Gritting on motorways

Last night, around 7.30 pm, I drove from Bolton to Northwich in Cheshire using several motorways in the process (M60, M62, M6, M56). Every single one of them had been recently gritted. Problem was that the roads were bone-dry and the deposited salt granules were being swept up in great clouds by the speed of cars and trucks and it was like driving through a hail-storm. Also, because so much salt was being blown about, I just wondered how much would actually be left on the road surface by the time the temperatures dropped later in the night. At one stage, just prior to exiting the M6 for the M56, I caught up with one of the gritting lorries, and at motorway speed it was like having the front of your car peppered with shotgun pellets. I dropped right back and waited for my exit rather than try to pbutt but I should imagine that cars travelling further, and having little choice but to overtake the (comparatively) slow moving gritting lorry in the centre lane, lost a bit of paintwork. Clearly, at times, motorways have to be gritted, but that journey was not much fun at all!

Uno-Hoo!