A5/Crick - Tamworth
| A5 | ||||||||||
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| From: | Crick (SP570730) | |||||||||
| To: | Tamworth (SK242006) | |||||||||
| Meets: | A428, A5, A426, A4303, A47, A444, M42, A5 | |||||||||
| Old route now: | B4111 | |||||||||
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| Counties | ||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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Our route is now dead straight again as we pass through the site of the former Rugby Radio Station, now a warehouse complex, and past Rugby Truck Stop. The A5 is the traditional border between Warwickshire and Leicestershire (and, on this stretch, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire), though in practice the administrative boundary usually lies a little way back from the road itself on one side or the other.
The top of the rise after the radio station brings us onto Dunsmore, the heath that stretches from here westwards to Coventry, and is the starting point of a curiously large number of major routes. We then dip down to Dow Bridge, where Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire all meet, then climb again to the junction with the original A427 (later a B-road and now altogether unclassified) at Catthorpe Cross.
Soon after passing under the M6, we reach the roundabout with the A426, which links the M1 and M6 motorways. This section of the A5 is quite pleasant to drive down, being through rolling countryside, with just enough occasional dual carriageway to ensure that you never get frustrated at being stuck behind a truck. And there are quite a few trucks between here and Cannock, as this section functions as an unofficial M6 bypass.
We cross the M69 at the Stretton Baskerville roundabout, and duly come to Hinckley and Nuneaton. On our right lies MIRA, the Motor Industry Research Association, where new cars are thoroughly road-tested. We bypass the hat-making town of Atherstone, and come across a signpost to what has to be one of the best place-names in England...Sheepy Magna! (accessible via Sheepy Road, no less). Without much further ado, we find ourselves at junction 10 of the M42, with its attendant Tamworth Services.
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