Edinburgh to Newcastle A1

[-G-]

Not even remotely Zed related as I was driving the Missus Celica at the time - but OMG - what a bloody road to drive on!

 

Spent Xmas in Gran Canaria as the good lady was worried she wouldn't feel chrismassy (?) this year and wanted some winter sun - only plce flying that way was Newcastle hence the drive down. Anyhoo, the drive to Edinburgh was no great hardship, but that A1 coast road past the powerstation was shocking. I had assumed you guys would have had a dual carriageway all the way but no, the shortest possible sign/gaps for going from dual to single carriageway & a plethora of speed cameras keeping you second guessing your 70/60/70 speed. Reminds me of the A9 between Perth & Inverness.

 

The way down wasn't pleasant, but the drive back (on new years eve, at 7pm at night) was horrendous, even for an almost completely abandoned motorway. The worst section of that is a poorly signposted dual to single carriageway followed by a long right curve at the apex of which, is a Gatso speed camera facing the opposite direction that flashed in my face in the dead of night.

 

Needless to say after the GF stopped screaming at me swerving all over the road I panicked thinking that I'd just been done - I was maybe just slightly over 70mph in the single carriageway zone - so was baffled as to why it flashed at all. Crucially, it only flashed once.

 

I've spoken to some friends since I go back home who are from the Boro / Sunderland and they said that road is a bit of a pig and that camera had done the same to them - anyone else know the section of road I'm talking about?

[Lexx]

I drive to or from Aberdeen every 3 weeks and the A1 is one of the options.

If the weather is crap, it's the option I generally take as it's an easy road to drive generally.

 

If it's ok weather though, turn off the Edinburgh Ring Road (A720) just before A1 and head down the A68 to Jedburgh, and then on through Ponteland to the airport. Much more enjoyable road (no dualed bits though).

 

Plenty of Cameras on Scottish side of the border on both roads. Once you cross into England there are only 2 cameras between border and Newcastle.

[d95gas]

Yep got flashed by the same camera coming back from Aberdeen..... Nightmare drive...... that was 2yrs ago, and no sign of a ticket

[teulk]

Im from Newcastle and the road is a pleasure, stuck behind many a numpty, tractor, artic. It has been campaiged for years for the road to dualed, however it would appear the North/South divide is still strong.

The other issue with dualing the road would be the devastation to the wildlife etc. Many property is along the route so diversions would be inevitable.

As mentioned the A68 is a good one but again your stuffed when the traffic is busy.

Of course it is progressively getting worse due to the volume of traffic and giving away licenses.

[gangzoom]

The odd thing is as you get close to Edinburgh it becomes dual carriageway again....It's almost as the though as the Scotts want to make it as hard as possible for the Jodie's to bridge the gap between the two cities

 

Blasting up from the Midlands to Glasgow is a completely different experience, once north of Liverpool the traffic just melts away, and 3 lanes all the way to pretty much the centre of Glasgow, you can set the cruise control at 80 (75 once across the boarder) and not have to touch any pedals for the next 2-3hrs...So maybe it's just Glaswegian are more welcoming.

Edited January 9, 2016 by gangzoom