Roads that make you grin!

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Roads that make you grin!

Joined
Jun 4, 2012
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115
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Location
Harrogate, North Yorks
Here's my top 5
1, the awesome A835 Tore to Ullapool. A fantastic bit of road with lunch at www.theceilidhplace.com at the end of it.
2, the A939 Ballater to Grantown-on-Spey through the Cairngorms.
3, the A86 Kingussie to Spean Bridge. See the Commando Memorial and the view across to Ben Nevis.
4, the B1257 Helmsley to Stokesley, North Yorks. A favourite with bikers, delicious fish&chips in Stokesley market place.
5, the A134 Thetford to Downham Market, Norfolk. It had just been resurfaced when I did it on a GS1200, a quiet road, very nice.

Please observe all speed limits and drive/ride considerately and within your own capabilities.
 

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When people go from Sheffield to Manchester the temptation is to take the Snake road.

Personally I prefer the A61 to Wortley, A616 and A628

It's just as technical route but less traffic and the views are even better.
 
There's a few near me I like until the council saw fit to change all the speed limits to 50 or 40....

I love the drive from Helmsley too when all the bikers aren't there! (I'd love a bike but now I can afford one I'm too old to think about taking the test).
 
UK

Heading south from Edinburgh? Take the A68 rather than the A1, but watch your speed. Much as I love the northern-most section of the A1, the A68 is just so much more enjoyable.

A9 Inverness to Thurso, particularly the sections along the coast, it just feels so desolate, if there's no other traffic, you can feel very alone. This applies to any road in Northern Scotland.


France

Route des Grandes Alpes
Do it in Spetember, when there are less tourists. Don't do it in a camping car. Pull over for bikers.

Correze
D9 Tulle -> Poissac
Lovely series of bends up the hill, the only major road out of Tulle not to have been "improved" and a lot of fun, part of my daily commute. Just watch out for lazy drivers cutting the corners on their way down.
D9 Tulle -> Chanac les Mines
Same road on the other side of the valley, used as a hill climb, twists it's way up through the forest.

Cantal
N122 Massiac -> Aurillac
Fast sweeping turns, the tunnel under the mountain at Le Lioran, good road, again, one to watch your speed on though.

Multiple
Former trace of the N20, declassified, numbers vary, for example D920 in Correze.
Not particularly exciting in any way, but empty. All the traffic uses the A20 motorway and stupid satnav appears to prefer lower road numbers when faced with a choice of two roads in the same category, so it sends everyone down the tiny (3m wide) D170 when the motorway is busy, leaving the former Route National (major A road) completely deserted. Always brings a smile to my face when I see the motorway at a standstill, but have this road all to myself, while trying not to think of the camping cars attempting to negotiate the smaller road.


In fact, any former trace of a once major road interests me.
 
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In a tangent to the subject - roads that do not make me smile:

Fenland roads - arrow straight, with sudden 90 degree bends and flanked by drainage ditches. Often you can see the road continuing in the distance, but not the series of 90 degree turns directly ahead.

It seemed that by the end of the 90's, there wasn't anyone I knew who hadn't lost a friend, family member or loved one to an overturned Nova at the bottom of a fenland drain.

It was always a Nova.
 
Yes indeed, the A68 is my preferred route for Scotland too, great shortcuts to SW Scotland from the A68 are the road through Bellingham and around Kielder Water or, perfect for 4X4 Pandanista's, the gravel trails through Kielder Forest and Galloway Forest.
I also love the roads around northern Scotland. The road from Ullapool to Scourie, Cape Wrath, Tongue, Thurso and Inverness is awesome and great for a spot of wild camping. I've driven up there in the Defenders and the Wrangler and wrestled an ElectraGlide round there too but, IMO, the best tool for the job is a GS1200. Maybe I ought to head up there in the Panda next spring :D
 

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The A68 is good, especially the section winding up to the border makes it more of an event also someone attacked the speed cameras with an angle grinder..so make of that what you will.

However if you stay on the A1 you can run the Northumberland coastal route from Morpeth to Bamburgh then on to Holy Island if you wish. Depends on the trip really if I want to sit and look at the scenery coastal route (though it has some decent driving sections at quiet times) or if you want to make progress on an open road with good lines of sight A68.

My favourite has to be the A686 from Hexham to Penrith via Alston and Hartside Pass. I've caned many cars over that road for many years and while I've been over many other good roads they just aren't the same (honourable mentions for snake pass and buttertubs pass).
 
The Transfagarasan Highway that crosses the Carpathian mountains in Romania.

Unlit tunnels with potholes in the road; more hairpins than a woman's hairdresser, and very few crash barriers.... brilliant drive.

Had to wait for cloud to lift at 6679 feet.... couldn't see to drive through it.
 

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I'm not very far from the West coast of Scotland & there are many roads & views that take your breath away, but my favourite has to be the road to Applecross, the Bealach Na Ba. Stunning & the Applecross Inn is a great place to meet people from all over to sample some of the best seafood you will come across. Sorry, can't do pictures.
 
Route des Grandes Alpes (ish)

First is Col du Mont Cenis, second is coming down from the Col de l'Iseran (2770m).
 

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The Transfagarasan Highway that crosses the Carpathian mountains in Romania.

Unlit tunnels with potholes in the road; more hairpins than a woman's hairdresser, and very few crash barriers.... brilliant drive.

Had to wait for cloud to lift at 6679 feet.... couldn't see to drive through it.
Didn't Messrs. Clarkson, May and Hammond have a go at this road a few years ago in modest little convertibles.

Oh no, they used about half a million quid's worth of exotica. Still they would have enjoyed it more in a Stilo SW
 
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