Have
you missed me? Have you? Even if you haven’t, don’t worry. Nothing awful has
happened to me – it’s just that I HAVE managed to get out a bit recently.
I’m
not sure what happened to March and April. Oh yes, I now remember the family
holiday in the sunny (and windy, rainy and occasionally chilly) Algarve.
A
great time was had by all, which is remarkable considering there were 11 of us
ranging in age from eight months to 62 years. I was the oldie.
While
in southern Portugal, we used the local motorway quite a bit for excursions
and, mainly, visits to golf courses.
Many
years ago, when first built, it was free to use with locals and grockles alike cutting
their journey times by screaming up and down the IP1 (as it was then known).
The
road is now the A22 – and tolled. That’s tolled, my dear reader, and not
trolled.
Since
2011, motorists have to pay for the privilege of using the only motorway in the
Algarve.
But
boy is it worth the extra few Euros. The A road that broadly follows the
coastline, the N125, has become even more of a death-trap than it was pre-IP1.
 |
| Got in a bit of boating while in the Algarve. Marvellous. |
Basically
it is just not man enough for the amount of traffic now using it, locals having
deserted the A22 partly as a protest and but mostly because of cost.
As
a tourist, however, the motorway is a joy. Costs can add up, admittedly (the
toll was about £4 each way to travel the 40 or so miles from our villa to one golf
course) but it is worth every cent.
We
did one stretch of about 20 kilometres without passing a car or being overtaken.
So,
in short, it’s a no-brainer.
As
it was through France and Italy a couple of years back when we drove to our
niece’s wedding in a small hamlet near Pontremoli in the province of Massa and
Carrara. Ok, it cost about £250 return in toll charges but it undoubtedly saved
us many, many hours of driving. If only my car had had cruise control.
Now
what can I say about the Dartford Toll?
As
you are kind enough to ask, not much. A couple of squid to sit in a queue for a
few hours is not, to my mind, good motoring or value for money. And I thought
we’d paid for the tunnel and bridge years ago?
