Devon or Cornwall for lovely holidays and the 4–6 hour car or train
journey was all part of the fun.

Cambridge to Mullion (or Helston or the Lizard, not a lot in it) is eight
hours these days by car (seven and a half if you try hard and are lucky with
the traffic). Including a couple of coffee stops. Assuming you avoid doing
anything really daft like coming back on a Sunday night, or doing the trip
during the summer.

--
Tim Ward - posting as an individual unless otherwise clear
Brett Ward Limited - www.brettward.co.uk
Cambridge Accommodation Notice Board - www.brettward.co.uk/canb
Cambridge City Councillor

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 15:10:20 on
Mon, 14 Jul 2008, magwitch remarked:
No I was starting from 20 miles north of Winchester at the time
about 150 miles further west and another 70 miles south from
Chelmsford. I said it used to take 4 for Devon and 6 hours for
Cornwall from there and was accurate.
But hardly on topic for a Cambridge/London audience (see NGs posted
to).

Yes it is. We'll be living under a short-haul holding stack and
flightpath in the near future. And Londoners will be enjoying their
third Heathrow runway. Very ON topic actually.

Saying that it was possible to drive to the West Country all those years
ago in 4-6hrs is not topical for a Cambridge/London newsgroup.


You can't have been following the thread as I was merely trying to
impress on some of the younger members that people could and did access
both Devon and Cornwall perfectly easily in the days before easyjet and
ryanair began adding another few tonnes of carbon directly to the
atmosphere.1.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environ...ts-440548.html

1.The carbon comparison

* BY CAR According to the AA Routeplanner, the 257-mile journey can be
driven in just five hours and 22 minutes although traffic bottlenecks,
particularly on the A303 before Honiton in Devon, can add several hours.
Most cars could complete the journey on a single tank of petrol, costing
about £50. Carbon cost: 0.08 tons of CO2, one way

* BY RAIL First Great Western: From July, a high-speed train will take
just over 4 hours between Paddington and Newquay. In the meantime,
passengers are required to board a branch line, adding more than an hour
to the journey time. One-way advance fare from £15.50. Walk-up fare is
£73 return. Carbon cost: 0.02 tons of CO2, one way

* BY PLANE British Airways flight departs Gatwick every day, returning
late in the afternoon. Flight time is one hour, although passengers must
check in two hours in advance. Tickets cost as little as £69 return
included taxes. Unlike Ryanair which flies from Stansted to Newquay,
food and drinks are free. Carbon cost: 0.1 tons CO2, one way

And, btw, who appointed you net nanny for today?