h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Your posting has caught the attention of SABRE (the Society for All British Road Enthusiasts - see http://www.uk-roads.co.uk for more information). Here's what one of our members had to say about it:


<< Flattest Dullest parts of England - we've already had the debate about the miles of nothingness on the M5 (and I like driving down there too). Is the M1 any more interesting?

More interesting countryside in Wales - yes I agree but then, as a Welshman, I would!

Technical bit: if a road has a central reserve (or other kerbed or barriered strip down the middle, then it has two carriageways and is therefore a dual carriageway. Each carriageway can be one, two, three, four, five or even 100 lanes wide - the number of lanes does not define whether a road is dual carriageway. There is no such thing as a triple carriageway road (unless of course there are three distinct carriageways....)

The problem with the review on the above website is that it has been written by someone who clearly doesn't know much about their subject. The M4 is one of the most varied motorways in the country. It runs through the most urbanised of areas as well as the rollin English countryside. You can see a number of natural and man-made land marks (albeit some of them are at a distance). I made a list of things to look out for on Chris's CBRD M4 history entry.

And by the way, whilst some of the M4 in South Wales is 2 lanes, more of it is three lanes wide but, like all motorways - except the unmentionable one off the M60 - it is all Dual Carriageway

Like all things in life, the reviewer can take his choice about whether he uses the M4, or drives down the A4, getting stuck in all those towns, or using the train and geeting held up there. You pay your money and you take your choice.

Glad to have got that off my chest.... >>


Personally, I'm very fond of the M4. It's the first motorway I remember travelling on and I always found it very exciting, particularly the way it gradually got busier as you got closer to London. And as one of our other members said, if Berskhire and Wiltshire are the "flattest, dullest parts of England", where does that leave East Anglia?

Guy Barry