Driving to Birmingham.

Driving to Birmingham.

Most people who know me will be sick of me saying the B word by now, but since I brought it up with the mother the shit hit the fan (very runny watery shit, I might add).

She won't shut up going on about accidents, insurance, getting lost, breaking down etc etc. I plan to go down on the 3rd of December (next Friday). The only shitter is the car's under her name.

Is it really that bad? I've got a 4 and a half year old SXI corsa, it's hardly a banger and I don't drive like a tit in it any more (i'm at the "you'd lose your licence if you're caught again" stage ) and have been looking after it, topping up oil, water + anti freeze.

I've never gone that far of the tyne before, in fact I think GeordieLee's old gaff was the furthest I've driven, in Consett.

Have any of you got any concerns or serious advice? Any of you driven it before? Whats it like? I'm not taking the piss or being funny here - I could do with some drivers words of wisdom.

Bit fucking late now innit!

u'll shit ya pants!!!

nass birmingham is fine to get to, until you get to the outskirts, then its messy as hell.. i wouldnt fancy 3/4 hours on the m1 having never driven on the motorway before though..

whereabouts are you heading for in brum?

Spaghetti junction

merry hill (their metro centre) in Dudley, outside bham. ness suggested carlisle + m6 down..

haha i used to go to the merry hill when i was a kid she got a vile accent?

when i go home i go m1 / m42 / m6 / m5 to worcester... which goes past the merry hill centre... done it for the last 10 years from hudds/newc to either wolves or worcester and never had much trouble...

manchester is a total bitch, and the m6 is a total headfuck at the best of times north of west brom... so id say whizz down the M1... also by the time youve got to carslisle you'll be over halfway to leeds!

when are you off? you can get returns to new street station for £12 if ur lucky...

Re: Driving to Birmingham.

if aint a banger you wanna get it looked at if u have to keep topping it up with water and anti freeze mate coz your losing water if it aint that old

and nah mate it aint that bad of a drive down there IMO used to do it quite often mate my golf made it down there with a knackered head gasket so i think your's should make the trip

I would reccomend plenty of stops even if you dont feel like it. You dont realise how tired or distracted youre getting and a quick stop for some munch or fresh air will make you more lively.

I would imagine you'll get stuck in traffic quite a bit But as long as you dont piss about, I think you'll be ok. I hadnt been driving 6 month and I drove to Liverpool and back in the rain, with no sleep for two days. Not nice, but as long as your sensible, you'll be fine.

You'll be glad when you get out of the car I bet ya

I know what you're on about, and I've got a young persons rail card (30%) off - EVERYTHING cheaper this month and next has been taken - I cant find any tickets. As soon as the cheap ones were released they were snapped up. So it's gonna cost £75.

Cost about £40/50 in petrol (return) in a 1.2..

Go to the routeplanner section of www.theaa.com. You can put in your start and end postcodes and it will give you detailed directions. Also, I wouldn't do A69/M6, as the M1 route is much quicker (if you get stuck behind a lorry on the A69 you've had it, as a lot of it is not dual carriageway).

Is anyone going with you? It can be a bit tricky following directions etc if you are on your own.

aye thats a good point. i was just thinkin of ease for the lad. m1-m62 and vice versa can be very tricky if you've never driven it before. at least once ya over to carlisle its straight down the m6 and ya there.

its horrible :spangled: i felt sick after drivin down coz was sick of being in car for so long and sat doin nothin

we left at 1pm on a fri to get down there and dont think we got to hotel in brum til bout 7-8ish!!

i wud do it again, but its a nitemare.

7 hours to birmingham?! i could walk there faster!!!

until i drove to london in the summer the furhest i'd been was yarm which is the equvilant of nass driving to costa del! just take ur time & ring ya mam lots (not whilst driving tho) & t'll b ok! unless ur going out clubbing then just don't cos the drive home the day after will b fucknig awful & u'll probs die

Ever the optimist!

lol may as well hav when got caught in all the traffic didnt move for bout 2 hrs at one point!!!

i speak the truth lee!

i came back from leeds a couple of years ago and it took me 5 1/2 hours!!! crash on the m1 meant at one point we moved 1/2mile in 2 hours!!!
ended up sharing a :chill: with the guy in a convertible in the other lane