Old Tom

Bad day to choose to drive to Bolton. The bikers added their weight to the fuel protests by bringing the westbound M62 to a grinding halt at rush hour. To be honest, I'm not quite sure why. The message seemed to be: "Don't put the 2p tax levy on petrol, put it on general taxation instead." Given that motorbikes tend to use less fuel than cars you'd think that the fuel tax versus PAYE question would be a no-brainer for bikers. Or is the clue in the question.

That is by the by, there was me en route to Bolton along the M60 but as I approached the junction with the M62 (see map above) there was at least half a mile of cars trailing back on to the motorway. Normally I wouldn't have any other choice but to join the queue as it is the only way I knew to get the place I'd been to lots of times. Fortunately I had a smart companion.

His name was Tom, so clever they named him twice. Without SatNav I wouldn't have dreamed of by-passing the queue and headed up the M66, but I had, so I did. He wanted me to pull off at Bury, but I could see from the screen that his plan was to go round the roundabout and back into the traffic. Bad plan and I ploughed on up the hill.

The next junction was Ramsbottom (no sniggering at the back please). Tom wanted me exit, but it was hard to see what he had in mind. This junction doesn't lead to a roundabout, but to the A56. You turn right and half a mile later Tom asked me to do a right to join the stymied southward M60. So I ignored him again.

I appreciate that as my posts go this is on the sadder end of boring, so I'll cut it short. Without SatNav I would never have done this, I would never have seen the sights of Bury and Bolton previously denied me. And I would never have reached a popular (for me) destination from entirely the opposite direction.

Good Old Tom. (That's the other one, best drunk in halves and definitely no driving afterwards.)