Watford Gap services on the M1 - southbound. Always the thought
"Yes Watford - Getting near home"
The the realisation, Geeze its nowhere near watford and MILES away from home
|
|
When i used to live in neath, the whole sweep of Swansea Bay heading west on the M4, beautiful. Then shortly after that the less than lovely sight of the Port Talbot steelworks.
|
|
|
Watford Gap services on the M1 - southbound. Always the thought \"Yes Watford - Getting near home\" The the realisation, Geeze its nowhere near watford and MILES away from home
They are near Watford. Just not THAT Watford! ;o)
tinyurl.com/2gfwu
{Link shortened using tinyurl.com as it was previously screwing up the page width. DD}
|
Well you learn something every day!
Watford Gap has to be one of the most depressing service stations in the UK. Remarkable how it is so close to the recently demolished radio masts that started this thread.
Couldn't they have demolished Watford Gap instead.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
|
Is anyone else familiar with Roy Harpers song, Watford Gap?
contains the lyrics
"a plate of grease and a load of crap"
--
I read often, only post occasionally
|
"a plate of grease and a load of crap"
Hey - how come the swear-trap failed?
|
|
|
|
homepage.mac.com/musicnaut/royharper/lyrics/watfor...l
|
The remaining four big masts at Rugby were felled in the last few weeks following transfer of the MSF clock signal transmission to Cumbria.
Still a significant set of antennae of varying types and designs but nothing of a height requiring haznav lights.
Another landmark gone.
|
|
Anyone know what the two sets of three masts are next to the M60 at Ashton Under Lyne?
|
|
|
I shed a tear or two when I heard the masts had gone, having returned to my home town so many times over the years by car or coach. Those clusters of red lights welcoming me home after my trips away to university and then further afield...
www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/r/rugby_radio/in...l
A booklet was published by local historian Pete Chambers, full of fascinating anecdotes: how one previous Prince of Wales turned up one day and insisted on climbing up one of the towers; and how the original Rugby time signal can actually be heard on the original Tubular Bells LP, via a guitar pick in the Manor Recording studio 40 miles away.
Motoring link is getting tenuous here, but how many times have we heard those six beeps on the hour? My Vectra's radio used to set its clock to the signal automatically!!
|
|
I broke down in 1979 on the A5 outside Rugby Radio Station but it took hours for the AA to find me, their system could find no reference to it, despite it being there since before WWII.
|
Any signs giving old roads their proper traditional names.
Anyone remember when people called the A1 the Great North Road?
Is the Ram Jam Inn still there?
I rememberl helping my uncle herd sheep along the road near there in about 1956.
|
Anyone remember when people called the A1 the Great North Road?
The official road name of some parts of it is Great North Road ~ see tinyurl.com/3979rn
--
L\'escargot.
|
|
Emley Moor mast, especially heading north on M1, = nearly home
|
I'll second the Emley Moor TV tower - it's tall, that is!
Also....
The Ferrybridge power station by the M62/A1 junction. Can be very dramatic if the lighting is right - very 'northern' :-) (a compliment, BTW).
Fort Dunlop on the M6 - though not too sure about the recent 'renovation' :-(
The Pennine Way crossing over the M62 - happy memories of doing said walk.
|
Travelling along the Acle straight, it has to be the view of the chimney of the South Denes power station, at Great Yarmouth. Clearly seen by any keen eyed youngster, going for their annual summer holiday, as a confirmation that the answer to 'are we nearly there yet' question is YES!
It was demolished, a few years back, meaning it was the Oasis tower & the new Yare crossing bridge, that was looked out for.
Fortunatly the power station has been re-built, with a new chimney, to keep everyone happy!
VB
|
|
Re Tinsley cooling towers. Enjoy them while you can. Reports are they will be gone by the end of this year.
|
Half Way House on the A127 between Ilford & Southend on Sea. In the 60's, used to take a break there on the really arduous 25 mile journey to the seaside.....unbelievable eh?
Also, Hylands Park Chelmsford to break the journey between Ilford and Walton on the Naze. Used to brew up on a primus stove on the greensward next to the carriageway.....again, unbelievable!
|
The QE2 bridge over the Thames.
Tynsley viaduct cooling towers - only another couple of hours home.
A19 raised section by Middlesbrough as you rise above the smog.
A19 near Sunderland you can see the coast on the right, but not much of Sunderland :), and Penshaw monument on the left.
View towards Edinburgh looking over the Forth from the A68 just to the south of Dalkeith.
Summers evening driving towards Bamburgh from the A1 with the sun behind and the full view of the castle in front.
Warkworth Castle in spring, the north side of the moat covered in daffodils.
The A82 Tyndrum to Ballachulish makes you feel very small in a car or out in the elements on a bike.
|
|
Stonehenge, beside the A303. You get a good view of it when travelling westwards. Don't stop though unless very off season. Facilities voted most carp of all British tourist attractions, and with reason. But it looks fabulous when you are going down the hill towards it.
|
The "Burger van" on the layby on the A595 just outside Broughton-in- furness, Cumbria, when i get there, i'm 10 mins from my tea at home, so i don't stop.
Billy.
|
The cooling towers at Chapelcross nuclear power station near Annan marked 15 minutes from home.
That was until they blew them up earlier this year.
|
|
How about the elephant 'sculpture' made from different sections / sizes of pipe on the A30 at Camberley or the model of a man with the Rotavator (which turned) just up the road outside a garden centre. Made many a trip to grandparents in 1970s slightly less boring.
|
|
What, the one on the tight bend? it was always a toss-up between that and the Waysider just beyond Cartmel on my frequent trips to Windscale. Happy days
|
>>What, the one on the tight bend? <<
Thats the one! it's gone all up-market, now it's got two patio sets with parasols for you to sit and eat at !!
Billy
|
|
What!!! They'll be serving them lattes and croissants next.
|
Half Way House on the A127 between Ilford & Southend on Sea. In the 60's used to take a break there on the really arduous 25 mile journey to the seaside.....unbelievable eh?
Indeed. Dear old granny had a sherry glass from the half way house. On the other side in the 60's Agip built a very stylish very continental service area, conplete with a resturant that did the most magnificent "pommes frites" (thin straw chips, never seen int he UK in the 60's)
The look of the fire breathing Agip dragon and the word "supercortemaggiore" was a memory for me as a child.
Sadly Agip service stations did not last long, straw chips were a step too far for essex bog dwellers of the time.
------------------------------
< Ex RF, Ex TVM >
|
As a Yorkshireman by birth the Tinsley towers have also been a lifelong landmark - will be sorry to see their demise but I guess the cost of preservation would be prohibitive.
Anyone else remember the "fully detailed" cast metal bull just south of Tinsley and on the opposite side of the M1. Went after the Avesta Stainless company was taken over/renamed.
Northampton still has the former Express Lifts test site - a 400 foot chimney like structure visible east of the motorway between junctions 15 & 16. Terry Wogan calls it the Northampton ligthouse
|
Anyone else remember the "fully detailed" cast metal bull just south of Tinsley and on the opposite side of the M1. Went after the Avesta Stainless company was taken over/renamed.
Yes the bull was cool, its a shame they couldnt keep it there as a landmark. Avesta was an okay name, what is it called now, Outokumpu? A weird name to be plastered across a Sheffield steelworks..
I remember driving past there once and there were loads of scrap tank chassis parked in a yard, ready for recycling.
|
|
It was also IIRC Precision Stainless before that. I will always remember the combined clock/thermometer. On the works itself overlooking Tinsley. I have seen some wierd stuff a coule of times on that when it has malfuntioned
|
Anyone else remember the "fully detailed" cast metal bull just south of Tinsley and on the opposite side of the M1. Went after the Avesta Stainless company was taken over/renamed.
There's a bull statue like that outside the Magna science adventure centre in Rotherham. Perhaps it was moved there?
|
I'll second the Emley Moor TV tower - it's tall that is!
But not as tall as Belmont, which leads me home. tinyurl.com/2vur6e
--
L\'escargot.
|
The current reinforced concrete mast at Emley Moor replaces a twin to the Belmont mast felled by ice in 1969.
snipquote
|
Anyone remember when people called the A1 the Great North Road? Is the Ram Jam Inn still there?
Ram jam inn still present and correct.
------------------------------
< Ex RF, Ex TVM >
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ribblehead viaduct.
Also as seen from the Station Inn at Ribblehead...they call it ''the loo with a view''.
My landmark has been Ingleborough...driving home from work in Keighley, my first view from around Long Preston meant that I was almost home.
|
|
|
|
