What have the Romans ever done for us......?

.....Is a joke - I think - from one of the Monty Python films.   But for us Brits the answer is quite a lot.  I'm no expert on Roman Britain; but I do know that they built an extensive road network.  And in many cases, our current road network still broadly follows the same lines.  The Fosse Way, now known as the A46 is one Roman route that I regularly use; and so it was the other day.  The Fosse links Exeter with Lincoln, both important central places back then.  Perhaps not so much these days.

I had stayed overnight at my brother's place in Coventry having travelled there by train the previous day.  The eventual destination that day was a relative's farm, which borders onto the Fosse.  But I wasn't going straight there.   My first stop was Loughborough University, a diversion from the Roman route.   But much of the route from Coventry to there followed Roman lines.  I drove from my brother's place to the A46, which then turns into the M69 Motorway.

If I was following the approximate track laid down Romans, I would have nipped North on the M1 Motorway for a mile or so, and then continued on the A46 for another forty miles or so.  But I continued North up the M1 to Loughborough University.  I often try to stop there when I'm passing, just to see the old place and perhaps catch up with a few of my lecturers.  It's some sixteen years since I left Uni., but many of them are still there.

It was a short trip because I didn't find anyone I knew and I wanted to acquire an inexpensive lunch in West Bridgford, a suburb of Nottingham on the River Trent.  Here there was England at it's best.  The weather was splendid and people were sitting on the pavements outside the pubs, cafes and restaurants just enjoying the day.  It's also near the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Ground at Trent Bridge.  I stayed overnight on my relative's farm

The next day I would re-join the Fosse as I headed for Newark-on-Trent.  This section of the A46 was until a few years ago a bottleneck; and like many road improvement schemes in the UK there had been a number of proposals to improve it.  During the economic downturn the government was looking for ways to stimulate the economy and improve our infrastructure, so the section between Kinoulton and Newark was upgraded.

That made it a fast blast up to Newark.  Newark is a town that is rich in history, and was a significant place during the English civil war.  It has a large market square in the centre with a number of small winding lanes that radiate out from it.  I headed for the river.  Much of the path alongside the river is picturesque, save for the occasional scrapyard.  And the building a maintenance of boats is clearly still clearly a viable business proposition in these parts, as I saw several such outlets.

The castle by the main road bridge still looms large in the vistas from the river.  Just south of the castle there is a park which is often used for beer festivals, musical events and so forth.  It's a great place to be when the weather is nice in the summer.  I wonder what a Roman citizen would have thought while watching a contemporary local band blasting out their beats in the shadow of the castle.

Hitting the Jackpot

Sometimes something happens, perhaps like a beach ball being propelled from a spring.  All is well in the world.  I'm not gambler, I'm not a betting man; but perhaps that is what it feels like.  I'd been chasing a customer for some time for payment on a project and the money came into the account.  I like to think that I'm not a mercenary person; but I was away from home in London, and that money would make my life a little easier.

But beyond that it felt like a personal victory.  The issue had been going back and forward with this troublesome lot, and now we had been paid.   Perhaps any beer or pies procured with this cash might seem more tasty; a little more pleasant. I felt jubilant.

Shortly after, that I foolishly missed a coach that would take me from London to my brother's place in Coventry; that was annoying, and a waste of money; but it didn't really matter, I could just hop on a train instead.  This payment had changed the equation a little bit.  I no longer travel by car all that much; but my brother has a car in Coventry that I have access to; so I embarked on some trips around Central and Southern England, to see some friends and perhaps to try and drum up some business.

There is a lot to be said - I think - for those that try to minimise the adverse environmental aspects of their travel by travelling by public transport, and cycling, etc.  But when one is unused to having access to a motor car, and then suddenly one does; it seems to me that life gets a little easier.  That morning all felt well in the world.  I'd had a nice fried breakfast, and I was planning a road trip that was both familiar - and hence straightforward navigationally - and that evoked positive memories.

In the late nineties during my apprenticeship I made a semi-regular journey from Bedford in Southern England to Swanick, near Southamption and the South Coast of England.  And it brings back memories of those happy trips.

Great weather too.  It must have been warm, because I had the air conditioning on in the car.  The start of my trip simply follows the A46 trunk road; which is, itself I believe a route that still largely follows the Roman Road, Fosse Way; which was built back then to link Exeter with Lincoln.  There is then a short bolt down the M40 motorway until turning off to head South on the A34.  It's a main trunk road which links the port of Southampton with the Midlands.

I was heading for a friend who lives in Basingstoke, in Hampshire so my route crossed the M4 motorway and then took me past Newbury.  When the Newbury bypass section of this trunk road was built in the mid-nineties it was perhaps one of the most controversial of sections of road built in the eighties and nineties.  Many environmentalists felt that the proposed route would lead to the destruction of some beautiful woodlands.  According to Wikipedia, around £35 000 000 was spent by the government on policing and private security companies to try to nullify the protests.

The protest was unsuccessful, in the end.  Although it may have helped re-frame the debate around road building.  The incoming Blair government in 1997 took a much more sparing attitude to expanding the road network in the UK.  They really only acted to alleviate bottlenecks.

But none of that was really on my mind, as I whizzed down the A34 following a Porsche Panamera in my brother's eleven year old Vauxhall.   Soon after Newbury, I drove past Greenham Common the site of a protest against nuclear weapons in the mid-eighties.

Basingstoke is often sniffed at by a certain type of person.  But I think the views from the A339 road from Newbury to Basingstoke through rolling hills and pretty villages; are some of the prettiest in Southern England.  I was a little late for my friend; but he was very relaxed about that.  Boy it's great to be alive when you've just hit the jackpot.