Anyway, I heard the news on the radio shortly before I reached the M1, and thought, ach, I'll go for it anyway - the worst that can happen is I just end up stuck on the M1 for a few hours.
Well, no - the worst that could happen, it turned out, was that I wouldn't even end on the M1 because of a police presence preventing people from getting onto the road going northbound. By which point, I had no choice, because of the way it's set up, but to go onto the M1 going southbound.
Which wasn't exactly the direction I wanted to go. I will admit, I panicked a bit. I then realised I could get onto the A414, which I did, and then drove around a bit randomly in the hope of finding either a.) somewhere to pull over or b.) something recognisable or c.) both.
I eventually managed to stop at the Woodside Leisure Park, where I set up the satnav to take me to work, avoiding the M1. After a bit of a narrow winding country lane, where I encountered a fallen down tree, I made it onto some vaguely main roads and eventually the A5, which led me up through Dunstable to work.
The important thing - the achievement - is this: initial panic aside, I coped. Even though I was, initially at first, way outside my comfort zone, on mostly unfamiliar roads in sometimes less than ideal driving conditions (very windy - apparently we're experiencing the fag end of the American hurricaine - and a bit rainy at first), I managed.
I feel quite happy about that.
