Cambridgeshire has some of the worst roads in the country. These roads are built on many meters of peat, that shrinks as it dries out. As a result, the roads are like roller coasters, often featuring spectacular adverse camber on bends and potholes that can swallow HGV’s whole. The B1050 between Willingham and Earith is a particularly fine example
I drive across Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and south Lincolnshire's crappest roads daily. I think the south Lincs roads take the crown mostly, though a special mention should be made of the areas around Benwick and Manea in Cambs for dogsh1t roads.
I know that road far too well for my own good, as it was a major route between the horse feed store, and the yard my horse was at livery at. It's simply atrocious.
I live near here in Yaxley and visit Holme woodland the forest at Holme Fen, fabulous place, we have fantastic bikeways around Yaxley and Peterborough, Holme Fen is a fab place for a walk among the tall Scotch Pine trees and Silver Birch and beautiful flowers in spring, The Admiral Wells is fab Pub for some Real Ale and tasty meals, also a cyclists paradise, you have to visit to find out : )
Amazing, a video that provides factual history concerning the history of our Road network, a study in the methods used in the 19 century reclamation of land in Cambridgeshire, a brief delve into the fascinating phenomena of aridity shrinkage caused by the removal of water from mere land, and a Judith Chalmers ‘Holiday’ like review of the local hostelries and amenities complete with a ‘how to get there’ guide 🤷🏻♂️ Certainly filled a Sunday morning gap in my “life schedule” rather well 🤔 As for that A15! We have had cause to use it many times when visiting my father in law in Pinchbeck near Spalding. To say it is straight is understatement. It is so straight it doesn’t have kinks or bends but ‘directional deviations’🙄 Cheers 👍🍻🍀
Don't need roller coasters in that area. Just drive from yaxley to holme, turn left, drive over the level crossing, to Ramsey st Mary then Pondersbridge to Whittlesey. Up and down all the way, hundreds of times. Its almost worth the, almost certain, cost of new coil springs and shock absorbers.
Well described. I lived in Benwick in the Fens in Cambs, & our house, like a lot of the others in the village, was 2 metres below sea level. The interesting thing is that house insurance was [and still is as far as I am aware] easy to get, simply because the water levels are so intensively managed & flooding isn't at all likely any time soon. On the other hand, the roads are terrible, because the roadside willow trees suck all the water out of the peat under the roads & the roads subside - badly - just at those points. I had one car that broke three consective front springs - and I do not drive fast on the those roads even now, precisely for these reasons. Seasoned campaigners know full well what those trees mean.
Funny thing, my grandma lives close to the lowest point in Germany (-3.54m) and the roads in the area also have problems with subsidence, which makes for a rollercoaster ride everytime we drive there, especially because the bridges usually didnt subside, so you could probably jump over some briges if you went fast enough (and didnt care about yourself and your car). The ground is also all reclaimed from the sea and mostly made up of peat as well. Its also not at risk of flooding today, since dike building has been figured out by now and made cost effective with heavy machinery. But back in the day, each municipality who had a coastline to the north sea was responsible for their own dikes and was basically always at war with the sea over their own land.
I have to wonder, when the land sunk, how did the post not sink with it? Also I think the drainage of the Fens was mostly successful. Most of it is still farmland.
@@kirkmooneyham So, it only took them 200 years to get around to doing it in the 1800s. Looks like bureaucracy moved as slow then as it does now. Not to mention creating a cockup in the process that they have now decided needs to be reversed.
I lived in NW Stockton, California ... sea level was halfway up the gable end of our roof ... the whole of the Delta Country is 10 to 15 feet below sea level ... a few thousand square miles ... and this area isn't even famous for being low ... it's famous for having dirt that burns ...
The Fens completely blows the Macan Satnav. The reported altitude jumps from 0 to 19,999 feet instantly as you go below sea level. Technically, therefore, the car’s vertical acceleration far exceeds its horizontal. 🤪🤗
That's hilarious! I have to admit to never looking at the GPS while traveling around in the fens, now you've got me curious if all Satnav has trouble with the idea of driving below sea level.
A Dutch land reclaimation engineer named Cornelius Vermuyden drained the Fens, he also worked on Canvey Island in Essex, but we mustn't hold that against him.. We drove the A1101 west of Littleport last year, and the floodwater was barely an inch or two below the road.
Well that was fascinating! I was skeptical of the level of subsidence here until I remembered the similar situation which occurred in the marshes outside New Orleans which led to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Hah! Been there, done that. Visited Holme Fen, seen the post, drunk at the Admiral Wells in Holme and (much longer ago) got shouted at from a police car for cycling though a red light late one night...
Lol thanks for latest video! It’s so odd seeing areas I’m so familiar with. I did think that roads near Manea were lower than Holme. Manea isn’t that far away and of course is also really flat!
I'll look into it as there wasn't any mention of this during my research... although if you've watched before you'll know "research" is a very loose term around here.
I really hate all the fighting between drivers and cyclists. A prick is a prick, some are in cars, some are on bikes. I bet most drivers would run red lights if they could get away with it.
@@SantaHul social media has created a great platform for it. Makes me nervous to cycle these days, knowing the attitudes of some people - especially those I thought knew better
@@AutoShenanigans I was slightly disappointed that you didn't show the state of the road in the video! I have never been so afraid of getting stuck as I was there. No mobile data there either!
It's a show called "Monkey Dust" It's one of the best animated shows you'll ever see, be warned, the subject matter can sometimes be... a little extreme. It's not a kids show!
I always have to watch the ending twice, once to listen to what you are saying - very interesting - and again to try and guess the music. Was this one 'The Holiday Programme'?
@@AutoShenanigans Damn, failed again. It was the ITV rival for the BBC. However, I'm sure you used the Grange Hill music on the Birmingham Motorsport video. Am I right?
@@AutoShenanigans I though it was wish you were here but couldn't quite remember. You should name the tracks each episode, or provide a link so you don't do spoilers.
I used to work in the motor trade and in the last year had a lot of customers in the fens. I have a fascination with the area, I find the unusual landscape very relaxing.
It's perfectly possible to be a motorist and a cyclist at various times, depending on the use case, and I'd be very happy to give you a race in either format. Be sure to bring plenty of hankies in case it doesn't work out in the way you had hoped for. 😛
I think you are a few zeroes short on the measurement of the area affected. 3,700 square metres is only a little more than 60 metres X 60 metres, not really noticeable in the scheme of things. 3.7 million square metres, possibly even 3,700 hectares, would seem to be a more reasonable measurement.
The lowest road below sea level in Essex is Wharf Road Stanford-le-Hope as it was dug out 2 feet lower than the water level and floods whenever we get bad weather.
I like my car too, but there's no denying it's a stupid way to get around a city - especially an ancient one. Too polluting, too noisy, too dangerous and much too large. Stereotype cyclists all you like, but objectively they're right.
As I've stated commenting on others of these videos, I lived in the UK for a bit many years ago. I traveled up and down the A1, and remember Norman Cross quite well. I also remember some B-roads across the Fens not so far from there which had very deep drainage ditches on either side. I heard a story, who knows if it was true, about a car with a family that went off into one during some heavy rains. They were missed after a day or so, but no search turned up anything until some time later, after the water level diminished enough, so that a farmer spotted the boot of the car sticking up out of the water. To be honest, I hope the story was just that, and not true.
I'm unsure if it's true, but I've also heard the story, and given how deep and steep sided those dykes and ditches can be, it honestly would not surprise me to find out it was true. It's definitely a very tense time driving some of those fen roads when your headlights have failed during the drive. Never again.
After engineering this land for so long, the environment has adapted to it- wildlife in particular. I question the wisdom of now destabilising it to attempt to return it to normal, given this means the environment being forced to adapt to geo engineering once more.
Love your videos but I don't appreciate the anti-cyclist sentiment. Surely being stuck behind less cars is a good thing? In that image at 0:56 where you put the caption "use those to get off the road?" They're actually on a part of the road specifically marked for cyclists, and that Vauxhall could be fined for going over the stop line
And? If that is all you can say (write) then you must either have everything you want in life, or nothing at all, we ALL make typing errors just as we all make mistakes. Ahem, I think this is one of those times.
To all the bicycle saddle sniffers out there, the channel is called AUTO shenanigans. The clue is in the title. Stop bitching. Also, the last bit of animation is brilliant. Cyclists do make up their own rules on the road and are anonymous due to having no number plates despite being road users. So when they do something wrong, they never get the blame. How convenient.
Nice video, except for the bit where you used the word dyke to mean lesbians. If you're using a homophobic slur to get a cheap laugh you need to raise your game.
Much as I love you Jon, please stop talking in metric, I think in inches, feet and yards, not forgetting furlongs.! Meters..? What are they, gas or electric..?
