Do you live in a tourist hot spot?

[bloomen]

OblongPea said:

It's manageable on normal weekends but I don't even bother going out at certain times because of the traffic. Too overpopulated as it is, let alone with tourists.

I've noticed that the one place you can almost guarantee to be nailed by traffic on the M5 is ALWAYS Weston. It's almost as inevitable as the sun coming up every morning.

[MikeDB1]

abzmike said:

227bhp said:

A good topic for conversation, but to get right to the heart of the matter there are now too many people living in the UK.

No there aren't - Just in a number of places.Vast tracts of perfectly liveable land are virtually empty.

That 'liveable empty land' is what we farmers like to call fields where we grow your food.

And the OP was correct - far too many people in the UK. And far too many campervans in Scotland. Why the Scottish Parliament don't ban them is beyond me as they contribute little to the local economy beyond buying a bit of petrol and some food at the Co-op. If they only allowed cars in then it would make building more hotels, cottages and chalets a commercial proposition.

[berlintaxi]

Yeah, fk the countryside, lets build loads of hotels and chalets.

[funinhounslow]

MikeDB1 said:

That 'liveable empty land' is what we farmers like to call fields where we grow your food.

And the OP was correct - far too many people in the UK. And far too many campervans in Scotland. Why the Scottish Parliament don't ban them is beyond me as they contribute little to the local economy beyond buying a bit of petrol and some food at the Co-op. If they only allowed cars in then it would make building more hotels, cottages and chalets a commercial proposition.

Probably a direct result of this...

Visitscotland.com said:

As part of Scotland's access legislation, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, you are allowed to camp on most unenclosed land.

[juice]

bloomen said:

I've noticed that the one place you can almost guarantee to be nailed by traffic on the M5 is ALWAYS Weston. It's almost as inevitable as the sun coming up every morning.

It's a PITA as I love taking my dogs to Sand Bay !

[p1stonhead]

troika said:

PurpleTurtle said:

Mexman said:

Fooking caravans, screaming kids, dawdlers in shops and on the pavements, rammed beaches, gridlocked roads, summer car park fees everywhere you go, rammed pubs, cannot eat anywhere without booking 3 weeks in advance, fuel prices hiked up, shops empty of bread and milk every morning by 10am......
Yeah, I love summer silly season.
Welcome to Cornwall.
Please go home and don't rush back...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cornwall

The Cornish economy also depends heavily on its successful tourist industry which contributes 24% of Cornwall's GDP and supports about 1 in 5 jobs. Tourism contributed £1.85 billion to the Cornish economy in 2011

Cornwall is one of the poorest areas in the United Kingdom with a GVA of 70.9% of the national average in 2015

We’ll go home if you really want, but you’ll be screwed.

Indeed. Having grown up there, they generally bite the hand that feeds them. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere with people who appreciate it.

I have family in the middle of St. Ives.

Its insanely busy in Summer.
But its insanely quiet in Winter.

As you say, without tourists, the town would die instantly.

[wisbech]

Yep - coming from Wisbech- why would you choose to live somewhere that people don’t want to visit...?

[slopes]

p1stonhead said:

troika said:

PurpleTurtle said:

Mexman said:

Fooking caravans, screaming kids, dawdlers in shops and on the pavements, rammed beaches, gridlocked roads, summer car park fees everywhere you go, rammed pubs, cannot eat anywhere without booking 3 weeks in advance, fuel prices hiked up, shops empty of bread and milk every morning by 10am......
Yeah, I love summer silly season.
Welcome to Cornwall.
Please go home and don't rush back...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cornwall

The Cornish economy also depends heavily on its successful tourist industry which contributes 24% of Cornwall's GDP and supports about 1 in 5 jobs. Tourism contributed £1.85 billion to the Cornish economy in 2011

Cornwall is one of the poorest areas in the United Kingdom with a GVA of 70.9% of the national average in 2015

We’ll go home if you really want, but you’ll be screwed.

Indeed. Having grown up there, they generally bite the hand that feeds them. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere with people who appreciate it.

I have family in the middle of St. Ives.

Its insanely busy in Summer.
But its insanely quiet in Winter.

As you say, without tourists, the town would die instantly.

I used to have a holiday caravan in Cornwall - long story - and i like St Ives but i can never understand the buzz about it.
'Oh one simply must visit St Ives'
Why?? i don't understand it

[p1stonhead]

slopes said:

p1stonhead said:

troika said:

PurpleTurtle said:

Mexman said:

Fooking caravans, screaming kids, dawdlers in shops and on the pavements, rammed beaches, gridlocked roads, summer car park fees everywhere you go, rammed pubs, cannot eat anywhere without booking 3 weeks in advance, fuel prices hiked up, shops empty of bread and milk every morning by 10am......
Yeah, I love summer silly season.
Welcome to Cornwall.
Please go home and don't rush back...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cornwall

The Cornish economy also depends heavily on its successful tourist industry which contributes 24% of Cornwall's GDP and supports about 1 in 5 jobs. Tourism contributed £1.85 billion to the Cornish economy in 2011

Cornwall is one of the poorest areas in the United Kingdom with a GVA of 70.9% of the national average in 2015

We’ll go home if you really want, but you’ll be screwed.

Indeed. Having grown up there, they generally bite the hand that feeds them. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere with people who appreciate it.

I have family in the middle of St. Ives.

Its insanely busy in Summer.
But its insanely quiet in Winter.

As you say, without tourists, the town would die instantly.

I used to have a holiday caravan in Cornwall - long story - and i like St Ives but i can never understand the buzz about it.
'Oh one simply must visit St Ives'
Why?? i don't understand it

Its beautiful, quaint and has incredible beaches all around. Probably no more so than some other places in Cornwall, but I have a personal connection so would obviously rate it higher than other places.

[Trophy Husband]

Half way in to my commute to work.

[p1stonhead]

Trophy Husband said:

Half way in to my commute to work.

Stunning. That commute deserves a caterham or the like.

[Trophy Husband]

p1stonhead said:

Trophy Husband said:

Half way in to my commute to work.

Stunning. That commute deserves a caterham or the like.

Unfortunately a Ranger Wildtrak but I know the road like the back of my hand so can get a shuffle on, even down the Llanberis Pass which is 5 minutes from where the photo was taken. I do a lot of work the other side of Snowdon so I have many commutes like this. Door to door to Llanberis is half an hour of joy and really gets me ready for the day.

When I think about the commuting I did whilst working on the Olympics I shudder. 1hr 40 from Hackney to Blackheath in the evenings v 15 minutes at 0630 hrs the other way.

I feel very lucky to have landed where I have.

[Robbo 27]

I used to live in York, tourist traffic made crossing the city almost impossible

[Johnnytheboy]

First experience of the M5 from Bridgwater to Bristol of 'the season'.

It's not the quantity of traffic but the quality. My God there are some stupid people driving to/from their Easter holiday.

[OblongPea]

bloomen said:

OblongPea said:

It's manageable on normal weekends but I don't even bother going out at certain times because of the traffic. Too overpopulated as it is, let alone with tourists.

I've noticed that the one place you can almost guarantee to be nailed by traffic on the M5 is ALWAYS Weston. It's almost as inevitable as the sun coming up every morning.

Yep, every damn day. I work in Bristol aswell, so every Friday in the summer it takes me an 1.5 hours minimum to get home (usually 35 minutes on a good run). Everyone decides to go south.

[Cotty]

OblongPea said:

Yep, every damn day. I work in Bristol aswell, so every Friday in the summer it takes me an 1.5 hours minimum to get home (usually 35 minutes on a good run). Everyone decides to go south.

That's what gets on my tits about having so much st weather. When it is nice everybody wants to go to the same places at the same time. If we have nicer weather year round people would spread out more all round the year and places wouldn't go from deserted to rammed. I see it with London pubs in the City, wet and cold hardy anyone in them, hot and dry 5 deep at the bar.

[MikeDB1]

AC43 said:

GetCarter said:

AC43 said:

and the now ubiquitous scamera vans. Only a fun crushing mean spirited miserablist like wee krankie could come with those policies and enforce them so vigorously.

Not round here... no fixed cameras and I have seen perhaps three police cars in 21 years. (Nearest staffed police station is now offshore on Skye!)

Crime of the century etc. I just remember when no one would bother with this sort of thing in this part of the world.

Maybe if you live here It's very different of course.

The locals always used to welcome us with open arms on the Tour on Mull in the 1980s. The roads were still open in those days ("road rallying") but they shut them off unofficially for the rally so it was a stage rally in all but name. The local PC took the speed camera off the young plod who had been sent from the mainland after the chief constable of wherever had declared all our tyres illegal the previous year and we all had to run on wets. Fortunately it was raining but it did lower speeds not being able to use pure racers.

At the prizegiving he even had a list of the speeds everyone had gone past him at. He told me off for only doing 93mph as I instinctively braked far too late on seeing a jam sandwich at the side of the road. The highest was 128 in a Manta 400 :-)

Edited by MikeDB1 on Tuesday 16th April 15:22

Edited by MikeDB1 on Tuesday 16th April 15:23

[MikeDB1]

Visitscotland.com said:

As part of Scotland's access legislation, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, you are allowed to camp on most unenclosed land.

I gather several counties (or whatever they call them in Scotland) are passing local bylaws to ban this unintended consequence of open access for walkers.

[Dixy]

Johnnytheboy said:

First experience of the M5 from Bridgwater to Bristol of 'the season'.

It's not the quantity of traffic but the quality. My God there are some stupid people driving to/from their Easter holiday.

Fortunately its just a tourist area and you do not have the biggest construction site in Europe on your door step

[Dixy]

Johnnytheboy said:

First experience of the M5 from Bridgwater to Bristol of 'the season'.

It's not the quantity of traffic but the quality. My God there are some stupid people driving to/from their Easter holiday.

Fortunately its just a tourist area and you do not have the biggest construction site in Europe on your door step