In message , at 12:24:40 on Wed, 29
Apr 2009, tim..... remarked:

People travelled less then, and were prepared to walk much further.

While I would agree that people walked further, I would dispute that
people travelled less per se.

When I was growing up, a 50 mile trip from one side of London to the other
[albeit by car] was something you'd plan on taking most of the day.

Why, did you have to push it?

No, the roads, and traffic were terrible. Also many of those trips were
for Xmas holidays so snow and fog often slowed us too.

I'm of a similar age to you and we used to drive across/into London often.
This is not something I would even contemplate doing now (we go around!)

Driving 150 miles to a holiday resort was a once-a-year thing.

Agreed, but that was because we could only afford the holiday camp once a
year, not because of any problems with the journey.

No, the journey was terrible too. I remember one time we were stuck for
hours in a traffic jam on the A5 approaching Cannock - where they were
in the process of constructing the M6. And Honiton was notorious,
further south.

We lived in Chelmsford, and while Clacton was not very far away, the
jams on the road at holiday weekends meant it was futile trying to get
there.
--
Roland Perry