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…just how bad is it?
Going to Cartmel tomorrow for the first time. Staying in a hotel in Grange-over-Sands, 4 miles from the track according to Multimap. Intention is to get a taxi from hotel to course and back again. I need advice form seasoned Cartmellians!
1) How long should I allow for the 4-mile journey from hotel to course to get there in plenty of time before the first race (i.e. time to see the horses in the pre-parade ring onwards)
2) What are the chances of being able to find a pre-booked taxi after racing (happy to stay in the bar for half-an-hour or so after the last race to allow some traffic to disperse if that will make it easier) – is there an easily identifiable spot not too far from the course that a taxi driver will know and that we’d be able to find?
3) Will we get stuck in so much traffic afterwards that the taxi fare will rival the hotel bill?All (sensible, non-scary) answers/advice gratefully received!
This may be high risk but I stumbled across a Cartmel traffic beating plan years ago & have stuck to it (with success) since. Don’t leave early…leave late!! Everyone wants to be in & set up hours before so that a run timed to get you there say half hour before the first is relatively easy & quick. As I say, it may be high risk but always worked for me!
Give it a miss and go to Stratford instead.
If you want to watch the racing from the stands I would have to say it is possibly the worst track in the UK, however I have not been to them all.
I never found traffic a problem as it is well organised.
???? I find trying to watch from the stands at Stratford a hell of a lot worse than Cartmel, frankly, unless I can sneak into a corporate box or some such – at their highest point the stands still only get you two or three metres off the ground, and that’s simply inadequate.
In terms of beating traffic at Cartmel? Arrive early just about covers it! It’s a deceptively easy course to get away from quickly, though, as the local constabulary is that well drilled in pinging all the traffic back down the country lanes to the A590 quickly and effectively.
The only hold-up you may encounter is one small stretch a few miles back down the A590 where two lanes briefly become one, but that will only slow you for about 10 minutes tops.
Enjoy!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Cheers all, especially Jeremy as I know you are a Cartmel afficionado! Just about to set off now, and looking forward to a great evening out.
Probably a bit late for today but for next year – I arrived here just before midday and had no problems getting here.
Managed to tuck in behind a police car and a horse box – so oncoming traffic (what little there was) was soon dealt with.
Cheers all, especially Jeremy as I know you are a Cartmel afficionado! Just about to set off now, and looking forward to a great evening out.
Our pleasure! Do report back – always interested to hear what people think of the place. Looks like a muggy night from the RUK pictures.
Lakeland idyll a possible for me on Monday. Either there or Upcott Cross.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Just back from my first visit to Cartmel. Have to say it was no problem at all traffic-wise – we arrived about 15 mins before the first and drove straight in. Left before the last and was on the M6 within 20 minutes or so.
Found it an unusual racing experience and quite a pleasant change from the norm with a family atmosphere and laid-back stewarding. I was going to go to Haydock which is much closer but I am sick to the back teeth of cackling women and drunk lads wearing their best shiny Primark suit (yes, I am a snob!)
Back to Cartmel . . . It’s a little frustrating that you can only see about a third of the race with the naked eye but the big screen does it job. Would much rather go here than somewhere like Newmarket where you can’t see much either.
There’s good access to the paddock etc, the crowd was big but not packed and it was a genuinely good evening out. Would recommend it to anyone who wants a more laid-back day at the races. Stick with course winners that go from the front and you’ll make a few bob too.
I have to admit to my shame that I have never been to a point-to-point meeting but I imagine it’s a little like Cartmel – if anyone can recommend a good points meeting in the north-west I will break my duck on that score too.^ a snob from Liverpool…well, that’s got to be a first mulls
I do hope you all bought some sticky toffee pudding from the village shop there. You cannot leave Cartmel without it despite that fact it’s sold in every supermarket up and down the country
Didn’t buy any but the other half tore into a sticky toffee pudding ice cream which was rather nice.
Believe me, there are plenty of us snobby media types in Liverpool dontcha know!
Ach, what a shame I didn’t pick today to go up there – high time I said hello to Mulls in person, given I’ve only been corresponding with him for the last three years!
(And Cruella as well, of course)
I’m spookily well-placed to answer your question on North West Area point-to-points, as I went to the last one of the season today! That was the Sir W W Wynn’s at Bangor-on-Dee PTP (i.e. the smaller course inside the NH Rules one). Extremely pleasant day, with most of the racecourse facilities in use and a decent smattering of both crowd and horses.
Technically there
is
one more North West point-to-point to go, but this has been moved from its usual date of January and venue of Weston Park (where the V Festival is held) to Garthorpe in Leicestershire tomorrow! Reason being: the ground has become so compacted at Weston Park after years of being trampelled by gig-goers that it needed a year to recover. Racing may resume there next year. We’ll see.
The official North West Area for point-to-points takes in 14 meetings held at these eight courses;
Alpraham
, Cheshire (near Tarporley)
Bangor-on-Dee PTP
(inside NH course)
Eyton-on-Severn
, Shropshire (southeast of Shrewsbury)
Flagg Moor
, Derbyshire (southeast of Buxton; operative since 1892; the oldest, highest above sea-level and most dramatic course of the lot; Members race still run over dry stone walls)
Sandon
, Staffordshire (southeast of Stone; run by the Tellwright dynasty)
Tabley
, Cheshire (west of Knutsford)
Weston Park
, Shropshire (when operative; northeast of Shifnal)
Whittington
, North Lancashire (southwest of Kirkby Lonsdale)
In addition, you might regard Heslaker (basically Skipton) as more within compass than some of the above. North West Area meetings are usually held from mid-January to late-May.
This interactive map contains these and all other courses nationwide;
http://www.pointtopoint.co.uk/go/courses/
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Cheers Jeremy, I knew I could rely on you!
We will cross paths some day I’m sure, probably at one of those meetings next season, especially the ones in Cheshire.
As for calling Skipton part of the north-west, my fiercely Lancastrian grandad would be turning in his grave!Quite a few N/W Area Points now have their own web sites:
http://www.whittingtonraces.co.uk
http://www.flaggraces.co.uk
http://www.bangorpoint2points.co.uk
http://www.knutsfordraces.co.uk
http://www.eytonraces.com (this site not working at the moment for some reason…)Also plenty of info on:
http://www.jumpingforfun.co.uk
and
http://www.pointtopoint.co.ukWe will cross paths some day I’m sure, probably at one of those meetings next season, especially the ones in Cheshire.
Noted! If you can stand another visit back to either, I’ve really got to take in both Haydock and Aintree again this autumn – I’ve not troubled either venue for about seven or eight years. Could yet be at the Old Roan meeting at the latter. Failing that, yes, a North West Area point, for sure.
As for calling Skipton part of the north-west, my fiercely Lancastrian grandad would be turning in his grave!
Heh-heh, it’s ballpark but not the north-west proper, agreed!
Just to muddy things, though, until 2001 the Pendle Forest and Craven meeting was not held at Heslaker, but instead at Gisburn near Clitheroe – very much in Lancashire. Itinerant things, these pointing venues!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
GraemeTheDonkey wrote: I thought it was the snobs in Liverpool who wore the shiny Primark suits.
Graeme, ’tis such a sad and unfilfilling moment when one encounters a gentleman of such limited cultural elegance and sartorial knowledge as exhibited in your tragic stroke of literary genius.
Surely, your fashionable stereotyping extends beyond the intellectual boundaries of an ass immersed in a void of nothingness?
K
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