With Cheshire (West and East) now being in Tier 2, that effectively closes the north Wales border in both directions for leisure travel.
Next week we get the Welsh circuit breaker which presumably will enforce even more restrictions for 2-3 weeks.
The back roads are going to be busy!
However, there is the anomaly of the A485/A5 A550/A5 road routes and the Chester to Shrewsbury rail route.
The shortest way from Merseyside to Shropshire and further south is via the above routes.
I use the A485/A5 quite regularly or the A550 / A5 to access not only Wales but also Shropshire and the South West of England (I avoid the M6/M5 drag) which also sees me drive down the Wye Valley the road down which alternates between Wales and England at between Monmouth and the Severn Bridge.
The BBC news web site report showed the Bigsweir Bridge in the Wye Valley when they reported the restrictions.
Therefore I imagine there are going to be many people travelling through Wales from England to get to places in England.
Same with the train board the train at Chester and passengers from Merseyside and Cheshire end up mixing with passengers from Wrexham / Ruabon / Chirk.
This is where the rules become silly.
During the continued Welsh Lockdown I made a few trips to Snailbeach and travelled by the A485/A5 outbound returning A5/A550 through these areas. I did it that way round as there had been high profile images of stop checks posted at Queensferry Bridge. Therefore at that location I would have been exiting Wales. Reality confirmed that they were certainly not a regular occurrence and were probably stage more to generate the fear factor.
I then realised that there was no one checking anyone.
Likewise there was no one standing on Chirk aqueduct checking boaters and walkers!
Anyway as my spring holiday plans had been messed up I thought I would head for two hotels in south Wales that I normally frequent in early November - but had held off booking things to see how things develop. Well in one crazy move Dripford and Nothing have just deprived the Welsh economy of around £1k from just this this punter.
I will almost certainly be heading off for Dartmoor instead but I will be driving through Wales (and past one of the hotels I would have stayed at at Tintern) to get there! - Mad!
So much for the United Kingdom!
In reality a few people will get caught - there will be some high profile announcements in the media - just to keep the fear factor going - if the virus doesn't worry you then the fine might.
Well for me neither does.
As was said in the House of Commons the other day by JRM this travel ban is unconstitutional.
John