The Great North Road (A1) 1939 v 2023 : A Charity Ride

Описание: In August 2023, Stuart Wilks rode the Great North Road on a bicycle.

"Inspired by the 1939 video posted by    / @rick88888888   , I wanted to see how much of the road still exists and how far I could cycle in one day. To make it more useful, I rode for the wonderful youth music charity, ‪@KinetikaBloco‬ who do brilliant things in music for young people.

"We raised over £2k including gift aid and found some of the spots from the 1939 video along the way. Perhaps most incredible is the gap between 1939 Brampton Hut and 2023 - the junction of the A14 and the A1 is now a huge service station complex. What was once a quiet rural crossroads, has become a massive highway interchange."

10" - Barnet Hill, High Barnet
30" - Near Potters Bar
40" - Near Welwyn
52" - Stevenage (Old Stevenage remains largely unchanged)
1' 22" - Biggleswade
1' 54" - Eaton Socon (tea room is now an Indian restaurant)
2' 19" - Buckden
2' 37" - Brampton Hut (Completely and radically changed by 2023)
3' 00" - Wansford (View from bridge, rather than looking at it)
3' 18" - Stamford (note that despite building a motorway, the traffic is worse in 2023 than in 1939 - building more roads does not solve traffic problems...)
3' 59" - Grantham (sorry I missed the sign!)
4' 15" - Arrival in Retford, 156 miles from the North Circular road in London

Thanks to everyone who supported the charity ride. And thanks to @Rick88888888 - I hope you don't mind the few screenshots in this video. Do visit and subscribe to his excellent channel, and watch the brilliant original video footage here:    • England, The Great North Road in 1939 [fur...