Great Roads A34 Winchester – Oxford
First designated back in 1922, it was – and still is – one of the most important north-south roads in the UK. Back before the evil M3 cutting raped Twyford Down, the Winchester Bypass went under the elegant (and sadly missed) ‘Spitfire Bridge’ which, legend has it, a Spitfire pilot through his plane under during WW11.
Now, that’s cool. Actually, though, it was a Canadian in a Tomahawk, and his wing clipped the bridge and he flipped his plane on landing at Odiham. Slightly less cool…
The A34 then runs straight north over Watership Down (mind the bunnies) and up past Seven Barrows. Stop in the layby here and stroll left down a footpath and you’ll find a small memorial to a great event hidden in the undergrowth. This is where Geoffrey de Havilland made the UK’s first powered flight back in 1910.
Why he chose a field littered with prehistoric burial mounds, I don’t know… Back on the road, the A34 passes some great countryside, and the dual carriageway winds up and down hill, making for some fun driving on a quiet evening with the sun setting.
Until 1998, you’d then have risked hitting a massive jam as the A34 went through Newbury, and then again where it crossed the M4. Now, though, Newbury’s got a speedy bypass and there’s an underpass at the M4. Perfect. From there it’s north, crossing the Ridgeway, England’s oldest right of way, before the dreaming spires of Oxford come into view.
You’d once have got caught up at Oxford where the A34 intersected the A40 (another great road). That’s now sorted and it’s where our journey ends. The A34 does keep going, albeit not continuously these days, thanks to the M40, as far north as Salford. Considering the importance of the A34, it’s surprising it never became the M34. But then it would have lost its charm and character.
Source: Road Magazine