The Most Dangerous Village in Britain
The Rings of Death that straddle the town centres of both Reading and Basingstoke and the network of multi-lane avenues that leave Marble Arch ‘high and dry on an island in a sea of traffic’—as the Evening Standard put it—are all legacies of the road-building frenzy of the sixties that left great swathes of our green and pleasant land burried under rivers of concrete. So is the A69 which cuts through the Pennines, linking Newcastle with the M6—the main (and only) motorway artery to the North at Carlisle. Here, among the rolling hills, lies the most dangerous village in Britain.
The trans-island-trunk road cuts right through the medieval cluster of stone cottages and manor houses along what might once have been a cobbled street over which horse-drawn carriages trundled. As we rushed through the village, I gleaned from the protest signs which livid residents affixed to their fences that over 14 000 vehicles a day pass through this road, a large proportion of which are HGVs. After 40 years, the locals are still waiting for a bypass.
Today there are more vehicles—and more lorries—than usual because one of the customary accidents has closed the M6 at Lancaster and all traffic to Scotland has been diverted half-way across the Kingdom: along the M1 through the Yorkshire dales and across the Pennines to re-join the M6 at Carlisle, just past the snow-capped Cumbrian Hills. Still, a 2 hour detour beats sitting in a traffic jam for 29 hours, as can happen. From this you will gather that Britain may be a small island, but it pays to travel prepared. We never drive to, or in, Scotland without carrying food, water and a blanket.
Tags: Travels on my Doorstep, Tag Index
Denni