My mate's view on A roads

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srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
I drive down there to get to my parents. I've seen the cycle markings at the side of the road but obviously as I would be going up to 50 mph myself I am always going too fast to look closely at it. I have never seen a cyclist, probably because it doesn't look like it is properly separated from the traffic, just runs up the side of the lanes. Not safe at all.
Times change. Back in the 1980s the A34 was my favourite route from Abingdon to Oxford. And given the state of my bike brakes it was probably safer than going over the top of Boars Hill. Times will change back again. Near us in Buckinghamshire there are a couple of twisty narrow A roads that cyclists are beginning to reclaim. Hooray.
 

NorthernDave

Never used Über Member
Near me I've got both extremes:

The A6120, which forms part of the Outer Ring Road and on this section also carries the A64 traffic for half a mile or so. The A64 is a 40mph limit, as is the rest of the A6120 locally, but this section is a grade separated 70mph dual carriageway with no cycle provision.

It's got the traffic from two of the busiest roads on this side of the city, plus happy shoppers heading for a huge Tesco Extra and has large roundabouts at both ends of the section with a significant amount of the traffic on it wanting to turn right at either end. I've seen cyclists on it and fair play to them, they are entitled to be there. Personally I make use of the extension of the Cycle Super Highway that runs on a parallel residential road with a 20mph limit and virtually no traffic.

Then, not far away at all is North Parkway - a dual carriageway to nowhere through a housing estate (when the estate was planned in the 50's, they intended to run trams where the central reservation is) with a 30mph limit and generally light traffic. Only relatively recently has it been downgraded to single carriageway in places using white lines to create parking bays and a cycle lane.
 

Ajax Bay

Guru
Location
East Devon
As has been said: Error 404 (and for 'picadilly'). Still interested your preferred route from London to Winchester, not down the A30.
This is an option: I have cycled most but not all these roads, and the bit out from central London I couldn't be bothered with as there are so many options and will depend on people's personal preferences. The A30 has the merit of being navigationally easy and probably 'shortest', but that's about it.
 
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