The best of roads, the worst of roads

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As promised!

BEST ROADS:

  • Big fan of the A149 between Old Hunstanton and Wells. Lovely, winding road through villages, skirting the coastline.
  • Lots of the roads over the Purbecks. But the A351 from Corfe Castle to Swanage is pretty.

WORST ROADS:

  • The stretch of the M5 between Exeter and the M42. We have to do this if we’re heading back from Mrs CCB’s house - it’s 2-2.5 hours of nothingness with the occasional holiday-induced tailback. There’s quite a nice bit as you approach Avonmouth but that’s about it.
  • The A14. As @83746725 said, miles and miles of lorries overtaking each other at 1mph increments.
  • The A17 from King’s Lynn to Newark. 60 miles of single carriageway bleakness.

That’ll do for now.

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Worst road - M8, fucking cunt of a road
Best road - All roads that aren’t the M8

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The A14 is fucking horrific. Worst drive of my (short) driving life was heading west along it straight into a low sun. Actually couldn’t see. Lorries changing lanes indiscriminately the whole time. Terrifying.

I quite like the A603. Not much in the way of scenery, but it’s got some good spots where you can safely drive like a dickhead if there’s light traffic.

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That bit on the M40 where you get out of London and see some fields and cliff things and that. Might be the only time I feel any affinity to rural Britain.

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The A1(M) from Huntingdon to Peterborough is a good road for a bit of acceleration. I think it acts as a pressure valve for people who have just suffered the A14.

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M42 between the M40 and M6. Single most infuriating stretch of road I’ve ever been on. You can be driving on it at 11pm and be the only car in the road and they’ll still have the variable speed limit set at 40mph.

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Has the A14 not improved now after the years of roadworks?

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The A14 is the most boring road in the UK. Hate driving along it.
Best that I’ve driven is the route running up the northumberland coast (a mixture of differently named roads). Great views and castles.

I used to like cycling the A507 into my home town as a kid too, but apparently it’s become a bit of a mecca for weekend motorcyclists these days, and I wouldn’t fancy cycling it now.

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Best: A470 through Snowdonia. Windy, lots of peaks at troughs, and every corner brings a new stunning view. Well looked after too.

Worst: A34 through Berkshire/Oxfordshire. A dual lane carriageway that really should be a motorway. Crashes every other day, often fatal.

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^This to the A34. I share your pain.

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Worst - towards London
Best - away from London

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I guess there’s a little improvement around the junction with the M11 - there are three lanes now until Girton. But there are still horrendous bottlenecks everywhere, regular collisions (and fatalities), general lorry / white van dickheadery. I avoid it if at all possible.

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The A4 in 1963 looks lovely

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You’ve not been on the M3 southbound recently then

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Best road I’ve driven was from Claonaig on the Mull of Kintyre to Mallaig just south of Skye. Unbelievably stunning, with views like this the whole way up:

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Best: There’s a really Twin Peaks bit of the A38 in Cornwall, the road’s flanked by the most massive trees for about 5 miles.

Worst: A303. On one drive I saw at least one of every single animal up to and including a cow on this road in various states of dead.

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Best:
A82 Glasgow to Inverness - beautiful scenery, always reminds me of childhood holidays, though did write a car off as an adult driving by Loch Lomond.
A591 Kendal to Keswick - nice driving, nice views, lots of good stuff to stop and do.

Worst:
M6 round Birmingham #tollroad4lyf
M25, especially the bit round by Heathrow. Always a motherfucker.

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Favourites:

  • The A4 out of Bristol as you drive along the River Avon and approach then go underneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
  • Quite like losing my radio signal on the M6 through the Lakes and up to the Scottish Borders (with a stop off at Tebay obviously)
    Worst:
  • Another vote for the M42 between M40 and A446
  • M25 obvs. All of it but probably between M1 and Heathrow is shittest
  • M6 Stoke to Manchester
  • Snake Pass. Only open for 2 weeks every year
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but when you get a decent run on it it’s fucking lovely

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A470 is a good shout. I’d also recommend the A44 between Llangurig and Capel Bangor while out that way.