A385

Route

The A385 is one of the two primary roads serving Torbay.

Collaton St Mary - South Brent

The road starts about a mile outside Paignton at a set of traffic lights with the A380 and A3022. It quickly leaves the urban area to head up into the countryside, where there are an abundance of camping and caravanning sites. It's quite a twisty road with plenty of turns and hills as it descends into Totnes, perhaps rivalled only by Glastonbury as a centre for New Age hippy culture. (Apparently.)

In Totnes, the A385 briefly multiplexes along the A381 through the centre of town, crossing the River Dart and running past the castle. It then heads around Cott, where it meets the A384.

Alongside the railway

From here, the A385 carries on rambling through the countryside, though closely following the main Exeter - Plymouth railway line. Suddenly, as we turn another corner, we come across the A38 Devon Expressway, where the A385 unexpectedly terminates just outside South Brent.

History

Before the building of the A380 (formerly A3022) Torbay Ring Road, the the A385 started in Paignton on the A379.

West of Totnes, the A385 originally followed the straight road south of the railway line via Avonwick, to meet the A38 south of South Brent. For some reason, it was later rerouted along the B3372 and the old route declassified.

Original Author(s): Ritchie Swann