A606
From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
| A606 | ||||||||||
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| From: | Stamford (TF024072) | |||||||||
| To: | West Bridgford (SK581375) | |||||||||
| Length: | 38.4 miles (61.8 km) | |||||||||
| Meets: | B1081, A1, A6003,A607,A46,A52,A60 | |||||||||
| Primary Destinations | ||||||||||
| Melton Mowbray • Nottingham • Oakham • Stamford • | ||||||||||
| Highways Authorities | ||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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Contents |
Route
Section 1: Stamford - Melton Mowbray
The A606 starts at its junction with the A6121 at North Street/West Street in Stamford. At this point it's running NW along Scotgate - which gives you a clue of the road's original designation, the former A1.
So A606 forks left up a steep hill on the Empingham Road, towards the wee village of Empingham (unsurprisingly). It is joined by Roman Bank about 300 yds on the left, while Ermine Way leaves about 20 yds further on the right - indication of a previous Great North Road which forded the Welland about a mile W of the present Town Bridge. A606 heads W out of town, passing the slightly forbidding Danish Invader pub on the L, and acquring trunk status as soon as it crosses the A1. Smile - you're now in Rutland.
The next significant feature is a steepish dip into Shacklewell Hollow - difficult to overtake on the descent or ascent in either direction - and then the ubiquitous brown signs which herald the feature which had a significant impact on the 606 in the mid-70s, namely Rutland Water. There's a turnoff for the south side villages (Edith Weston (lovely girl), the Luffenhams and the barely-present Normanton) and car parks, boating, fishing lodges etc.) A606 briefly turns N and downhill to cross the trickle that is now the River Gwash. Look left and you will see a high green bank, behind which is one of the country's largest reservoirs. Better views will follow.
The road dog-legs gaily through Empingham and finally resolves to travel west again. Rutland Water spreads out to the S, and to the SW you may be able to see the peninsular village of Hambleton. There's another steep dip into and out of Whitwell, which claims to be twinned with Paris.
The town of Oakham has now been bypassed by a S2 road full of roundabouts and speed restrictions to the north east.
It is probably quicker to remain on the old road through the town centre, it is a shame councils build these type of "bypasses" that invariably are just feeder roads for new housing and industrial estates, therefore not attracting the through traffic that blocked up the town centres.
Eschewing sensible pullovers and monogrammed corduroys, A606 veers NW through the hamlet of Barleythorpe and on towards Langham - the enormous complex of shiny vats to your L is the former Ruddles brewery, once home to a very fine beer.
More dog legs through Langham, and soon the road is out of Rutland and heading NW through Leicestershire. There's a steep climb into Burton Lazars, which appears to be a small Leicestershire village but which is in fact a SE suburb of Melton Mowbray. A606 crosses the railway again here - part of the line from Peterborough to Leicester, which has taken far longer to get to Melton than A606 has.
Section 2: Melton Mowbray - West Bridgford
It enters Melton Mowbray down a long hill, hops over the railway at a nice little bridge and once past that, hits the Melton one-way system (clockwise) by the Anne of Cleves pub. Going south to north one has to turn right at lights by the A607 junction, and then go straight over more lights at a crossroads where the unwary driver selecting the nearside lane finds themself shunted off down the A6006 towards Asfordby without right of appeal. Going north to south one turns left at this same crossroads, following the one way system again, and eventually you have to turn sharp right at yet another crossroads to come back on yourself down the main street to the Anne of Cleves again. I usually only go through at weekends when it's quiet but I wouldn't be surprised to earn it's a pig of a ring road in rush hours.
Anyway, northwards ho, past the council offices on our left, and out of town. For a single carriageway road it's a pleasant and mostly straight drive, save for the villages which all seem to have right-angle turns in -- first the wonderfully named Ab Kettleby, then down the steep Broughton Hill (be careful at sunset, as the wood to the west of the road blocks light off quite thoroughly and makes the road gloomier than you'll be used to after the open countryside since leaving the A1), through Nether Broughton and then Upper Broughton (separated by the county boundary; we're now into Leicestershire).
Through some more woodland and we start to run parallel to the old Nottingham to Melton railway line (alas, closed to passengers -- change at Leicester to do the journey by rail nowadays). The road gives the large village of Keyworth a body-swerve to the east and threads its way between Normanton and Plumtree (did it formerly go through Normanton? I suspect so). Finally crossing under the railway at Tollerton it hits the A52 Nottingham bypass at a roundabout where to remain on the A606 one has to go round for a good 270 degrees, and into the home stretch, north past posh houses in Edwalton and into the Nottingham conurbation. It would cross the railway twice more but to the chagrin of trainspotters the line no longer runs this far north. At last it expires at a set of traffic lights with the A60 in the middle of West Bridgeford, just short of Nottingham itself and Trent Bridge. The last bit from the A52 north is non-primary.
A great road to drive along on summer evenings, and 'FAR' more enjoyable when aiming for Nottingham from the A1 south than trudging up to Grantham and taking the A52.{Original Author|Martin Atkins,NorfolktoLancashire & Sandra Bond}}
History
Before the Stamford bypass, A606 started at the end of Scotgate, taking the left fork (Empingham Rd) while A1 took the right one (Casterton Rd). Now the old A1 is relegated to B1081, A606 can multiplex over a little of its mileage.
