Rest break locations
Being a more mature driver nowadays, I have found the need to have more frequent breaks whilst towing. Next month I am off to Knutsford in Cheshire from Norfolk. Does anyone know a place on the A52 near Nottingham where I can pull off and stop for a while?
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Age 30 to 35 and working - a trip to Scotland for 21/24 nights happy to do 6.5 to 7.5 hours drive to start.
Age 40 to 45 maybe 5 hours
Age 50 to 60 maybe 4 hours
Age 60 to 65 3.5 hours
Now 65 to 70 we aim for no more than 2.5 hours to our first stop.
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When I go away I never check the route, rest breaks etc just put the destination in the sat nav and off we go. Never had a problem yet with rest stops refuelling etc.
If toilet breaks were an essential requirement I would do just as others suggest, reduce the time/mileage by hopping from site to site
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Yes, same for us Alan. 3 hours towing is an absolute max. If the journey's longer than that, stop off overnight then start again next morning and arrive at eventual destination refreshed. Personally I don't like the thought of hour after hours towing just to arrive a day early. And the bonus is the number of really good CLs we'very found in sometimes quite unexpected places.
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Norfolk is quite large, whether we would do that trip in one go would depend on how long in miles and estimated time the trip was.
3 hours in one go I have no problem with, on a weekday leave by 10 and arrive by 1, say 150 miles depending on the road. If we need a comfort break we generally find a lay-by, we try not to leave it till the last minute! Most main roads do have lay-bys.
If the whole trip was longer than that we would stop for lunch by 12 noon, have at least a 60-90 minute break, and be OK for another 2 hours or so.
The longest hops we do are usually our first or last day and this is generally on motorways, and until we get south of the Lakes the roads are not too busy. We also try to travel on a Sunday for a longer trip.
Leaving the motorway for a CL or similar sometimes means a long detour, I would rather just get on with it and get home if the trip was less than 300 miles.
However, none of this, interesting as it is, is helping thegreens!
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"Leaving the motorway for a CL or similar sometimes means a long detour, I would rather just get on with it and get home if the trip was less than 300 miles."
Agree, I wouldn't recommend leaving the motorway if it meant a long diversion (although in the OP's case they're asking for something specifically near the A52). But there are many CLs (or CSs or even small private sites) to be found within 5 or 6 miles of any major route - they just need looking out. We prefer to stop after a maximum of about 150 miles give or take, anything further and we waste the next day recovering!
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In reply to the question asked, we do the drive from N.Wales to Norfolk on a regular basis. There really isn't a good pull in until you get onto the A50 past Nottingham when a couple of miles up the road there is Derby Service Station. It doesn't have designated caravan spots but we've never found it to be busy and have just taken up 2 car bays.
There are one or two decent sized lay-bys on the A52 but coming from Norfolk they are easy to miss. Not found one yet that isn't badly potholed.
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Yes, I would only do a long one day trip if it was mainly motorway or decent dual carriageway, other roads in more built up areas I would limit to 200 miles max, and even then it would depend on the route.
Those east/west trips are frequently more difficult than the north/south ones.
200 miles in a more built up area on decent A roads would be, what, maybe 5.5 hours plus my hour for lunch. For me, just on my limit.
Once we are on our first site of a tour, our hops are usually less than 100 miles.
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I'm afraid to say that there are not many stopping places suitable for a rest break on the A52 passing Nottingham. You may be best to wait until you're on the A50, if that's the way you're going. On the other hand, the Queens Drive park & ride is just off the A52: there were some 'caravanners' resting there last week. You have to be prepared to smash down a bollard or two to avoid the hight barrier!!
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+1
Agree fully.
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Try The Muston Gap Inn. It's on the left of the A52 about 6 miles West of Grantham. It's a large pub with large car park which is not well used. Plenty of space for a caravan.
About 10 mile further on at the end of the Bingham by pass at a very large roundabout (2nd one) follow signs for A52 Nottm. ignore the turn off and go to the 4th exit and turn into the hamlet of Saxondale. The old road is now for access only as it has become redundant by the new layout of the roundabout. Plenty of on road parking without causing any obstruction. There are obviously no facilities there.
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I find that the seats in our VW are not as comfortable for very long journeys as the ones in our Volvo were, I do start to stiffen up sooner, could be old age too of course!
Perhaps those who find they can only do 2.5-3 hours driving per day are suffering from the design of their car seats, or the lack of support they provide.
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Car seats are fine but my arthritis isn't! I have a degree of spinal pain most of the time but If I expect to drive for more than 2.5 hours I know that my arthritis will really start kicking in and will dose up on Ibuprofen which I rarely take except on bad days. With that I will probably start to suffer after 3 hours and if I drive for 3.5 hours I am going to want to lie down for half an hour or so.
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Best way to find stop-offs is to guesstimate roughly where you will be when you think a break would be appropriate and then zoom in with GoogleEarth and examine the route for a suitable pull-off.
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Thanks for your responses. I'm happy doing Norwich to Knutsford in one day as its about 200miles. The only problem I have is finding somewhere to pull off for a decent break when you travel across the country. If I go north my first stop is just before Newark, if south there are numerous motorway stops. I just wondered if anyone might know somewhere in the A52 Nottingham area where I could do this as lay-bys are quite often poor, right next to the road or half full..
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Thanks, that's interesting. Do you go via the A14 and M6? I wonder if that's a better option.
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Interestingly if you put Grantham to Knutsford into Google maps, it returns two routes. A southern via the A52, A50, M6 etc at 104 miles and 2 hours 23 mins. Also a northern route via the A1, A57, M1, A616 etc at 115 miles and 2 hours 38 mins.
The northerly route would take you right past the entrance to Clumber Park, near Worksop. Plenty of parking available for rigs of all sizes on grass. Which unless it has been raining for weeks is fine. You do have to be a National Trust Member though, or you will be charged.
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