What a p*****k 9

On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:00:52 +0100, Harry Bloomfield

Got it.

Got to say, after all I've been saying about the madness of the two girls on horses going down that road - I think there's nothing really wrong with that. And why? Because it's nothing like as small or windy or bendy as I'd been picturing it.

Here's a picture of it, courtesy of the excellent Google Earth (if you haven't installed it yet, I recommend you do, it's just great for...

(just click on the "Free" button)

The arrows show your direction of travel (including the right turn onto Copley Lane), and there's no way on Earth (well, Google's anyway), that's a 90deg bend! (Incidentally, you can also see on this picture where the area that Google Earth doesn't have detailed data for).

Here's a closer look:

I appreciate though, that it's probably a blind bend on account of the two trees and the house on the right hand side. But from the picture we can see that it would be blind for quite some distance. Certainly suggesting that the horses wouldn't make it around that bend in just a couple of seconds as you suggested - for you to make a totally safe overtake just a couple of seconds or so after he made a dangerous one.

Hmm.. it's not quite the roundabout I'd pictured either. It's the roundabout of a junction off a major motorway. That means that it's two lanes all the way around and it's not round, it's oblong, giving quite a long straight stretch as it goes over the motorway. OK, so it's a bit cheeky to overtake someone along there, but I wouldn't call it dangerous. I would't be surprised if it happens quite often if people are taking the same route you did and wish to overtake. Here's a photo:

Again, the arrows show the route you both took and the size of the roundabout that an overtake could be performed on. I've also dipped the angle so you can see just how straight the road is after that. Hardly a bendy country lane. In Google Earth I can scroll along this road and you would *not* describe it as a bendy country lane. Not a chance. There's nothing like the bends you implied you used to keep pace with him. I can imagine traffic slowing you both down, but not the bends. I wish I could scroll along it in GE and save it as a movie or something...

You're right about maps, sure. But Google Earth shows the truth from the photos!!

Ah, so Copley Rd is probably the turning he didn't mean to make in the first place.