I've gone and done it now (road trip)

[Rolfe]

Background. Way back in the post-war years, before she married, my mother was an opera singer, and she sang at the Glyndebourne Festival in (at least) 1949. She was a member of Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group and in the original cast of Albert Herring.

I've been to various music festivals, including driving to Bayreuth in Bavaria on more than one occasion. However, when I lived in Sussex I was never able to go the Glyndebourne Festival because as far as I could make out you practically had to put your name down for tickets at birth - something my mother unaccountably failed to do. I did go with Mum and a friend to an evening autumn performance once - the friend got tickets because she lived in East Sussex, us West Sussex plebs had no chance even of these. But when I enquired about tickets for the summer festival, the only response I got was a pitying laugh.

I don't know if it's covid or what, but this evening, browsing the currently-falling-apart Twitter platform, I picked up a tweet from the Glyndebourne Festival flogging still-unsold tickets. So I bought one. A Midsummer Night's Dream (appropriately another opera by Benjamin Britten) on 17th August.

I no longer live in Sussex so I have to get there. I suppose I could chicken out and book plane tickets to Gatwick, but right now I feel moved to get in the MG4 and head south. If I can drive an ICE solo to Bavaria, I can drive an EV to the place where I used to live. Why does it feel like such an adventure? Maybe after being so constrained by covid? Well, the ticket was expensive and it's non-refundable, so I'm going to do it. I'll keep you posted when it happens.

 

[Ian Key]

Treat it as a mini holiday and book a hotel for a few days and visit some of your old haunts.

 

[johnb80]

+1 treat it as a mini holiday.

You have plenty of time to plan your journey with ZapMap or similar, have a look at the charging stops and plan B just in case.

Enjoy and do keep us all updated!

 

[Themist0]

Good luck, you’ll be fine. Lovely Sussex will be waiting for you

 

[tsedge]

Have a great time and treat it as an adventure.

 

[Derek25]

Your MG4 would easily take you to Bavaria so Sussex shouldn’t faze you.

 

[Rolfe]

Well, let's take it step by step. Yorkshire in May, Sussex in August, then who knows?

I sat and stared at the booking page for ages, and actually timed out the first time. But you know, this is the sort of thing I intended to do when I retired, and it hasn't been happening thanks to covid. I retired at the end of 2018, and went on a long cruise early in 2019, then a road trip round Ireland in the summer of that year in the GTi, then a week in Würzburg in Bavaria (by Lufthansa!) in October on a choir exchange visit. Then bloody covid. I haven't been anywhere except Bavaria again last summer to see the Oberammergau Passion Play (and get covid). So I just thought, sod it, and bought the bloody ticket. For £245. Yes I know.

Shades of the road trip to Bayreuth in the GTi. Really, really cheap fare on the North Sea Ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge, really really cheap B&B in a little hotel (35 euros a night!), and really really expensive opera tickets. Though thankfully not £245-expensive, as I saw six performances.

Plan B was to find a nice little hotel, but fortunately plan A has come good. I used to live in Sussex and I still have friends there. I had been vaguely musing about visiting a couple who live only 16 miles from Glyndebourne at some point anyway, so I emailed them. By coincidence they are going to see the original Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream in Chichester a couple of days later. Anyway, that's two nights accommodation sorted at zero trouble or expense.

I'm also completely sorted for charging in Sussex. There are three Blink chargers a fairly short walk from my friends' house, just as there were only 50 yards from the friend I stayed with in Yorkshire (and a lot cheaper!). The ones in Sussex have CCS and even if I arrive there low, I should be able to get plenty there. I don't even need to fill too full, as the opera house car park has a lot of type 2 chargers in the car park, for ticket-holders only (also cheap).

So I just need to figure out charging on the way.

 

[Grriff]

Rolfe, what route will you be taking? Forum members may be able to help with suggestions for chargers

 

[Rolfe]

I know the actual road very well, having more or less worn a groove in it with my Peugeot GTi6 when I lived in Sussex. I can practically recite the names of the service stations, in order, and the distances between them. However that was going to be my next move, to ask about chargers. Also about the M6 toll section. I remember practically singing hymns to that when it first opened. I'd have paid double what they were asking then, to avoid that raised section through the centre of Birmingham. I seem to remember chucking money in a hopper or something like that, but no doubt things have changed in the past 15 years. Does it need a special card or anything like that?

 

[Rolfe]

Route. Either the A702 or the A701 (I usually go the A702 but the AA Routefinder says the A701 is about 7 miles shorter and no slower) to get on to the M74.

Into England and on to the M6 as far as Birmingham, taking the toll-road section to the north-east of the city. Then on to the M42 then the M40 as far as the M25.

Round the M25 to the M23, then the A23, and finally the A27 to Portslade where my friends live.

The AA has that as 441.5 miles via the A701, or 448.4 miles via the A702. Seven hours 20-odd minutes either way.

My first instinct with that distance, and knowing that I have good charging facilities at my destination, is to make just two long-ish charging stops, breaking the journey into three 150-mile segments. With an SR, that sort of seems about right, unless I lose too much range by going too fast (which is probably counter-productive if it means I have to make a third charging stop).

First stop looks like Forton (Lancaster) services, which I would aim to reach by lunch-time. It's 147 miles from home (taking the A701, which seems sensible). (I'd rather stop at Killington Lake, which has a nice restaurant, but it's too early to work with this plan.) Forton seems to be a Burger King, be still my heart. But it will do. My only reservation is that this seems only to have 50Kw Gridserve chargers and I'll be quite low by then. How long is this going to take? Should I look elsewhere for a faster charger? On the other hand, the distance is quite perfect for the plan.

The snag is that if you don't leave the motorway at junction 33, which is before Forton services, you're stuck on it until J32, so the back-stop has to be chargers accessible from J32. The best if these seems to be Booth's at Fulwood, which has a couple of Instavolts. Still just 50 Kw though, I'm not seeing anything more than 50 Kw around this area on a cursory glance. This Booth's is 160.3 miles from home. I'll have to gauge on the day whether I'm going to make this or whether I need to look closer. Should be OK even in an SR in summer though. There is another Booth's at Garstang, but I can't see how that is practically accessible from the motorway.

Second stop looks like somewhere around Warwick. I favour McDonald's at Longbridge which is 149 miles from Forton. This has four Instavolts, three of which are 100 Kw. The back-stop for this would be Warwick services itself, only another six miles further on, although it only has two 50 Kw Gridserve chargers. The McDonald's definitely looks like the better bet and I'd be surprised if I had any trouble there.

Further on there are various options at Banbury, although this is about 170 miles from Forton and might be pushing it. Longbridge should be OK though, even if I have to eat Chicken McNuggets.

From Lancaster to Portslade is 145 miles.

The Blink chargers at Portslade are 500 metres from my friends' house, so I could leave the car there and walk back. They seem to have a 1-hour time limit, but an hour on a 50 Kw charger is going to get me to Glyndebourne the next day with plenty to spare - it's only 17 miles. If I arrive late-ish I could even do this in the morning before putting on the glad rags and setting off.

Glyndebourne itself has 32 PodPoint 7 Kw type 2 chargers connectors in the car park, and my plan would be to let the car sit on one of these during the performance. Given the length of the dinner interval there's a decent chance that the hour on the Blink 50 Kw plus this would see me leaving the opera house at 100% and still being over 90% when I got back to Portslade.

I think I would plan to spend a little while back on the Blink charger before setting off back home the following morning, to start with 100% heading back to Warwick. I have a thought to go back on the A24 to go through the village where I used to live and glance at the country park where I used to swim, and my old house, but that only puts a mile on to the route. I last went there in December 2013, when I went to the funeral of my late business partner, and I thought I might not go back, but hey, why not?

I'll have a better idea of these charging possibilities by the time I return, especially whether my proposed legs of 150 miles are too ambitious, and whether the chosen charger is the best or whether I should look for something else. There are certainly a number of options off the M42 if the Longbridge McDonald's is a problem, including another McDonald's with a couple of 120 Kw Instavolts, although that's 160 miles from Portslade.

The obvious back-stop to Forton on the way north is Burton-in-Kendal, which has several 350 Kw Gridserve chargers, but is 165.4 miles from Warwick. (I suppose I could stop for ten minutes at Forton to be sure of getting to Burton-in-Kendal, then charge what I need to get home from there. I'll see.)

So that's the plan, comments appreciated. Am I being too ambitious planning for only two stops? Given that there don't seem to be any options above 50 Kw near Lancaster, is this going to be a very long lunch-break? I've been quite impressed by how well the SR goes on charging over 80%, but I may be in the position of having to take the car from under 20% to over 95% on a single stop.

Anybody with any experience of any of these chargers, or others in the areas in question?

 

[tonybridge]

GLyndebourne has 32 Chargers? Wow! Who said culture doesn't pay? But then, £245 per ticket might explain a lot...

I drop into Warwick Services fairly regularly, but not since I got very interested in EV charging points a couple of weeks ago. But you're right, Warrwick only has two, which is pretty disgraceful. And whenever I've been there (in the last couple of years anyway) they have always been occupied.

The M6 Toll booths only take cards now, cash and the hoppers disappeared with, guess what, yup, Covid!

 

[Rolfe]

Well, Glyndebourne has 32 connectors. 16 actual chargers. 7 Kw reduces to 3 Kw if both connectors are in use. And at 39p per KWh it's not charity - they'll be washing their face on it. I'll aim to take what I can get there (I'll probably be there for at least six hours), and fill up on the Blink charger at Portslade in the morning.

I think that McDonald's looks like a much better bet than Warwick services for anyone in an EV. I'd be very surprised if I didn't get charged up there.

When you say the M6 Toll booths take cards, do you mean ordinary bank cards? That's fine with me. At first I had to make sure I had a bunch of £1 coins on me or I was a bit screwed. Although I think there were actual human beings who could give change. Tapping a bank card is ideal really.

 

[tonybridge]

Yes, just tap an ordinary bank card at the toll booth.

Enjoy the Britten, I love his music.

 

[Robf]

You could try the online Electroverse map, just pop in your car, start and destination and see how it compares to your estimated route and stops.

Electroverse | Charge point map

A map of all EV charge points in the Electroverse

electroverse.octopus.energy

 

[Rolfe]

Yes, just tap an ordinary bank card at the toll booth.

Enjoy the Britten, I love his music.

I actually saw the Scottish Opera production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Glasgow last year, and enjoyed it very much. I was with a friend who had also seen the previous SO production in the 1970s, and surprisingly we both remembered it well enough to be able to compare and contrast both versions.

The Glyndebourne production appears to be a revival of a pretty old staging, which usually bodes well because they wouldn't revive it unless it had gone down really well. The trailer looks interesting.

 

[Rolfe]

You could try the online Electroverse map, just pop in your car, start and destination and see how it compares to your estimated route and stops.

Electroverse | Charge point map

A map of all EV charge points in the Electroverse

electroverse.octopus.energy

Well, that was disappointing.

Repeatedly.

 

[Robf]

Oh dear, maybe ABRP will work? ABRP or start from Biggar

 

[Grriff]

It's probably too far from Lancaster but Cherwell Valley Services on the M40 has 10 Gridserve chargers according to Plugshare and Google. They are on the Electroverse map, if you don't select the option, 'Partnered with Electroverse'.. They are at the far end of the car park.

 

[Rolfe]

Oh dear, maybe ABRP will work? ABRP or start from Biggar

ABRP worked, but definitely wants me to do three stops - even when I ask for fewer but longer stops, it doesn't change. I think they are expecting me to drive pretty fast, because they have the total driving time at 6 hours 45 minutes, whereas the AA, for the same route, has it as 7 hours 20 minutes.

The total charging time is given as 1 hour 34 minutes. I'd rather do two hours, but in only two stops. It's odd they're not giving me that option.

Perhaps I should make a three-stop plan too, and decide which one to use when I see how fast the range is dropping when I get on to the M74.

It's probably too far from Lancaster but Cherwell Valley Services on the M40 has 10 Gridserve chargers according to Plugshare and Google. They are on the Electroverse map, if you don't select the option, 'Partnered with Electroverse'.. They are at the far end of the car park.

Cherwell Valley is 116.5 miles from my destination, and looks like a good option if I was doing a three-stop plan, which I probably will. Not the ABRP one though. Killington Lake, somewhere about half way (maybe Keele?), and Cherwell Valley might work.

Thanks very much for the advice.

 

[Ian Key]

Three stop could be quicker as charging from 20% to 80% is quicker than going from 10% to 100%
Or to misquote Alfred Hitchcock "The time between chargers should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."