Would have been faster to cycle
Posted on September 9, 2010
Reading time: 2 minutes.
If my journey home took up any more, it nearly might have been faster to walk all of the way. The cause was a spot of bother on the M6 that sent all manner of traffic along the A34 instead. The result was a very congested Nether Alderley with southbound traffic proceeding at less than walking pace; northbound seemed to be doing far better on this score. Surprisingly, Wilmslow was quite clear when I left it and Alderley Edge wasn’t so bad either. When I finally got to Macclesfield, there seemed to be more cars around the town than usual for the time of day though all was free-flowing.
The sight of a Manchester-bound Megabus heading into Wilmslow was a hint of things to come. It must have been displaced from the M6 like so many and the sight of articulated lorry after articulated lorry really brought home the scale of the problem. Small wonder then that the people of Alderley Edge have been demanding the by-pass that now is under construction. Another thing that I was to spot a Co-operative wagon that had pulled up somewhere to very sensibly sit out the logjam. Quite how an ambulance was getting through could only be explained by the sight of flashing lights and the sound of its siren making everyone do the right thing.
Though I had to sit out a long journey, I was glad to be on the bus and not waiting for it. The vehicle wasn’t the largest either and I am not so sure that it is wise for Arriva to be running an Optare Solo at rush hour like it has been doing. Maybe, it’s the advertising for the Cheshire East bus tracker that is the reason but I still consider it best to run bigger buses at peak travel times.
Nevertheless, I do wonder at the wisdom of my deciding not to cycle to work this morning. Yes, the weather did look less than enticing but it stayed dry all day. Even reprising yesterday evening’s sun-blessed route around by Mobberley, Great Warford, Marthall, Chelford and Monk’s Heath would have taken considerably less time than this evening’s allegedly more direct journey. Even so, that’s food for thought for the future now.