Sorry To Miss You All At Jae

[Bonita]

Hey everyone,

I know you guys are still at JAE and no doubt having a fantastic time, but thought I'd just post to let you know why we didn't make it.

Ian (my hubby) and I live in Devon and we started our trip to JAE at around 12:00 on Friday and made our way up the M5. Traffic was slow but we had plenty of time so we didn't worry too much. By the time we got to Gloucester we were getting fed up and the traffic was almost at a stand still so we asked Tom Tom for an alternative route leaving out the rest of the M5.

This took us off at the next junction which was 11a. From there we had to go via Tewkesbury. Traffic was very slow and this was the first time we realised why; we went round a roundabout 2 thirds of which was underwater! We carried on towards Tewkesbury and at one point drove through a foot of water. (Pictures to follow!) We were now on the A38 and getting nowhere fast. We decided to pull over into the car park of a pub to check with some locals to give us an idea where would be safe to get through the flooding. However, in the 10 minutes we were in the car park, we saw 5 vehicles towed in all with water spewing out of the bottom of the doors. One poor fellow told us that he had been fine going through the flooding but a lorry coming too fast the other way sent a wave over his car which flooded his engine and the car itself. He couldn't even sit in it due to it being so wet!

At this point we decided not to try and get through this way and thought we'd try our luck back on the slow M5. So we headed back the way we came onto the A40 which leads back to the M5. What we didn't know was that there was no way back off the other side as the roundabout was now totally submerged. After waiting for about 2 hours with no idea what was going on, a police car drove up through the dual carriage way towards the flooded end. By now there were also cars coming from that end into the middle of the carriage way, so effectively there were two queues of traffic pointed the right way and a middle queue forming from one end pointing back the wrong way down the carriageway. We spoke to a lorry driver next to us who knew from his radio that the police had been letting people attempt to cross the roundabout and then watching them conk out. Clearly there was no way forward here. Next, the police car came back the way he had come through the middle of the carriageway. I said to Ian to follow him as there was nothing else we could do. Everyone else then seemed to have the same idea so now all the cars on the carriageway were turning around trying to go back the way they had come.

By now (around 7:30 pm) we had kind of decided to concentrate on not drowning the Lex and finding somewhere to stay for the night (plus i needed a wee) so we headed for the centre of Gloucester. We popped into Asda for a cup of tea (but obviously the cafe was shut! Lol!) and facilities . Then called a mate who was also traveling up and had got caught on the M5. Funnily enough they had also come off at Gloucester and were less than a mile from us so we met up with them.

They had only been traveling since 5:00 pm so they were still very keen to get to JAE and spurred us on to give the M5 another try. It was the only choice as there were no other roads available which weren't underwater! We got to the M5 at around 9:00 pm and it all seemed ok. We rejoined at junction 12 and set off north again. We thought it would be ok as several hours had passed traffic was trickling along and the slip road was not closed. However, around 30 mins later it all looked very familiar. We were back to stop start with alot more stop than start!

10:00 pm became 11:00 pm became midnight and no news. We had heard previously that the junctions had been closed so that no-one could get off the motorway at Gloucester and now a Lorry driver told us that the motorway was actually under water. We guessed we were here for the long haul but couldn't go to sleep for fear that the cars in front would move and we would miss an opportunity to get moving. So Ian fell asleep around midnight and I stayed awake with radio on and an eagle eye ahead for any chance of a way out! Thanks go out to Aido for keeping in contact and sending me texts to keep me awake! (That is as soon as he realised that hubby's phone was not his old work trying to get hold of him! Lol! )

So we ended up spending the night on the M5. I was soo glad we were in our GS. We couldn't have been in a better car for the journey. She looked after us and kept us warm and cozy when we slept. Our friends were not so lucky... they were in an old vauxhall astra van - their heating broke in the night, the engine was overheating every couple of hours and their seats didn't recline! I love our Lex!

At around 3:00 am I woke Ian so I could get a bit of sleep. I woke at 5:30 am as we began to move! By 7:00 am we were finally off the northbound M5 !

Forgive us, but by this point, all excitement about going to JAE was overshadowed by the thought of more queues to come (it was still at least 3 hrs to get to you from there) plus the drive back on Sunday. So, we decided to call it quits and get home to bed! The traffic was not too bad on the way home and we got in at around 10:00 am this morning.

All through the journey we kept listening to local radio stations and the BBC, but heard more about Harry Potter :hocus-pokus: than what we should do next! Have a look at the link below to give you an idea of what the area experienced... clearly we were NOT the worst affected!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6909754.stm

I realised that on a normal run, the whole round trip we did would have taken no more than 4 hrs.... it took us 22! :o

To commemorate the very wet journey to JAE, can we have a water related smiley??? Please??

**Also, Aido passed on our message, but sorry about the wasted food etc... let us know what we owe and I'll send payment to you.**

[aido]

Sorry you never made it, sounds like it was an absolute nightmare - hope you're both doing ok now anyway!

We all got a bit muddy over the last three days but it was a lot of fun, so hopefully the next one will be drier :)

[Chris.S]

Sorry you couldnt make it, hope to see you at other events in the future

[aztecbandit1]

Glad you both got home safe it took me an hour to do 3miles so i got off light by the sound of it down the M6 on Friday Maybe see you both next time take care. :D

Chris.... :)

[Bazza]

your dedication to try and get there astounds me

aido was letting us know as things progressed

i dont think any one realised quite how bad it was for you

here`s to next year :D

[johnboy]

sorry you couldnt make it,Glad you got home safely,

we had been watching it on the news saturday morning, i feel for you and your family

We were all checking with aido on your progress.

Fortunatley there will be plenty of other occassions to meet us all, and of course JAE next year

[Rikos]

Sounds like an absolute nightmare to me.

At least you didnt get wet but next year i'm sure is going to be hot and dry!!

[derekyau]

your dedication to try and get there astounds me

aido was letting us know as things progressed

i dont think any one realised quite how bad it was for you

here`s to next year :D

Ditto!

P.S. Would this also qualify as the longest post award?

[DJ Wozza]

Glad you got home safe, there will be sun next year (I hope)

[Bonita]

your dedication to try and get there astounds me

aido was letting us know as things progressed

i dont think any one realised quite how bad it was for you

here`s to next year :D

Ditto!

P.S. Would this also qualify as the longest post award?

Hehe, sorry guys, got on a roll and couldn't stop gabbling! Lol! :D

p.s. Yay! Do I get a prize??