The UK's most bizarre road?

[the cheesecake man]

Can I nominate the B198?

Is it a duplicated road number with the two different roads ridiculously close together?

Or is it one road with a twisty route and a huge multiplex?

It doesn't make much sense either way?

[Pagan_Brad]

[/quote]I should think it's a qualifier at least.

Any Brad, good to see you back after all this time. Hope you're keeping well, and staying safe in these unusual times. Do stick around if you're able.
[/quote]

Hi Chris!

I was looking up a road earlier today, and really felt the need to reconnect and try to catch up a little. My health is always a bit shaky, but I thought if I sorted out my password and what not, I would just gently slip in and start saying hello.

I love what SABRE has become - all the hard work you've collectively put in to make it a wonderful resource.

I have, in my lucid periods, been working on a History of SABRE - how it started anyway - going all the way back to the 70s to the first few "arrivals" of my beloved extended SABRE family. Which is where the website history, fully documented by all here, takes over. It even includes my appearance on BBC TVs "Look East" news programme!

If anyone's interested in reading it, maybe you could let me know and I'll crack on with it. I didn't want to post it here as it might get quite long if I really dot all the Ts and cross my Is!

I really do want to be a little more involved if that's cool with everyone - from a posting on the forums and generally discussing roads, and road memories. Since the world turned upside down all my hospital in-and-outpatient stays have been deleted, and due to my "ultra vulnerable" status, I'm just back to being bedbound. At the moment I'm doing all this from my phone, since the family were getting me a nice new laptop for my birthday - but it seems all the different Lenovo models I was choosing from are suddenly unavailable at PC World right now. So phone it has to be.

Again, I am immensely proud of what you have created. It's perfect. And the "satellite" websites such as Pathetic Motorways and the others are great fun too. I always feel like I simply lit a small candle, but those who came after illuminated the whole world. You have made something incredible, I can but marvel at the scale, scope, and beauty.

So stay safe everyone, take good care, and if we can't go whizzing around all the roads listed herein, at least we can read about them!

Brad.

[Pagan_Brad]

Whilst I agree with your points about the A361, it's the quirkiness of the A361 that fascinates me. Aside from the Blessed stretch around Avebury (lovely for us Pagans!) it has so much weirdness I can't help but dig it.

There are some quirkiness of roads that still fascinate me, such as parts of the A361 and the A259. The latter has some nice scenery, but you can't get anywhere quickly. There's no way to get from Ashford to Hastings in under an hour, and the A259 still has plenty of level crossings that have been there for 150 years, and so many sheep you might think you're in Wales. Fortunately, the Marshlink Line, which is one of my favourite train rides down to the south coast from Ashford has survived because a civil servant tried getting a bus from Rye to Ashford and found it was so slow, they didn't want to close the railway down. So there's one positive advantage of having a rubbish road!

And welcome back, Brad. In the last ten years, we've seen an explosion of maps on this site, which was inspired by your original SABRE page with a few map scans. I saw it, thought "hey, I like looking at old OS maps even though everyone else thinks I'm odd", and the rest is history....

Hi Ritchie,

It feels great to be back in the arms of my extended family! As I tried (but failed!) to reply to Chris - the post ended up at the end of the list instead of underneath his, due to my unfamiliarity with editing, and is why your post is sadly quoted in its entirety but my reply at least is *here*.

As I said in that post, I'm always blown away by the incredible work put in by everyone. I'm so glad that we all found each other, and that an interest in roads is no longer something we have to pursue on our own, or keep quiet about! The sheer weight of the resources, maps, history, and discussion is so very impressive - any question I have is almost instantly answered!

I'm pleased and proud to have inspired you! My shaky old scans from the days when scanners cost insane money for not much quality are outshined by the beauty and sharpness of your work though. SABRE continues to grow through the diligent work of the family? army? of the truly dedicated. Doesn't *everyone* think we're odd? Except each other - we *get it* and again, this goes right back to my original small aims for the site - to bring us together where we can talk to others who understand.

Take good care of yourself Ritchie, stay well, and I look forward to many more talks in the future. Its so good to be home again.

All the best,

Brad.

[Ruperts Trooper]

At the moment I'm doing all this from my phone, since the family were getting me a nice new laptop for my birthday - but it seems all the different Lenovo models I was choosing from are suddenly unavailable at PC World right now. So phone it has to be.

Suggest to your family that they check out Laptops Direct - I've just had a Lenovo tower PC delivered from them as my laptop's network adapter failed at a most inconvenient time, and using the internet from a phone is a PITA.

[rhyds]

At the moment I'm doing all this from my phone, since the family were getting me a nice new laptop for my birthday - but it seems all the different Lenovo models I was choosing from are suddenly unavailable at PC World right now. So phone it has to be.

Suggest to your family that they check out Laptops Direct - I've just had a Lenovo tower PC delivered from them as my laptop's network adapter failed at a most inconvenient time, and using the internet from a phone is a PITA.

You may want to try https://www.ebuyer.com/ and https://www.technoworld.com/ . I've used both suppliers in the past and if you need a hand selecting a model then I'm more than willing to assist.

[Pagan_Brad]

At the moment I'm doing all this from my phone, since the family were getting me a nice new laptop for my birthday - but it seems all the different Lenovo models I was choosing from are suddenly unavailable at PC World right now. So phone it has to be.

Suggest to your family that they check out Laptops Direct - I've just had a Lenovo tower PC delivered from them as my laptop's network adapter failed at a most inconvenient time, and using the internet from a phone is a PITA.

Thanks for that, my good sir! I shall give them a try!

[Pagan_Brad]

At the moment I'm doing all this from my phone, since the family were getting me a nice new laptop for my birthday - but it seems all the different Lenovo models I was choosing from are suddenly unavailable at PC World right now. So phone it has to be.

Suggest to your family that they check out Laptops Direct - I've just had a Lenovo tower PC delivered from them as my laptop's network adapter failed at a most inconvenient time, and using the internet from a phone is a PITA.

You may want to try https://www.ebuyer.com/ and https://www.technoworld.com/ . I've used both suppliers in the past and if you need a hand selecting a model then I'm more than willing to assist.

Thanks Rhyds. I shall certainly check them out. Between your recommendations and that of Ruperts, that gives me a decent few alternate choices! Thanks again, and take care.

[Owain]

I have to say the A39 does come to mind, having driven along some of it. It's just a country lane really, yet its numbering seems to give it a status it does not deserve if you want to get anywhere in reasonable time and comfort. OK, I do realise almost all British 'A' roads are country lanes !!

It's only really the stretch along the north Somerset coast that is poor. The Bath-Bridgwater bit can be a slog, but it's no worse than a great many other F99s, and from Bideford to Falmouth it isn't bad at all. The most 'bizarre' thing about it is the route, which makes little sense for one continuous number.

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When I saw this thread bounce I was going to drop the NI A2 into it .... until I noticed that I started the thread with the NI A2! Still reckon it's the most bizarre!!

[doebag]

Can I nominate the B198?

Is it a duplicated road number with the two different roads ridiculously close together?

Or is it one road with a twisty route and a huge multiplex?

It doesn't make much sense either way?

It is a duplicated road number with the two different roads ridiculously far apart.

The B198 is also the ex A47 through Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.

[Chris Bertram]

Can I nominate the B198?

Is it a duplicated road number with the two different roads ridiculously close together?

Or is it one road with a twisty route and a huge multiplex?

It doesn't make much sense either way?

It is a duplicated road number with the two different roads ridiculously far apart.

The B198 is also the ex A47 through Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.

If you're having that, then I'm having B4100. I think the multiplex through Banbury can just about be excused, but it then disappears south of Warwick and doesn't reappear again until central Birmingham. The only connection is that both bits are ex-A41.

[Gareth Thomas]

I'd second the nominations for the A259.

Can I also nominate the A27? Starts off at a T-junction, goes all the way through the suburbs of Southampton and Fareham before suddenly becoming a motorway in all but name (and legislation) just to the north of Portsmouth, continuing on as D2 and meeting many roundabouts at Chichester, giving up as D2 at Arundel and Worthing before becoming a high speed dual carriageway again around Brighton and Hove, forming half a bypass at Polegate and suddenly stopping to give up to a three digit road (A259) at Pevensey to continue onwards towards Folkestone!

[Scratchwood]

A slightly odd one to me is the A120. A major cross country route which also serves Stansted Airport, yet a few miles west from there it has a single file section through a small village

[Scratchwood]

A weird road is Kensington Palace Gardens, the super expensive and secure road next to Kensington Palace, full of billionaires or notable foreign embassies (Israel at one end, Russia at the other for a start)

Plus it has gas lighting and speed limit signs in km/h...

[Barkstar]

A weird road is Kensington Palace Gardens, the super expensive and secure road next to Kensington Palace, full of billionaires or notable foreign embassies (Israel at one end, Russia at the other for a start)

Plus it has gas lighting and speed limit signs in km/h...

And if you look it up on Google Maps an alarm goes off at GCHQ
Loving that there's a TK Maxx at one end of it

[Steven]

There's an easy winner here - the A4510.

* Roughly one mile long
* Partially Trunk and partially Principal
* Partially Primary and partially non-primary
* Partially S2
* Partially dual, but with a different number of lanes in each direction
* Can only be driven in its entirety in one direction
* Approximately two thirds of it are one-way roads
* Partially formerly a Special Road
* The two ends of the road are less than 100 yards apart

SABRE Maps link

[trickstat]

A slightly odd one to me is the A120. A major cross country route which also serves Stansted Airport, yet a few miles west from there it has a single file section through a small village

I assume you're referring to Little Hadham which is currently being bypassed.