A10: London - Kings Lynn

Section 1: London-Ely
The A10 used to start at Bank and run along Threadneedle Street, but the introduction of the Ring of Steel put paid to this. Instead it was rerouted along the A1213 Gracechurch Street and the new endpoint is Monument station. The A10 passes the NatWest Tower, Liverpool St Station, and runs along the delightfully-named Norton Folgate, before running into the Ring Road (A1201) and the Shoreditch one-way system. After successfully negotiating this, the A10 heads in a straight line, nearly due North, through Dalston, Stoke Newington, and past the Seven Sisters junction with the A503.

Suddenly, at Bruce Grove, it decides it's had enough of this, and deviates from its original route (now the A1010 through Edmonton) to become (after a while) the Great Cambridge Road. Now there's a name that makes you feel you're going somewhere. As with the Great West Road and other similar, this was built in the 30s, an era of much road-building. It's dual carriageway, and there are 30s houses either side, set back a bit on separate local roads in some cases. We cross the North Circular at the Great Cambridge Junction, and continue towards Enfield, eventually meeting the M25 at a roundabout - Junction 25.

Incidentally, the question of where the road's headed: Historically, as we've seen through the naming of the road, the destination as thought of from London has been Cambridge. However, the construction of the M11 in the 1970s and 80s rather obviated the need for the London-Cambridge traffic to use the A10. So you won't find Cambridge on any of the signs south of Hertford, if I remember correctly. Rather sad, I think. There seems to have been great care taken to obscure the name Cambridge on slightly older signs - though I think I spotted one they missed in Cheshunt (Rob Fairhead informs me that the approach sign to the A10 roundabout on the A121 mentions the C-word) - and you have to wonder whether it was worth it. Fair enough, don't sign to Cambridge this way from the M25, but it seems a bit pointless covering the destination at points north of here. Anyway, rant over. In London, I think the A10's signed to Enfield and Hertford now.

The section through Cheshunt can be a bit gruelling, but after that, things get better. We're on a dual carriageway at this point, although there's the odd roundabout to punctuate things. Ware is bypassed by a nice fast bit of new road, and then suddenly you're on single carriageway again. A fairly straight bit of road (after all, it is the Roman Ermine Street), and passes through the middle of a few villages, whose inhabitants live in fear of the heavy traffic.

Simon (M4 Man) adds:

The section between Ware and Puckeridge is presently being bypassed to the east (which will bring much needed relief to the villages of Wadesmill, High Cross and Colliers End. There is more information about this at the Highways Agency's website.

On the present A10, opposite St Edmunds College to the south of Puckeridge, you can see a cast iron marker post which indicates where the A10 crosses the Greenwich Meridian.

Puckeridge, which is now bypassed, is a small village which appeared as a major primary route destination on signs, as it's halfway between London and Cambridge. It's also the junction with the A120 to Bps Stortford and points east, which is also an ex-Roman road (Stane Street). However, Puckeridge doesn't seem to be given as much prominence now. Another bypass for Buntingford - single carriageway this time. Then on to Royston - a fun bit of road to drive on when there's no traffic (!) due to the straightness, and the ups and downs of the road. Passes through the middle of Royston and meets the A505 at a roundabout.

We cross the Cambridgeshire border - from now on the traffic is slightly reduced. The village of Melbourn is bypassed, but we have to trundle through Harston at 30mph (if you go any faster, the signs flash at you!). We reach M11 J11, and the A10 disappears - we now find ourselves on the A1309 through Cambridge (A10 traffic is signed to use the M11 and A14 around the city).

The A10 resumes at Milton, which it bypasses. Now we're into Fens country, and the traffic is very heavy (we haven't got the luxury of parallel motorways taking the traffic). Because the land is so flat you can see Ely Cathedral (the "Ship of the Fens") for a while before you get to Ely itself. The road is largely straight, but no fun (in my experience) to drive down.

Tom

Section 2: Ely - Kings Lynn
This section was upgraded considerably around 1980 with many re-alignments and bypasses for Ely, Littleport, Southery, Hilgay, Fordham, Denver and Downham Market. I remember watching some of the construction work. It crosses the flat fenland to finish at the Hardwick Roundabout at Kings Lynn where it meets the A47 and A149. Single carriageway primary route although it's soon to lose its trunk road status and as you would expect in this part of the world, very...er...flat.

nightdriver