Boots clean and ready to go

Storm Doris hustled and bustled its way through with some gusty winds and heavy rain for a while. We seemed to have escaped the worst with the worst of the storm probably north of us in Kent.

We did wonder if our journey, to Northampton for our overnight stop enroute to Windermere, would be affected. Certainly the Dartford Crossing was jammed solid owing to the Bridge being closed and traffic using the tunnels in both directions. The M4 and M11 were both closed.

Instead of the usual route over the Dartford Crossing we went south around the M25 and had a pretty trouble free journey all the way to Northampton and arrived safely in much the same time as it would have done the other way.

The only irritation was the variable speed limits on the M25. I understand the need for them but surely they must be better used. In one section there were 4 consecutive speed changes from clear to 40mph. Most drivers took no notice and on more than one occasion we were in the inside lane travelling at the prescribed speed only to tailgated by trucks who clearly wanted to go faster. Not only frustrating, it's dangerous and happens time and again.