A41/Tong - Whitchurch

South | North

Weston Heath

Continuing on from junction 3 of the M54, we meet the village of Tong, which Charles Dickens used as the final resting place for Little Nell and her Grandfather in The Old Curiosity Shop. The road here is wide and generally pleasant to drive down, and before too long at all we reach the roundabout with the A5 near Weston-under-Lizard. The road remains wide and pleasant and presently merges into the southern end of the Newport bypass (the old road through town is now largely unclassified). Again, we reach another junction before very long, this time with the A518 Telford - Stafford road, which is another staggered junction, and then the A519 towards Newcastle-under-Lyme. After the Newport by-pass, the A41 turns back into a generic rural A-road, having junctions with the A529, A53 and A442 in what can best mid described as the middle of rural Shropshire, before we reach the junction with the A49, which really tells you you're about to reach Whitchurch, the by-pass of which is about 1.5 miles distant.

The view to the left of the A49/A41 roundabout is anything but rural and the general dereliction around here depressing. But at least you've now got enough dual carriageway to get past what you've been stuck behind, seemingly for an eternity. After a mile, a slip lane enables a speedy transfer onto the Whitchurch by-pass. This is generously wide but only marked two lane - overtaking can thus be hairy, especially southbound, up the hill. The first roundabout collects the B5476 (Wem road) and A525 (the eastern part of the by-pass), now merging with the A41 until it heads west into Wales at the next roundabout (services here). As you leave this roundabout, steal a quick glance on the left at the tranquil Llangollen Canal.

Reunion with the original, now detrunked, A41 follows to the left at the next roundabout, where the A49 disentangles to head off to Tarporley and Warrington.