Cindrella Road

The other day I drove along the A5; not all of it by any means, but the bit I most often use, between Rugby and the M6.  It occurred to me that making this journey is, to some extent, making a journey into the past. 

The A5 begins in the centre of London, crossing the North Circular Road by an impressive flyover with great determination, as if it's really going Somewhere!  It makes its way up through Edgware and past Colindale, and then as it struggles to cross the M1 near Elstree ... hey! where did it go?  For reasons best known to minds greater than mine, the A5 evaporates there, and reappears almost twenty miles further on, near Redbourn.  It's as if the motorway has swallowed it between junctions 4 and 9.  In between there is the enigmatic A5183 that escorts you through St Albans, threatening as it does so to chuck you onto another 'artificial' road, the A1081 (which bears a similar relationship to the A6 - but that's another story!)

As it passes through the splendour of Milton Keynes, the A5 becomes a majestic dual carriageway, with proper sliproads on and off, up to roundabouts and down again; the only thing that's missing - some would say a good miss - is the traffic.  After the final roundabout, just past Stony Stratford, the road enters a peaceful stretch through the pretty towns and villages of Northamptonshire, flanked by stone houses, as it seems to rise gently to the hilly spine of our land.  This is where it is most familiar to me, for by taking only a short diversion from the motorway I can get a welcome meal at a truckstop.  Just south of Towcester is Jack's Hill Cafe, which appears to be a favourite haunt of motorcyclists, although I rarely see any there.

Further on, sandwiched, as it were, between junctions 18 and 20 (although easily accessible from 19 via the village of Catthorpe that has given its name to this busy interchange) of the M1, is the popular Rugby Truckstop, managed by a firm called Nightowl.  Then comes a long stretch with delightful vistas as it follows the gradients of the land up and down, sometimes one carriageway, sometimes two, but always reflecting its Roman origins by maintaining as far as it can a perfectly straight course.  After Hinckley and Atherstone we find ourselves in contention with the M6 Toll, the brand new motorway opened a few years ago, that took over part of the A5's route, and provided in exchange a length of magnificent dual carriageway that is up to virtually motorway standard - true luxury!

Between this 'new' bit of the A5 and the M6 at junction 12 lies the section of the road that prompted this blog.  It is part of the original road, comparatively narrow, dead straight as often as not, and most of the buildings by the side of it are not only old, but showing their age.  Many of the various hostelries amongst them are closed and boarded up, unable to pay their way in the present depressed economy.  Despite the boardings, they often show signs of an attractive character, which makes me even more sad that they are now inactive. 

Beyond the M6, this marvelous road is no longer shown as a trunk road on the current road atlas, which to me makes it even more enticing as it heads towards Wales, and eventually Anglesey and the ferry terminal for Dublin.  Yes, it does take an hour or more longer than the 'recognised' route round the coast through Conwy but, travelled in daylight, the scenery and the towns and villages on the way render the extra time well-spent.

Given the difficulty which my SatNav seems to experience in keeping track of me when I use the A5, I wondered to what extent this technological advance is responsible for taking traffic away from these now defunct businesses along its route.  A colleague explained that SatNav's first step in formulating a route is to determine 'key points' between source and target, and then to fill in the gaps between these key points.  If these key points are on the motorways, as seems likely, there's little wonder that traffic on such roads as the A5 is at a low ebb, and their commerce has suffered.

All the more room for nostalgia!