Is there any SABRE member that *doesn't* use the entire Cov ring road when they use it?

It's not always congested. What about overnight?

Also, going right through Manchester and Salford on the A57/(M) and M602 can sometimes be quicker than the M60, if it's a busy day at the Trafford Centre.

Liverpool to Lincoln - really depends on the time, heading into from Sheffield between 6am and 9am is a big no, but heading the opposite way I'd take the M60>M67>A57>A628>A616>M1>A57>A1>A57 route, but I'd choose the M62>A1>A57 between 2pm and 7pm

The Woodhead is an ace drive when it's empty, especially in a powerful car fit for overtaking - early hours generally, but a 40mph slog most other times

wouldn't it be quicker to go A40 - A449 - M4 - A48 to get from one end to the other of the A48

You can't access the M8 eastbound from the M74. You'd need to include the M73.

In a similar vein, a few of the NI Trunk routes (even if you adjust the routing to go on motorways) go long way round: T3 - you wouldn't go via Omagh to get to Derry from Belfast. Ditto T7 and going via Coleraine (OK, the Glenshane Pass was only trunked more recently and wasn't very good quailty and that would have roughly followed the planned motorway route). Also T8 from Moira round over half of Lough Neagh. T15 from Warrenpoint to Coleraine via Cookstown is a sensible route, but the motorways and better quality roads make via Belfast the preferable route.

In an even more similar vein to the A2 - N56, N59, N70, N71, etc that follow the coast - though you do get people doing it as tourist routes.

Yes I was hoping noone would notice , unless I did a U turn at J23 and included the B768, so it would be M73 or A725, then onto the A8, then M8 towards Edinburgh.

My point was that the M6 corridor seems to be a better route than following the A1 all the way.



I couldn't even tell you where the Trunk routes are! (Ashamed to call myself a Sabre-er). I do know the E1 travels from Larne though.

Generally the road numbers here for major roads are usually the ones you would take.
A2 being an exception that follows the coast, it has a few tourist routes along the North and Ards coasts.

Indeed. The trunk hidden designations often are made up of several, normally overlapping routes (see, for instance, the T10 which is Cookstown - Omagh - Enniskillen - N3 to Cavan: the A32 and A509 important sections end at Enniskillen, so why not give both the same number - it's not like they will be signed!).

Category:T Roads (Northern Ireland) and the pages in it have the information, as does the Northern Ireland Roads Site.

T3: Belfast - Craigavon - Ballygawley - Omagh - Derry
T7: Belfast - Antrim - Coleraine - Derry
T8: Moira - Antrim - Moneymore

(also there's a couple of cannons - T3/T6 at Ballygawley and T7/T8 Antrim)

A803 from Glasgow to just past Linlithgow - M8-M80-M876-M9-A904

Tried searching but can't find this one.

Possibly the A19 from Doncaster to north of Newcastle as you could use the A1.

(However I'd always rather use the A168 A19 North of Boroughbridge.)

The A540 is a good example in my area - it's a reasonably good route from Chester to Hoylake, but taking that particular journey there's a fair chance that you'd take the A56 out from the city centre, then the M53 from J12 up to J2, the A551 between the Moreton Spur and the A553, and the A553 from the roundabout in Moretion up to the roundabout in Hoylake where the A540 terminates, taking you between the two ends of the A540 without using the road at all.

B6241 in Preston, i'd use Aqueduct St, St. Georges Road and Deepdale Road to get from 1 end to the other

A6123? No, the A630 and A631 (all dualled, too) will do just fine, thanks.

Don't think anyone's mentioned the A212 yet, but you'd probably go via West Wickham and Beckenham (roughly A2022, A214, A2015, A21) or one of several similar options in preference.

Again if not already mentioned:

The A560. You would use Motorways (M56},(M60) & (M67) to travel between start and end points.

I recall, many years ago, when I was not long out of short trousers, my father being lost in Glasgow, wishing for the A80. I had the atlas and directed him along the A803 when I saw a signpost for that.

Should you be going from London to Portsmouth, you could avoid the A3 entirely by using the A315-M3-M27- M275 route and not choosing the A3 at the end of the M275 for the city centre. I wonder how popular this was before the Hindhead by pass was built.

A49. Ross-on-Wye to Bamber Bridge, Preston.

Anyone sane would take A40, M50, M5, M6, A6.

I probably agree, because the route takes on the shape of a sideways horseshoe (like a miniature A308), but originally the Addington end of the A212 was the B271 pre 1971, which doesn't actually help at all.

There are a few examples of roads in the area I could name for this thread like the A222 which connects Croydon to Bexley, a rather intriguing road but I find it hard to imagine at the moment who would want to travel between the two places on a single route.

You could probably have the A611 on here.