The Road (Finally) Taken
Created | Updated Jul 15, 2023
The Road (Finally) Taken
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I have lived here all my life.
Know the area very well. I have an internal map of the place, but still manage to find hidden routes, beautiful walks, and tranquil wooded havens I had previously been unaware of. (Most of these hidden gems found on account of my wife and I becoming bored with the same dog walking routes.)
Stray off the beaten track and you never know what's around the next bend. Beauty abounds, surprises everywhere.
Which brings me to the M53 motorway!
Huh? What?
OK, it's not beautiful, but we had a rather surprising journey home from the airport the other week.
For decades we've stuck to the same boring motorway journey to and from Manchester Airport, to and from Lancaster, Preston, The Lakes, Scotland…. anywhere North of here, usually trying to avoid the busy roads of Liverpool.
3.30 am. Slightly delayed flight, but in high spirits, despite the miserable weather on our return from a week in the glorious sunshine.
Usual route out onto the M56. Dreading the monotonous link to the M53 and forced circuitous route home. I hate this bloody bit of the journey home, always have. Miles out of the way just to come back on ourselves. Horrible in the dark, worse in the rain!
Oh, great! Major roadworks, slip road to the fifty-three coned off, diverted out towards North Wales.
Ho hum. Suppose we can get back through Chester, only another half hour out of the way, but beginning to think we should've risked the weekend traffic, added an hour, and come through Liverpool.
The rain worsened.
Although we live closer to Chester than Liverpool, I'd never actually driven on this bit of motorway, usually go up the high-road, only 20 mins that way, nice straight drive.
But this was sending us into Wales. Crappy driving conditions didn't help my tired eyes after the long homeward-bound day.
'End of Motorway 1 mile'.
God knows where this would take us.
My internal sat-nav didn't have a clue, our phones were dead after being depleted on the flight back. Chargers in the luggage, and I wasn't bloody getting out, not in this downpour!
Countdown markers glowed in the headlights. III, II, I…
Then, a sharp bend, a roundabout, strangely familiar.
Well, I never!
Very familiar, like someone had taken my internal map and put it up to a mirror, wrong way round but very familiar.
This short diversion had taken us off the usual, boring, miles-out-of-our-way, route and dropped us off a rather startling ten-minute drive from home!
Over four decades I've been driving and riding around here and not once had I taken that road. All those years of sleepy eyes struggling with that infernal bloody motorway link.
So, even if you think you know your home turf, be prepared to try The Road Not Taken, it might just be a shortcut home!
