And as Nick sets off to the West Country

[Just One More]

M40/A34 is no better.
In fact A34 through Newbury is the stuff of nightmares

It doesn't go though Newbury any more, there is a bypass.

Not a bad road in fact, unless you get stuck behind a slow vehicle . .

Some don't make it to the end though DS. Winchester to Oxford once a week was asking for trouble

[Snoopy]

My dislike of Newbury is longstanding, born originally of many journeys along the old A34. The "new" bypass struck me at the time as an abortion that ruined many acres (or must we now call them hectares?) of fine, traditional woodland and historic countryside. I was and am convinced that, as with the Winchester bypass "improvements", local feelings and a duty of care for a large area of our heritage were overridden by "political considerations" and that someone, somewhere made a shed load of money out of choosing those routes against the alternatives that most people in both areas would have preferred. An astonishing number of "honours" that might have been seen to be connected seemed to be handed out in the years after the events.
My personal interest in both areas stems from ancestral connections and I will admit that I would have much preferred it if things had been left alone.

[Darwins Selection]

My dislike of Newbury is longstanding, born originally of many journeys along the old A34. The "new" bypass struck me at the time as an abortion that ruined many acres (or must we now call them hectares?) of fine, traditional woodland and historic countryside. I was and am convinced that, as with the Winchester bypass "improvements", local feelings and a duty of care for a large area of our heritage were overridden by "political considerations" and that someone, somewhere made a shed load of money out of choosing those routes against the alternatives that most people in both areas would have preferred. An astonishing number of "honours" that might have been seen to be connected seemed to be handed out in the years after the events.
My personal interest in both areas stems from ancestral connections and I will admit that I would have much preferred it if things had been left alone.

I can't say I "like" any town particularly, but as Newbury is the nearest large one for us I must confess that shopping there is much easier since the bypass was finished.

The land which was consumed by the bypass construction was of little value other than to ramblers or aesthetes in my opinion.