Your favourite road

[Chris71]

What's your single favourite road? The rules are this: It must basically be a 'driving road', but nostalgia, scenery etc. are acceptable factors in the decision too (it doesn't have to be the whitest knuckles!) and you can only pick one.

Having said the above, I'm having a real issue narrowing it down to just one. The A356 from Crewkerne to the A303, the B1004 from Much Hadham to Bishops Stortford, and the Black Mountain Road have all produced some epic drives. I think for its proximity to civilisation, its impressive range of corners and its local hero status I'm going for this one, however...

The A507 from Baldock to Buntingford

[Chris71]

Seems we're mentioning multiple roads, I'll add the two main roads across Dartmoor (out of season obviously) and one very, very bizarre one. The A303 is known to most for hellish gridlock and most of the time for most of the route I'd concur, but the very last section before it turns into the A30, sufficiently late at night, can actually be good fun. There's about half a mile where it clings to the side of the hill like an alpine road, leading to a tight left hand hairpin. It's usually the best part of midnight by the time I reach it if I'm heading home for a weekend and it serves as a tiny bit of reward for the preceeding three hours of tedium. Also in the Westcountry, the B3167 between the A358 and the A30, the B3165 from Hunters Lodge to Crewkerne and the B3162 from Broadwindsor to West Bay.

[Chris71]

Shay HTFC said:

The ride between Holme and Glossop is top quality.

That looks a bit like the Buttertubs (which coincidentally I thought was a slightly overrated road - the first bit is quite open so you'd have to be going very quickly to have fun and the second bit has a lot of blind crests, quite steep and rather narrow in places...)

[Chris71]

I might have a new favourite - I've just done Zig Zag Hill.

You know how some roads are overrated? This isn't. The zig zag bit is aptly named, and just wide enough to be attacked enthusiastically in a small car if you keep an eye out for oncomming traffic, but actually pretty much the whole of the B3081 is sublime. It's been a morning well misspent.

[Chris71]

Petrolhead_Rich said:

The top ten most dangerous roads:

A357 Macclesfield to Buxton - Cheshire/Derbyshire
A5012 Pikehall to Matlock - Derbyshire
A621 Baslow to Totley - Derbyshire/South Yorkshire
A625 Calver to Sheffield - South Yorkshire
A54 Congleton to Buxton - Derbyshire
A581 Rufford to Chorley - Lancashire
A5004 Whaley Bridge to Buxton - Derbyshire
A675 Blackburn to Preston - Lancashire
A61 Barnsley to Wakefield - South/West Yorkshire
A285 Chichester to Petworth - West Sussex

They all sound good!

Interesting that they're all A-roads. I guess I'm going native down here in the south east - virtually the only roads that are NSL and quiet enough to be driven enthusiastically are B-roads or unclassifieds.

Oh to be back in the Westcountry... Or rural Wales/Yorkshire/Scotland/Derbyshire etc.

PS Plenty - I like the photos!

[Chris71]

D1ngd0ng said:

B3357 in Dartmoor National Park, fantastic drive through here on the last West Country holiday

Yep, if you avoid the caravans and meandering visitors Dartmoor can be great fun. As long as you apply a degree of common sense around the animals I think the blanket 40mph limit can be flexed considerably without taking any undue risks too. Exmoor is worth a look as well.

It always annoys me when I go back to the Westcountry. The roads you use to nip out and get a pint of milk down there are better than most of those I actively seek out for a hoon now I'm in the South East.

[Chris71]

WalterEgo said:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&a... Ribblehead - Links on to the revered Buttertubs, but is a much more fulfilling run with some awesome flowing bends.

Does seem to be quite heavily policed.

Sticking with that area, I was surprised how entertaining bits of the A684 are for a relatively major through-road too. Perhaps not a classic in the context we're talking here, but certainly not the caravan-strewn nightmare it could be.

[Chris71]

gopher44 said:

This

Red Devil said:

Tregaron - Abergwesyn mountain road.

The first time I did it was around midnight on a rally in the 70s.
Never been over it as quick since but the views were a lot better.

The only place I've ever got stuck in the snow. Somewhat of a proving ground for just about every car I've owned.

Is that the Devil's Bridge one that starts near the dams? Epic views, I found it a little narrow and too many crests to be 100% sure what was coming. I can imagine it would be immense as a closed rally stage though (or at silly O'clock in the morning on a road rally when there's no one around and you can see the headlights miles off).

Speaking of silly O'clock. I stumbled across perhaps the best driving road I've ever found in the UK on the same trip: The Devil's Elbow (A4138 I think) in the Forest of Dean. It was rammed with people when I drove it, but at 7am on a Sunday morning it'd be a hillclimb event waiting to be staged.

[Chris71]

mp3manager said:

A702 - The Dalveen Pass in South West Scotland

Check out the HDR...

[Chris71]

Allyc85 said:

I had a great run on the B4520 from Brecon to Bulith the other day.Very hard to commit over the crests but that was part of the fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sABaqGvcmGA

That looks more fun than I remember it, must have been stuck behind a truck or something when I we did it.

Another good road in that area - and somewhat less mentioned - is the B4518. The first few miles at the northern end are too narrow to press on, but it opens up into a great road with decent visibility and some pulse-raising downhill sweeps.

[Chris71]

brisel said:

GravelBen said:

This is right up there if you like the slidey stuff... perfect place to dance an MX5 around on the lockstops

Edited by GravelBen on Wednesday 15th December 08:36

Yummy!

Where is it??

I'm guessing you're not going to like the answer...

[Chris71]

Allyc85 said:

Wozy68 said:

The old A361, now the B3227 from South Molton to Taunton. Finest road imo I’ve come across anywhere in England south of Birmingham........ Chellenging and generally empty. Fabulous on a bike or in a car.

Good shout! I was going to head up that way this morning, but a forecast of fog over Exmoor put pay to that.

I'll have to check that one out. I've now moved back to the Westcountry. One of my favourites is the road that runs up from Corfe (near Taunton) up to the '303. B3170? The A30 through Yarcombe is great too. Almost feels like the Alps.

[Chris71]

Allyc85 said:

Wozy68 said:

The old A361, now the B3227 from South Molton to Taunton. Finest road imo I’ve come across anywhere in England south of Birmingham........ Chellenging and generally empty. Fabulous on a bike or in a car.

Good shout! I was going to head up that way this morning, but a forecast of fog over Exmoor put pay to that.

I'll have to check that one out. I've now moved back to the Westcountry. One of my favourites is the road that runs up from Corfe (near Taunton) up to the '303. B3170? The A30 through Yarcombe is great too. Almost feels like the Alps.