The A303: Highway to the Sun

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At first it seemed as if Fort intended to show how the A303 has changed the landscape over the years. It was stop/start from the Ilminster bypass to halfway down Rawridge Hill, then 40 to Honiton and the D2. There's also political history in the context of road planning and development that goes beyond the A303, as well as other facts and side-shoots of information about wider-ranging subjects. His object is to reveal the special beauty of the landscape, particularly Salisbury Plain and Stonehenge (pictured). In that context 'hiding' a section of the A30 (in a situation that would hardly be unique, even in this part of Devon) might suit them.

All the stories are threaded together by the A303 and they're beguiling, but I'd have liked more of the present-day people, like Annie and her famous tea bar. As for the east-to-west bias of the book, Fort deals with this very wittily early on, and anyone who can spend a page speculating on whether Mrs de Winter "and her creepy husband" took the A303 or the A30 to get to his Cornish home in Rebecca without making us raise our hands in exasperation is going to get my vote. This look at the historical sites along the A303, a road stretching from the south-east to the south-west of Britain, connecting right through to Exeter in Devon, had fascinating potential: ancient and modern sites compete for attention on both sides of the road, that befit close attention. I have always thought when the A30 Honiton to Exeter upgrade was built the A303 should have gone all the way to Exeter given the route was 80% dual cariageway.Fort acknowledges that progress has to be made – he even makes a case, which I am too sentimental to endorse without reservation, for the Winchester bypass which so energised the anti-roads lobby back in the 1990s. The A303 crams a lot in, at times a bit too much - though I can forgive Fort a lot since his brother taught me to cook sausages (very, very slowly, clearly a theme in the family - till they caramelise, about 45 minutes on a very low heat). Fort gets down on his hands and knees to decipher the ancient lettering on ancient stones and reveal stories from the days of Ethelred. For my input on the renumbering discussion whilst it would make sense in one hand I think most people would object, it's a road that goes from A to B and its name or number is academic.

Unfortunately John Holdsworth's documentary was ruined by the decision to use Tom Fort, a self-styled 'eccentric' as presenter. Having spent most of my life living and working along various points on the A303, I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I could relate to the places described. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

Ancient woods lay across the summits of the downs and prehistoric monuments and sites are everywhere, the evidence of ancient habitation and worship left in abundance. What was interesting before this was opened the signing at J29 northbound on the M5 used to say M5 (M4) London and A30 (A303) London with the route confirmation sign at J30 given the different distances the A303 being approximately 25 miles shorther. The bit between Bullington Cross (where the A34 and A303 have a junction) about 10 miles from where it disappears into the A3 right down almost to Yeovil at Podimore Cross I know it like the back of my hand. For those that don't know it, the A303 forms part of a major longer route from London to Penzance, except that it only goes about a third of the way, doing the bit between Basingstoke and Honiton.

Many of us will have travelled the length of the A303 and have memories of it (fond or otherwise), and this book definitely does a great job of creating a sense of nostalgia but weaving it between what is a clever way of presenting historical facts of the road and local areas. The little autobiographical details about fishing, and where the author spent the night, and the pubs and cafés he visited are dreary.We accelerate nervously into the third lanes – an invention of the devil – with the centre lane shared for overtaking by traffic racing in either direction. Can't honestly say I strapped myself in, floored the accelerator and read this one straight to the end. trouble with this approcah is it overloads the M5 between 25 and 29 and also once you are on the M5 at Taunton there is not much point in cutting back across to Ilminster, you might as well stay on the M5 to the M4 to get to London. Although it can often seem that every documentary these days is packaged as 'a journey', for me, it was that sense of a single journey that was missing.

Tom Fort wanders across the summits of the downs, takes in the views and investigates the evidence of ancient habitation and worship. I shall be travelling along/over the A303 for the first time in my life next week as I need to go to Salisbury for the first time ever. This is a book about a road for chrissakes and unlike America, with its Mother Roads and California Highways, the UK just doesn't cut it.It’s not a likely location for a dramatic road movie (try freewheeling through a traffic jam) but it has a domestic Ealing comedy character all its own. Fort's book is also a meditation on the motor car itself: is it a force for darkness or for liberation? He admits in the Acknowledgements at the end that he 'likes writing books like this' No Tom, you should love writing books like this. A nostalgic experience, informative, humorous, charming, but pervaded by the bitter-sweet scent of regret' Daily Mail'Fort has an eye for the quirky, the absurd, the pompous and a style that, like the road, is always on the move' Sunday Telegraph'A lovely book. The A30 was duly turnpiked but due to its slowless, it was finally bypassed in 1807 by the New Direct Road between Micheldever and Honiton, some of which was a purpose built "expressway" and the rest a turnpiking of older roads.