The "Missing 24-hours" - another theory

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 42492


> 
> > BBOY_MN orgininally said:
> 
> > If he did go to his hut at Hogwarts, <Snip>...
> > Just took Harry back to his hut, took care of him for a day, got
> > on Sirius motorcycle, flew south along the western coast of 
> >Scotland,  flew just south of Britol and turned east to Surry and 
> >  Privet Drive.
> > That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
> >  
> > bboy_Mn
> > 
> 
> PIP REPLIED:
> > GEOGRAPHY CHECK FOR NON-UK RESIDENTS
> > Bristol is quite a LONG way west of Surrey (by British standards -
> >  we think 100 miles is a long way). The standard west coast air 
> > route from Scotland to London (just flown it recently) is to fly 
> > over the coast of Lancashire, then go into the English Midlands, 
> > flying fairly directly from Birmingham to London/Surrey. 
> > 
> > The reason for this is that it misses all the big, hairy 
> > mountains  that I certainly wouldn't like to try and fly over in 
> > a motorbike. [grin]
> > 
> > If you fly over Bristol when travelling from Scotland to London, 
> > you are LOST. It's much more likely that Hagrid was either flying 
> > from Wales, or from the West Country (Devon, Cornwall), both of 
> > which would have him conceivably deciding to go over Bristol so 
> > he could then follow the lights on the muggle motorways up to 
> > Surrey.
> > If he apparated back to his hut, we get stuck with the problem 
> > of 'if Hagrid can apparate with a baby, why couldn't Lily 
> > apparate away from Voldemort with Harry?'
> > 
> > Pip
> 
BBoy replies:
> If you fly striaght south from Glasgow, you fly about a third of the
> way over ocean, and another third over Wales which leave you out of
> Scotland and England for most of the trip. Not a logical route 
> unless you are trying to say out of site. Especially, if you are 
> trying to stay out of site of other witches and wizards.

Pip replies:
I hate the idea of flying over the ocean in a motorbike even more 
than I hate the idea of flying over the Welsh mountains - it's 
flippin' dangerous, especially with a passenger who's a fifteen month 
old baby. Even the commercial jets try and reduce their ocean flying 
to the minimum possible - there's nowhere to land except some very 
wet sea if things go wrong. 

 How low flying is this motorbike? Does he dodge the RAF jets ?(the 
Welsh Brecon Beacons are a major training ground for 'zipping under 
the radar' flying practice).

>BBoy: 
> We know Hagrid flew over Bristol. If we assume he was at Hogwarts,
> then straight south to Bristol and turn left to Surrey is a safe,
> secure, and under the circumstances logical route. Although, not
> necessarily logical under other circumstances.

Pip:
I don't think he went back to Hogwarts. I think he hid out with Harry 
until nightfall, when he knew that muggles wouldn't notice a flying 
motorbike. Face it, all we'd see are the headlights (which muggle 
planes have) and the red taillights (which muggle planes have) and 
all we'd hear would be the engine noise ('is that a helicopter? 
Doesn't sound like a plane.') At night, we'd simply not notice it was 
a motorbike doing the flying.

Going back to Hogwarts - unless 'Godric's Hollow' is in Scotland, and 
it sounds more like a name an English village would have - means 
Hagrid has to do a lot of dangerous nighttime flying. As you say, he 
has to do a 5 hour flight to Hogwarts, and then a 5 hour flight back, 
and if he's going to do it over the ocean at night then I *really* 
hope Sirius put some good Wizarding navigation spells on that 
motorbike. ;-)


BBoy:
> You are right, it is about 150Km or 100miles from Bristol to London.
> 
> The alternative theory is that Hagrid sought refuge in Wales some
> where. There is speculation that since he flew over Bristol to get 
> to Surrey, that he stayed in or near Godric's Hollow which because 
> of the route over Bristol, is assumed by some to be in Wales.
> 

Pip:
Hiding in Wales is much better. 

BBoy:
> If we are trying to come up with a logical description of events 
> that take Harry and Hagrid from Hogwarts to Surrey by way of 
> Bristol, then my safe secure 'out of site' route theory is 
reasonable.

Pip:
I think it's one of those routes that looks great on a map - which is 
not your fault, because you're working from maps.

BBoy:
> You also asked about apparation; Harry and Hagrid apparating back to
> Hogwarts seemed to be the implication. Why would they apparate when
> they had Sirius flying motorcycle? Although admittedly at 60 mph
> that's  about a 5 hour flight. (Approx 350 miles from Cardiff to 
Glasgow)
> 

Pip:
Err... a 10 second apparation versus a five hour motorbike flight. 
Enough said. Though truthfully, I think apparation is impossible 
because you can't do it with a small child.

BBoy:
> So as long as Bristol is in the picture, the only logical 
> conclusions seem be, he stayed in or near Godric's Hollow which 
>assumes Godric's Hollow is in Wales, or he flew from Hogwart via a 
safe secure route.
> 

Pip:
If the 'safe, secure route' was over the ocean at night, followed by 
a quick trip over the RAF's training areas, remind me NEVER to accept 
a lift from Hagrid [grin]

Pip