Great British Road Journeys - Norfolk - King's Lynn to Thetford Ep.2 

The more I watch John’s videos, learning about the history of our road network, the more I feel like I’m fully qualified to be a road planner. Despite having no qualifications in road planning. “But that’s not what we got”, “but it was cancelled”, “and it’s bloody useless” 🤷🏻‍♂️

Bravo on the very subtle duelling banjos at the first mention of Norfolk at 20 seconds. Very clever, almost imperceptible. Classy

The highlight of my Sundays is here again! Cheers Jon!

Love me some Norfolk videos, have a high six!

Sundays aren’t Sundays without Jon standing in a field. I’m liking this series mate. Good work.

I believe that the advantage of the biomass power station is that it is burning wood chip for the most part which is not fossil carbon unlike the gas powered station. That said, the gas fired power station is pretty much state of the art in that it uses gas turbines to burn the gas and spin a generator and then they recover much of the heat from the exhaust to generate high pressure steam for a steam turbogenerator. By the time the steam is finished with it is below atmospheric pressure! Unlike the old coal thermal stations that struggled to convert more than 20% to electricity the gas stations are near 80% efficient. Better still, it’s an interruptible gas supply such that at times of peak national gas demand it can switch over to kerosene to relieve pressure on the gas grid. Green energy is all about subtle shades of green and we use the greenest first before resorting to less green options. We are also crap at putting our side of the story out there. 😢

Nice of the Normans to put in a steel staircase to get to the top of Castle Hill.

It is the USAF that love Norfolk. Every half hour 24 hours a day a USAF plane will take off from Mildenhall and buzz Norfolk for a bit or whatever they do.

i really enjoy your videos - keep up the good work! But I think you've missed the point on the chicken crap power plant. All the carbon it emits was captured from the atmosphere during the life of the chickens (or at least while the crops were being grown that went into their feed). So in the long run, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is not increased by the overall process - ie. it's carbon neutral. That's completely different to burning hydrocarbons where CO2 that was trapped over millions of years in fossil fuels ie being dumped into the atmosphere over a much shorter timespan.

Loved the Chicken Shit. Great informative video. I like where you use maps to show how the road layouts have changed, supposedly for the better

The Hardwick Roundabout is Rabbit Central. In Spring it's festooned with bunnies. It keeps the local press busy discussing what should be done about it. Oh yes! The best greasy spoon breakfast ever, nearby the speedway track.

Thetford - the home of the Dads Army cast when they did the filming.

Not just the RAF the USAF love it too often seeing their aircraft out of lakenheath e.g. F-35 , F-15s as well as osprey tilt wings.

And another railway reference!

Just a quick addition to Thetford, they have a transport museum almost next door to the bus station. Worth going to if you want to see Corporal Jones' butcher van from Dad's Army.

We used to get poultry house manure, delivered by the articulated lorry load, at the mixed farm I worked on. We had to leave it, weathering, for a year before spreading it and even then it used to make your eyes and nostrils sting. It also used to clean the rust off the loader bucket. Burning it seems the best thing for it. The Methane it emits while rotting down is four times worse as a greenhouse gas than the CO2.

If I told my younger self I would one day be entertained by watching a man drive round the UK giving me facts about the UK road network, I'd laugh in my face! Keep up the good work dude. 😂❤👍

For our American cousins, Thetford was the birthplace of Thomas (Rights Of Man) Paine. There is a statue of him in the centre of the town. He is holding a quill pen in such a way taht makes him look as though he is playing a game of darts!

A job half done is a job half finished. That flyover with extra roundabouts is a piece of art.

Hardwick roundabout was so big when it was first built that some motorists didn't realize it was a roundabout. They thought it was just an ordinary road and ended up driving the wrong way round the thing.

The RAF do love Norfolk and they love my home county of Lincolnshire as well, i think theres more RAF bases in those counties than anywhere else in the country

Lived in Brazil 10 years now, used to drive this route all the time. Thank you!

Love the videos and this is a nice follow-up to the Motorways. Not sure (as it depends where the Biomass comes from I think) but assuming it is current farms and not dug up from old sites, that is the difference. I believe (but could be wrong) releasing CO2 that was captured by animals and released (which would likely happen if we left it) is different to digging up and releasing CO2 buried and previously captured in the ground.

Thetford forest was started to provide pit-props for the mining industry.

This bloke knows more about Norfolk than I do, and i'm from here!

Next time you go to Thetford check out the Dad's Army museum. The museum is here because most of the location filming was done in and around the town.

By the time this series is finished you won't be able to go anywhere in the UK without risk getting lynched! Love it.

Thanks

The reason the biomass power station is better for the environment is that the CO2 is already in the cycle , the gas one is burning stuff that was not in the cycle. No reason to panic or anything but that is the idea behind it.

Deepest darkest Norfolk - next time you're in the area have a look to see if you're near Rendlesham Forest the site of the noxious Alien ship that everybody denied happened but now say it did.

Hey Jon the old Campbell soup factory was a bit of a traffic landmark at KL. near to the Hardwick Roundabout. But hey, landmark loss is Tesco gain.

Ah nice to see a trip along a road i travel fairly regularly when going to stay at my dads flat in hunstanton from Bury St. Edmunds. Have to say i despise that hardwick roundabout! Always end up in the wrong lane going northwards 😂.

I love watching your videos when I'm high.

I believe there is a 'Dad's Army' museum in Thetford (apparently a lot of the outside filming was done in the area). It's a shame it wasn't given a mention.

Hey Jon. It's the River Great Ouse, sir. 😁 I live by the same river in Bedfordshire.

Auto Shenanigans, the covert motoring geek's equivalent of Songs of Praise Every Sunday

Thetford Priory built 11.07, closed 15.40 and by twenty past 6 it was ruin. That’s a busy days work

I'm not even British myself, but Jon's presentation is something I look forward to every Sunday evening! Maybe someday I'll be able to drive down these roads...

Fascinating! Memories. You started almost exactly outside where I lived in Kings Lynn. A good place for a pint was The Crown and Mitre just of Tuesday Market Place. A very interesting pub run by a nicely eccentric character called Roger. I've had the privilege of cycling to Ipswich a couple of August Bank Holidays and getting a deserted Hardwick Roundabout all to myself (the flyover was actually being built when I moved there). An amazing experience. It was like the whole country got up at dead early o'clock and buggered off to the seaside leaving the inland bits deserted. I did it in 6hrs one year! I was a Lot younger and a lot fitter. Thetford is where the Dad's Army cast stayed during filming around Thetford Forest. Since I was there, there's a statue been put up of Captain Mainwearing. Dr Who was also filmed around there or possibly the sand quarry by Middleton near Kings Lynn which is all that's left of the Kings Lynn and Dereham railway to Norwich. Most of it is now under the A47. I've also gone to Norwich via Dereham and then straight South to Ipswich. I mention this because the road (I forget its number) is dual carriageway on the Norfolk side with a concrete road like a bit of the M90 in Fife. As soon as you cross the Suffolk border, it's singled carriageway with all sorts of speed limits, some being 50. Somewhere in Norfolk was just about the last remaining bit of three lane road where the middle lane was used for overtaking in either direction. These were quite common in the UK, but yes, bloody dangerous though they lasted longer than you'd imagine. They were changed to two lanes with each lane being a bit wider.

Where you were stood, next to the railway bridge is almost bang on top of the top secret GPSS (now Exolum) pipeline. It was used in WWII to supply airfields with aviation fuel. It’s still in use today but has been privatised. It’s still a state secret. The marker boards (white post with a yellow hat and black line) are the original WWII markers. I very surprised you didn’t mention the name of the power station as you would need one to produce all that s**t to burn.

Came here for the roads. Stayed for the labour camps, flint mines, biomass power stations and old ruins. The energy generation/CO2 info was very interesting. It feels inevitable that we are going to have to make changes but we also need to be careful about the alternatives. We might be creating the same problems, just from a different source or location.

Could have mentioned Dads Army and the steam engine works.

Can't believe you didn't stop in the jewel that is Downham!

You can still go down a pit at Summerlee in Coatbridge near Glasgow.

So many bright ideas our local council of kings lynn had but never got around to doing. Like the Wash wave power plant that never took off that was going to cost around £7million back in the 70s, now would cost 100 x that I'm sure. Then there's the bridge that was going to be built from Boston Lincs to Kings lynn through the Terrington St Clement Marsh, another back burner project that never took off, costing the industry billions in long delayed travel via Sleaford, Sutton Bridge A17 to Kings Lynn. Nice video John.😊❤️

What a pity the A1066 doesn't go to Hastings.

Kings Lynn is also home to ex F1 driver and now commentator Martin Brundle.

John, you make a great point. Burning things is not good for the environment, even if those things are renewable. Renewable ≠ green

Nice to see Norfolk's motorways featuring in your video's, Jon. 😛

Loving the Great British Road Journeys, what a fab addition to the rest of the videos. Happy days, thanks Jon

That A47 flyover roundabout duopoly made my head hurt and then I remembered also that Brits drive on the left side... and I just gave up.

I remember Thetford Castle from an Episode of TIME TEAM back in the Day.

This is the best video I've ever seen about anything

Always enjoy a bit of misspent public money, and I’d recommend a series subtitle ‘Jon’s quest for idiotic intersections and road improvement debacles’. Trawled up a goody on the A47. And the mega carbon spewing green power station that no doubt got a truckload of public subsidy. Keep ‘em coming!

Moving from North London to Kings Lynn in 1969 the route has long memories for me. Get your good self along from Kings Lynn to Boston and have a look at the swing bridge, it is ace. Cheers

I travel to the area around Thetford several times a year for birdwatching, and there is often a steady stream of F15 and F35 fighters taking off from RAF Lakenheath, plus the occasional Boeing 777 painted all in white that got lost on its way to Stansted

Excellent, Jon. Your research is brilliant. I didn't realise the Chicken Shit Factory (A.K.A Thetford Power station) was such a large CO2 producer. One thing that you may have missed on the A10 section was the Setchey oilfield which operated from 1918 to the 1930s.

Oooo, spotted the Freightliner green/yellow canary liveried class 66/5 locomotive there, nice one hehe.

I didn't know Thetford was a place. I just thought it was a box you shat in when driving around the cuntryside.

Thanks John!

Scottish forestry was planted in the '20s too. WW I used a lot of wood for the trenches so it had to be replaced.

excelent video. Fun fact Thetford and the area around it was the main filming location for Dad's Army

I live in the area and it's always interesting to see other people's perspective. FYI the A10 will soon be diverted to a new junction and dualled part of the A47 to relieve the village of West Winch where a whole new housing development is planned.

Only Jon could make me want to visit Thetford. You've been spreading a whole lot of love.

I'm so sorry you had to go to Thetford

Quick bit of science on why the biomass power station is actually good for the environment based on my admittedly shaky science (at least relatively speaking): Burning chicken sh*t prevents it from releasing the Methane it would usually release as it naturally decomposed which is multiple times more harmful to the environment than CO2 - this is why although it is less environmentally friendly than your typical LNG power station, it can be considered "green" because it is better for the environment than the alternative. The only other alternative would be less chickens, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that I like eating them too much to consider this.

Interesting, thank you for continuing.

No wonder that bloody roundabout (Hardwick) is such a nightmare! I hate driving that past that thing.

Fun fact last Friday I had a job near Thetford just off the A134 and then drove it almost to Kings Lynn to head to Downham market and across to Stamford.

I drive the part of the A47 almost daily/weekly and the amount of traffic and the amount of accidents is dreadful...all because they didn't build that damn second flyover at pullover. Great video bud, have a safe travels to wherever next 🦆🤟🏻

Another great addition to your body of work, sir!! 👍

Great to see you visit my home village of West Winch, I’ve always wondered what the old bit of road next to the A10 was, now I know! Another great episode where this Norfolk boy learnt something new about his County. By the way, as a former resident of Great Yarmouth don’t bother visiting, there’s nothing ‘Great’ about it, even the new Herring Bridge closed two days after opening! Safe travels.

My grand parents used to live in Theford, I have climbed Castle Hill many times in my life, and my heart broke the first time I arrived and the stairs where there, only been about 10 years or so, but really made it easy to get up the hill. It used to be a proper challenge.

Idea for a new Road journey, A38 from Bodmin to Mansfield. The longest double digit road in the U.K..

King’s Lynn to Thetford is quite a good easy journey plus you go through part of the Cambridgeshire Fens. With the A10 as you go from Cambridge to King’s Lynn and avoiding Ely is quite impressive. Plus you got the A142 Southern Bypass that was built for heavy vehicles to avoid the low bridge and the level crossing.

I was impressed that at 7:31 you called the road from Thetford to Diss the A-One-Oh-Six-Six rather than be tempted to call it the A-Ten-Sixty-Six, especially as you mentioned the fort the Normans built on Castle Hill just a few seconds later.

Never expected to see you pass through our little corner of Norfolk ☺ I'm from Mundford, so much interesting history around here

Speaking of Thetford, the A1065 connects, almost due-southwards, the major (for Norfolk) towns of Fakenham, Swaffham, and Thetford (ok you have to take the A134 from Mundford), but last time I checked (admittedly a few years back), there was NO bus, at ANY time, that ran that route. If you wanted to get by bus from any of them to any other of them, you had to bus into Norwich, change, and and bus back out again, making for a ridiculously long journey time.

Do this trip all the time so it’s nice to know more about it

1:35 The flyover isn't really 'useless' as you suggest. It does separate a lot of traffic from each other making most movements less congested. It may not 'feel' like it's helping much because the A47 still has to stop for the small roundabout, but it isn't having to cross paths with the bust A10 / A149. Another genius of this design is the fact the second 'exit' if heading EB on the A47 is on your left allowing you to turn right onto the A10 SB while bypassing the busiest exits towards King Lynne and not having to cross at grade with the A47 WB. I'd say as far as British junctions go, they've done a good job here. There's plenty of examples where they'd have just made all the traffic mix at grade

Thetford forrest, Dads Army filming location. Midnight down here still in the high 20's C. Off to bed now.

Not just the RAF Jon, but the USAF also love Norfolk for flight training.

I drove this route yesterday while going from Lincoln to Sudbury..

Look forward to this video every week

If the chicken shit is burned it's not producing Methane which is 28 x worse than CO2 for the environment (allegedly), just a thought. Another great vid, cheers John.👍

Yay Thetford, the place I grew up. I knew you'd finally make your way there. :)

As someone who has lived my entire life in West Norfolk you have nailed it, albeit you have been polite not to mention the webbed feet in Lynn and Chavs in Thetford. The power station was indeed built on an old Fisions fertiliser plant.

That stretch of the A134 is one of my favourite roads, and now i know more about whats around! Thanks Jon 😊

Nice one! I've been down inside one of the flint mine shafts at Grimes Graves 👍🏻🙂

burned chicken manure emits CO2 that was absorbed by plants from the air the same year, so in a scale of the year it does not emit anything. While gas burning power station emits CO2 that was taken from the air a million years ago, making th air as it was million years ago when people did not exist.

Transport archeology at its best 👏👏👍😀

wonderful

great point on biomass power stations - drax (near selby in east riding) is infact the largest biomass power station (it burns wood pellets not chicken shit) but hilariously it doesn’t burn british wood pellets. no no, they cut down trees in canada, ship them over to hull or liverpool and drive them in artics to the plant. Very green, very good. nice job guys👍

Hello Jon, how the devil are you, have you had a good week?

Since you have said the river Ouse, please can you come to Lewes in one of our videos? It’s the county town of East Sussex and is a place I am sure you would love. I’m happy to show you around the county and the first pint is on me.

You're missing only a pair of mustard coloured trousers ❤

Went to Grimes Graves as a school trip it was great, and that was 45 years ago

Used to live near Stoke Ferry 30 years ago in the village of West Dereham. Now if you had taken a detour into there you would have found the Wissington beet plant. Huge. It was lit up like a Christmas tree in winter and you could see it from the Littleport bypass

The A11 used to pass through Elveden before the new Elveden Bypass was built. Maybe do Elveden village and how the village used to overcome with so much traffic before the new A11 bypass was built.

Always bemusing when a town that has lost a rail station (appreciate Thetford has one left) then ends up with a bypass to combat increasing congestion. Talking of half finished roads, I see the accident strewn Acle Straight might finally be growing into a dual carriageway. Expect Acle itself will start to double in size as it already has in the past few decades. Pity all their banks have closed though!