What driving route do you take to Alton Towers once you leave the motorway?

[Matt.GC]

Fun fact, every large interchange on primary trunk routes in the country has an official name. Some of these are quite classy and cool in places, and on A-Roads they are often displayed on the road signs themselves. One by me for instance is called 'Airport Roundabout' because it's at the foot of an old airfield (now a housing estate), but they're normally named after the nearest settlement, no matter how tiny, and sometimes pubs or historic landmarks next to the site, which makes them quite cool (I think anyway). Very few people have heard of Catbrain or Friar's Wash, but there is a Catbrain and Friar's Wash interchange.

A look on Sabre shows that the name of the A50 Uttoxexter bypass and B5030 junction is probably called 'Ashbourne Road Roundabout'. But Google maps will actually refer to it, very uncreatively, as 'McDonalds Roundabout', and will call it out as such when you approach it.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

I’ve never driven straight to Alton Towers, I’ve only ever arrived at the park from whichever Premier Inn I’ve stayed at the night before, which would be whatever one in a 30 mile radius of the park was the cheapest that particular night (usually Derby East or West).

 

[Bowser]

I don’t know the route per se but we always take the exit either before or after the one that’s signposted to AT. Presumably like LEGOLAND the signed route is a longer detour aimed at controlling traffic but the way we go is still a dual carriageway mostly.

 

[Ash]

Fun fact, every large interchange on primary trunk routes in the country has an official name. Some of these are quite classy and cool in places, and on A-Roads they are often displayed on the road signs themselves. One by me for instance is called 'Airport Roundabout' because it's at the foot of an old airfield (now a housing estate), but they're normally named after the nearest settlement, no matter how tiny, and sometimes pubs or historic landmarks next to the site, which makes them quite cool (I think anyway). Very few people have heard of Catbrain or Friar's Wash, but there is a Catbrain and Friar's Wash interchange.

A look on Sabre shows that the name of the A50 Uttoxexter bypass and B5030 junction is probably called 'Ashbourne Road Roundabout'. But Google maps will actually refer to it, very uncreatively, as 'McDonalds Roundabout', and will call it out as such when you approach it.

Meir aerodrome per chance?

 

[Matt.GC]

Meir aerodrome per chance?

No, Weston Airport I'm afraid (not the Irish one, the Somerset one). The roundabout is where the 1994 rerouting of the A370 meets the A371. Was briefly a private airport in the early 20th century, and was then taken over by the RAF as part of RAF Locking. The old RAF camp housing has now joined a new development on Worle Moor, a separate housing development on Locking Moor is now on the airfield.

Was at the end of it's operational life when I moved here 23 years ago, now all that remains is a Helicopter Museum, a bit of barbed wire fencing, low lamp posts on the A371, and street names. The long straight road going into the new estate built on the airfield follows the alignment of the old runaway, and is actually called 'The Runway'.

I love this kind of stuff, modern history in the making.