rockershovel's Blog

Off the motorways Travellodge have a serious problem in that they were paired with the lost little chefs.  At one on the A17 there is now a Kentucky or Burger King,  neither opening till 10:00 so what do you do for breakfast? 

My favourite services on the M6 was Tebay but it's some years since I spent a lot of time going up and down the M1, M6, M74.

 

Last time I stopped at Tebay (about 12 months ago) it also suffered from the “late opening” problem, which is probably due to the location.. no truckstop and relatively light holiday traffic, I suppose. 

 

I recently stayed in a Travelodge in Preston which served food morning and evening, mind you given the area (best euphemised as “post-Industrial urban decay”) they’d probably get no trade if they didn’t... I see the old Burtonwood site is now rebuilt as a Travelodge. 

 

Days Inn are ok, Travelodge standard, below Premier Inn prices. 

My son and I just drove down the M6, M5 yesterday, hand't been on that stretch of road for 20 odd years.

 

We saw the observation tower as we approached the service station. My son thought it looked like the bridge of a ship at first. My goodness, it was from a different era. A time when people would travel along the motorway for the fun of it, stop off at a service station for a meal and enjoy the view of the motorway network from the viewing gallery.

 

Now it's get in, use the WC, get out as quickly as possible without been ripped off too much.

I remember when the M6 was just the Preston By-pass!  Then they built the section up to Lancaster.  People used to travel on it it just to see the white 'skew bridge', which was, architecturally, far in advance of other utilitarian motorway bridges.  I once had a meal in the restaurant at the top of the tower before it closed, first from concerns about IRA attacks and later because there were no emergency exits, other than the lifts!  Later memories of M6 were in a Mini, which seemed about level with lorry tyres, spewing out impenetrable spray. There was a bad patch, when the roadworks seemed interminable, but a lot is now at least 4 lanes and flows reasonably freely.