Your least favourite stretch of road

[Greenbank]

I can't think of anywhere worse, apart from the A1.

A14 Girton to Bar Hill (or even further if you survive that far).
A47 Acle to Great Yarmouth.

[bikenerd]

This road in East Lancs was named as Britain's most dangerous road last year by the Road Safety Foundation for the European Road Assessment Programme.
I cycled on that road often between the ages of 13 and 18.  That's 12 years ago, so was quite a bit quieter but still had all the blind bends and summits that make it such a dangerous road.

[Gus]

I haven't been riding enough in UK to name one there.
But my pick for worst road a minor road on Majorca the MA-3334 continuing into
a unnamed road  south between Arta and Manacor.
We rode it several times on Majorca Brevets.
It was potholes with gravel and scarce parts of asphalt.

It costed me a headlight and another rider cracked a frame

[teethgrinder]

I would have to say the A41 from its junction with the A5 through to Whitchurch as it is so, so narrow in places and very busy with big trucks.

I cycled along it for about 2-miles after leaving the 24-hour truckstop at Prees Heath (2 miles South of Whitchurch) and took my life in my hands as the trucks came past me very close indeed.

This is also used on the Mersey 24.

A lot of roads I've ridden on this thread and some of them are real nasties. Well, it's actually the way people drive their cars along them that make them so unpleasant.

Is the Raven cafe still a 24 hour cafe? I thought that it only stayed open for 24 hours for the Mersey 24.

[Treewheeler]

The A65 between Settle and Skipton ,not the widest of roads lots of heavy goods now use it as part of the  main route from Scotland to the M1 in west yorkshire ,also lots of wagons moving limestone from the dales quarries .To top it off its a major tourist route from west yorks to the dales and lakes with all that entails caravans etc all trying to get to their destination asap.I have only ridden it once and never again .There are a couple of back road options that offer lovely quiet rides to the same destinations and yet I see lots of cyclists riding this road and I think for gods sake just a get a map out and look will you

I'll second that!
 I lived in Settle once and worked in Long Preston at the Rohan store.
 There are some great lanes alongside the road of certain death (A65)

[clarion]

This road in East Lancs was named as Britain's most dangerous road last year by the Road Safety Foundation for the European Road Assessment Programme.
I cycled on that road often between the ages of 13 and 18.  That's 12 years ago, so was quite a bit quieter but still had all the blind bends and summits that make it such a dangerous road.

There seems to be a different 'most dangerous road' named about every six months.  That was certainly one of them.

I get pigged off, because there are no dangerous roads - just dangerous behaviour from motorists.

[Greenbank]

I get pigged off, because there are no dangerous roads - just dangerous behaviour from motorists.

Why does that rile you so much? If road design/layout wasn't contributory factor then we wouldn't have accident "blackspots" would we?

[clarion]

If driver behaviour was modified to take into account road conditions, we wouldn't, either...

[rogerzilla]

Hence you get what were once (dons petrolhead hat) "interesting" roads at the NSL dumbed down to 40mph to cater for the incompetent, drunk and distracted.  This makes them incredibly dull to drive, although if people observe the limits, they should be safer for other road users, even though that probably wasn't the main reason.

I don't know the 13 bends of death, but the A346 from Swindon to Marlborough has a reputation for carnage.  It's a mostly straight Roman road with lots of deep hidden dips.  Despite the flashing LED signs, I still frequently see people overtaking when there is no way they can see oncoming traffic.

[Mr Larrington]

That stretch of the A4074 on the Willy Warmer from Cane End to the Goring turn off (B4526). Not my favourite.

Ah - the 13 bends of death.  I used to drive on it regularly 25 years ago.  Only cycled it once.  I can't think of anywhere worse, apart from the A1.

It features at the end of the Upper Thames as well.  One can either do 2.4 km on the 4074 and then take to the boondocks, or do the full-fat 11.1 km on the main road, in the dark, on Bonfire Night.  It is, ah, interesting...

[rogerzilla]

As long as no chavs actually start aiming rockets at you, cycling on Bonfire Night is always interesting.  You can imagine you're on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and stuff 

[Wowbagger]

On LEJoG, we twice dismounted through sheer fear.

One was this short section of the A49, where the A417 joins it and before we could turn off onto the B road, and the other was here
where trying to start a fully-laden tandem on an upslope with fast traffic coming from the right and big bastard lorries  overtaking as though you weren't there was a lycra-soiling experience.

This latter could easily have been avoided if only we had used the footpath from Monkton across the golf course.

[alan]

A30 in Cornwall

[hellymedic]

A30 in Cornwall

Betjeman beat you to it!
http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/John_Betjeman/16972

And the corner's accepting its kill...

[tiermat]

Mine has to be the road from Elland to Brighouse, past the resevoir.  Gorgeous views but the truck drivers going to/coming from Elland (and the tile works) seem to feel that a single carriage is the proper place to do motorway speeds, and as there is grass banking up either side, as a cyclist you have no where to go when they do!

I've never cycled it but I know it. Is the tile works still there?

It was the last time I went down there (about 6 months ago, just before we moved to flatter North Yorks)

[Ian H]

The Right at Roundabout off the A1 to Great Gonerby services is a bit of an adrenaline boost.

[rower40]

My LeJOG Horror Story was the A74 from Carlisle to Gretna across the Metal Bridge.

There was so much debris in the hard-shoulder that I thought I was going to get tangled in something strange-shaped and spikey.  That is, more strange and spikier than the Windcheetah that was conveying me.

If only I'd had the detailed OS maps then that I have now - there appear to be some most excellent alternatives.

[teethgrinder]

The A720, Edinburgh by pass in 1994 on the Grand Triangle was my worst ever experience.
It's been illegal to cycle on there for several years now. But at least they have put up some signposts on the ring road so that you can use that instead..

[D0m1n1c Burford]

Almost all of the long, flat and featureless roads that seem to prevail throughout Lincolnshire.

[ian_oli]

Teignmouth-Torquay A379 - It's bendy, narrow, hilly and in summer busy. Rode it several years ago and it still stands out as distinctly nasty.

[Dave]

Farley Hill, Luton to Caddington. About a mile and a half.

Starts off with four traffic islands/pinch points, then narrows as it goes under the M1, then there's a stretch of twisty country lane with an NSL before you get to the vlllage. Grim.

[Adam]

Farley Hill, Luton to Caddington. About a mile and a half.

Starts off with four traffic islands/pinch points, then narrows as it goes under the M1, then there's a stretch of twisty country lane with an NSL before you get to the vlllage. Grim.

Dave - there are far worse bits in Luton than the stretch up to Caddington (where I live!).  I'll admit the road is less than smooth especially at the top, but for pinch points, try going along Sundon Park Road in the rush hour.  Coupled with the interesting driving habits of the locals, that is very grim!

[Dave]

If it's worse than Farley Hill-Caddington you're welcome to it!

The only riding I've done up at that end of Luton is on my MTB in the hills inside the A6/A505/B655 triangle - park near the church in B-le-C and there's a fairly decent 20 mile loop I've worked out.

And for 'less than smooth', I give you the road between Woodside Animal Farm and the A5, which I'm positive is some sort of unmarked Vauxhall suspension test track.

[nicknack]

The only one I really avoid round here is the A249. Any of it.

The A251 can be a bit hairy. Often very fast, no overtaking opportunities and not quite enough room for 2 cars and a bike.

[Adam]

And for 'less than smooth', I give you the road between Woodside Animal Farm and the A5, which I'm positive is some sort of unmarked Vauxhall suspension test track.

Agreed - I haven't come across such a long bad stretch as that, anywhere else in the UK.  It's part Beds County Council & part Herts responsibility - but both have ignored it for resurfacing for years.   However, if you want 3rd world potholes in very posh areas, cycle round some of the residential roads of Harpenden.  I think I might start a new topic once I've dug out my camera.......