We Went Thataway

and now, the main thing is that we're off the motorway. We're free to go this way or that, do a U-turn, stop at the side of the road, or turn off into any lane or by-way which takes our fancy. Having escaped from the motorway treadmill, that appointment in Newcastle or Manchester seems less unmissable. A life of rushing somewhere else, only to rush back, missing out all that lies between, becomes ludicrous and even shameful.

We broke the rules when we went up that No Entry service road. We can go on breaking rules - especially the ones which insist that appointments must be kept, that if you start heading North, you must keep going in that direction, that every journey must have a destination, that time spent without a purpose is time wasted.

Australian Aborigines respect the need for an occasional walkabout. Here, in the centre of England, let us go for a driveabout. No special vehicle is required - a Morris Traveller or a 2CV will do fine.

The A5 is much too orderly for such an undertaking. It suggests that the Ancient Romans would have made excellent motorway contractors. We'll take this road, just past the old Watford Gap. The sign says it's the A361. It heads vaguely South-West. The A361 looks fairly nondescript - we can't come to much harm down here.

Watford Gap Forever

Kilsby