4:02 bottom right of screen on the southbound side is where I nearly died. I was on my motorbike, cruising down the inside lane at 60ish late one night when a presumably sleeping driver behind me drifted onto the hard shoulder. Waking up before hitting the barrier he swerved back onto the inside land, straight into my left side. Seeing them out of the corner of my eye I just had time to think "impatient bugger" assuming he was undertaking me. Well, having been smashed along the motorway a hundred yards or so (from one bridge to the next), I came to in the middle lane on my side. First thought was to turn off the bike, but then I realised I'm in the middle lane at night. I could see that after me he'd smashed into two other cars, lying all over the road just past me. So I went full on Railway Children, running back down the hard shoulder waving my arms trying to stop the oncoming traffic. It worked. Well, except for one, a transit connect, that went by at 70ish. In the middle lane. Where my bike was lying. The police told me later they had trouble finding said bike. Eventually it was discovered inside the bonnet of the transit, some 200 yards further on 😂 Any way, I survived with bump and bruises. Which really puzzled the hospital, who were convinced I must have some sort of hidden injury somewhere after being hit by a car on a motorway.
@@solariss452 oh, and I've pretty much stopped riding now, but mainly because I got sick of riding in the wet and cold, or sweltering heat, and not being able to take a coffee with me. Also, I reached the point of being able to afford to run a fun car. Or four.
what a story, glad you're here to share it. I'm curious... what cars do you get to replace a motorcycle... I imagine most are fairly tame by comparison?
As an old RAF airfield enthusiast I'm ashamed to say I didn't realise Ansty was once an airfield, and I knew nothing about the other one, which I went past a couple of days ago!
It was used for training Polish squadrons - my Grandad was there as Ground Crew during part of the BoB. The Tower still remains - army uses it as a social club. My Grandads ashes were kindly allowed to be scattered near the former tower with permission of the CO of Gamecock. Most of the former runways are under the Motorway now.
I once got chased by the local fuzz from Gamecock Barracks. I was engaged in some activities with a lady in the back seat of an escort xr3, and coppers didnt like where I had parked. They also didnt get the link between said activities and barracks name.
I love how you manage to make what would otherwise be a rather hundrum topic, something that appeals to a much wider audience by adding in sheer daft antics that really nail the show. I find it strange that I sit waiting for your video each week just the same as I find it strange that I wait for dashcam videos on a Sunday, but I love all of these videos!
Even if he delivered without the humor, this wouldn't be humdrum. The crossover of highway history and abandoned places is my cup of tea. I enjoy looking at old atlases and aerial imagery for comparisons. Reading the history of routes on Wikipedia and such. Glad to see someone else does. The humor is just a good bonus
For the three people interested, the tonalite mentioned at 8:05 got Croft Quarry SSSI designation as they documented the growth of continential crust beneath England - they're a fragment of the Caledonian mountain chain which once spanned a fair portion of the UK
I grew up in Earl Shilton and was very aware of Croft Quarry and the building of the M69 in the seventies . I am maybe the 4th person interested in what you said about Tonalite. Thanks.
Drama,.passion, love, it's all there in 'Secrets of the motorway - M69. Add in a dash of weirdness, two disused airfields, a massive viaduct and a happy lunatic waving gleefully at a drone, and it seems you have my favourite mix of entertainment, information and history. How's the help group coming along? I think I need it!
You missed the weirdest bit of oddity: if you join the M69 from the M6 northbound or A4600 out of Coventry, you actually have to drive on a small section of B road (B4065 - which used to be the A46 in fact) to get onto the M69. So the signs are white and black instead of the more familiar blue and white, which I’m sure catches people out.
you are cock on ..... its unlit and a great place to get your toe down except for the quantity of people who slam the brakes on wondering where the hell they are and wheres the motorway gone to be replaced with some oddity duel carrageway that flys over where you suspect you want to be ....
@@AutoShenanigans Leicester is a great place for roads that have gone AWOL. See my post at the top. I used to work for the council and my dad was a Civil and Electrical Engineer so we as kids saw a few motorways!
One of my local motorways 10 mins from my house. Always noticed the additional bits of road that looked unused and this video has cleared that up perfectly.
The M69 is quite possibly one of, if not, my favourite motorway I have been on so far (though I have only been on 8 atm tbh, which include M1, M5, M6, M42, M55, M56, M65 and M69). In spite of it being one of the closest motorways to me, it's been fast every time I've been on the M69, though at the moment this marks one of the 5 motorways we use to get to Cornwall. So it was good to learn a bit more about the area. Thanks for providing us with a bit more insight about the M69!
In 1976-7 we lived in Thurlaston near the route the M69 was going to take. We used to walk down to watch the workmen building the new motorway. Quite exciting for an 8-year old. Of course, there was no junction anywhere near us, so it wasn't much use - still had to use the A47 or A46 to get anywhere. I remember that petrol was 69p per gallon. Those were the days!
We lived a bit further up and used some of the wood laid out for the roadside fencing to build some nifty goals in our back field next to the new m/way.
Well I lived in Leicester and remember it opening on the first day. We had no idea where it went as in the old days to get to Brum where my auntie lived we had to do a trek via No Man's Heath, Ibstock and Measham! Also the M69 was the road I had my first major accident in a Peugeot 405! The auto box decided to blow up on the outside lane just after the M6. I accidentally gave my mother a black eye by forcing her back into the passenger seat with my hand whilst trying to stop car careering out of control which it did. It promptly smashed into the central reservation and span around a few times. We drove back to Leicester in a car that looked like something out of Mad Max and my mother covered in blood! Also Leicester has a big history of roads going AWOL. The EDDR (Eastern District Distributer Road) that was built but was never finished. The ring road that stops, starts, stops again. People familiar with Leicester would know the ghost duel carriageways around Goodwood Road and Glenhills Way. It's a mish mash of failed council experiments and cost cutting. Also the M1 it's self is not the original path of M1 we see today. It was supposed to cut through and skirted Bradgate Park but this was changed. Also I have pictures of my Dad standing on bridges on the M1/M69 during construction as he was something to do with the heavy electrics and lighting. My mother also worked at the nearby LFE Service station that was posh and it had a Conran restaurant that was the place to be! Oh. I forgot to mention that cars often (and still do) cut out due to fuel starvation on the end of the M69 where you have to do a loop to join the M6. If you were low on fuel the fuel would slosh to one side of the tank and cut out!
Ah, Leicester's not-a-ring-ring road! The bit that should've gone through Braunstone Kingsway that doesn't exist, The bit at the top of Troon Way that was there, derelict for many years, The missing part between the A47&A6. I believe it should've been a dual carriageway with service roads either side all the way round.
@@Technaudio I used to work for the council and the the so called ring road was a bit of a joke. In fact there are two. The inner and the outer. The Inner is a mish mash of old streets and the bit around Broadbent Island and St Georges. The latter was a total flop and still is (was on it only the other day). There are huge swathes still missing and that will never be built now. Notable bits are is the area areas around the end of Goodwood Road to Marydene Drive/Shady Lane. The stubby bit is clearly seen on Google maps. That bit should of gone though to Oadby via the the land opposite the Co-op farm on Gartree Road and across to London Road and Welford Road, Asquith Way and up to the M1....still all there but never completed as a DC. The it you mentioned between the A47/A6 was the same, new wide boulevards but never built. We had a house on Uppingham Road not far from St Josephs and the deeds and the solicitor said that we could lose part of our garden is they duelled the A47 from the then Trocadero (Now the Shell garage) right up to Wadkin's sports ground in Bushby. All the infrastructure was put in but not the actual duelling. I can still remember the railway running across the junction of Goodwood and Uppingham Road as we lived at 337 Uppingham Road then 298 Scraptoft Lane in those days! Even today, have a look at Google Maps and it's all wrong! And you mention the Kingsway... my daughter lives on that huge wide bit!
The first few times I ever drove that Leicester end of the M69 I instinctively looked right at that bit as if I was about to merge onto a non existent road.
Nice finish on the Whetstone viaduct - popular for some light trespassing with the locals; though I'm surprised you didn't have a look at the broken farmhouse and rotting machinery a wee bit further along. (Pedant note: the vowel in -stone and -cote is the schwa so it's more Whetstuhn and Bramcuht.)
Sunday isn’t compete without a motorway video now. I always remember the M69 as a way to bypass the M42/A42 works back before it was completed in early 90s.. a fairly easy route onto the M1. Looking forward to the M49 video and how long you can spread it out for.. mind you we did have some J1 news this week so maybe hold out till it’s open 😂
I used to drive the M69 pre-covid every week both ways so your video is very insightful and helpful with many facts about it that I didn't know I was interested in till now !🤣
Mocking my hometown. I got a laugh out of this. But it was also very informative as well and great to hear little bits about my local area. Thank you very much for this series and the videos.
Jon if there was an award for wringing every drop of interest out of what must be one or the dullest motorways, I think you’ve won it hands down. Continuing the sinister interweaving of our lives started in last week’s M54 video, I used to work at Hinckley so enjoyed the delights of this bland strip of fast tarmac most days. One fact you might have chosen to omit is that Cadent Gas’s operations centre in Hinckley, just off jct 2 helps to deliver gas to 11 million homes and businesses across the Midlands, East Anglia, the North West and North London. Hinckley’s other claim to fame - aside from being home to Triumph motorcycles - is I’m sure it has more grown men in tracky bottoms riding around on BMX’s than anywhere else in the UK. Another outstanding video Jon and a reason to look forward to Sunday nights!
Great video again John, I live fairly near to the Leicester end and never knew about the intended flyover to connect the M1, makes sense though and explains the weird 3-into-2 lane narrowing before that ‘mound’ - thanks for the info and great research.
Starting to become one of my favourite RU-vidrs next to that guy who does trains n least used stops, the beardy one who lives in France (not a professor but the Prof just as cool) and the bloke who still hasn't finished London. Great video guys.
I travel along the M69 most weeks and never noticed half of these points! Too busy avoiding the DPD vans and lorries that think they own the road. The view over the edge of the quarry has set off my vertigo though so probably need to lie down before getting behind the wheel!
Back in the late 90s, when I was a delivery driver, I'd travel along the M69 in both directions every day. It was great for really pushing on well beyond the limit because the cops never seemed to patrol it. I seem to remember a somewhat derelict building in between the trees, as one travelled towards Leicester, that always put me in mind of the house in the woods in the film The Blair Witch Project. Strangely, I haven't seen it in recent years.
Was something to do with testing windows & glass, was as you said made of concrete on 2 levels ( size of an house) it was next to the old quarry crushers. back before the time the motorway was built early to mid 1970s ? , I use to push bike there with my mates at weekends, and later ride our trials bikes up and down the road as it was being built all for fun , and that section was carried by Alfred mcalpine
“WILD STALLIONS” 🎸 🎸🎸🤘🏼🤘🏼 Oh man I’ve not seen that film in years. The m69 seems quite a tame motorway, not much going on kind of motorway. Yet another excellent video John and co
Will be travelling this road at the weekend, haven't been that way for years. Sound of my childhood - grew up hearing the Rolls Royce Engine testing at night.
@@JP_TaVeryMuch I'm guessing we didn't hear it - we weren't actually that near so it probably was just something we heard of the night was particularly still or if the wind was blowing in our direction!
I live in stoney stanton and have commuted daily on the m69 since 2014. Best motorway in the world. Fast. Very little traffic. Great video lovely to learn about a roadway so often used
My grandparents lived in Stoney Stanton - famous, incidentally, for divers' paradise Stoney Cove... The Calor Depot was previously a works site for Redland Brick, presumably attached to the quarry next door. That quarry, and Croft Quarry were owned by English China Clay, and manufactured pre-cast concrete components such as sewer pipe saddles and kerbstones. I also remember the M69 being constructed. The section northbound, certainly after junction 2 was originally laid using concrete slabs. I can remember walking over the bridge at Pingle Lane and the noise from the cars driving on this surface was horrendous!
Was the bit between Hinckley (J1) and Sapcote (J2) concrete, or just the original 1976 Sapcote-Leicester section? J2-J1 did open sometime between 1976 and 1977 when the full route opened - there's an ATV Today clip clearly showing traffic having to join or leave at J1.
There has been an active quarry in Croft since Roman times. There is a small cut in the old village known as "The Clevis" It's believed the Romans cut this to drain a lake that stood at the foot of the hill and went as far as Sharnford, towards the A5. (Very close to High Cross, the Roman centre of Britain, it is claimed) In doing this, the river Soar was diverted and the stone used on the Fosse way.
you forgot to mention that the m69 is infact the leicester drag strip as theres no cameras and its very common to see people doing 100 plus between leicester and hinckley
Ah the M69. My favourite motorway and the motorway that inspires the M69 derby between leicester and Coventry. Know about Croft as I have family who live there and from there and have been on Croft hill before. Also Nuneaton - the town I live in got a mention. Always a positive haha
Hey Jon. Another great entertaining video. The old testing building with the big exhaust thing 1min52 in is in fact still in use. It’s the outlet for an engine test bed for when they service and repair engines. My mate works there and confirmed it’s very noisy when they are running it up. It was Rolls Royce owned but is now owned by a Scottish company although I can’t remember the name of them!
That would be RWG. I wasn't sure if they were still operating there or not. I can appreciate it bring noisy and probably uses a fair bit of power as well!
Yes that’s it RWG! I thought it was MWG but wasn’t sure. It still operates out of that little old building but only has about 12 employees over two shifts 👍🏻
Another interesting video, thanks Jon. I can’t believe that I look forward to seeing an episode each week. As I’ve said before, it must take you ages to put these together. Well done! Cheers 😊
The reason it was built like that is because it's a political motorway. The government didn't want to build it, the public wanted it built. So the government caved in and built it, hence why its a three lane motorway . Its basically the eastern leg of the M50. It was meant to go under coventry as a bypass and go on to stratford .But they only built what they had to. They built it so it could be upgraded and extended. Shortly afterwards public opinion on road building shifted and the public decided to object to New motorways. So it never go built. Along with many other half built junctions such as A38 /A5 junction and M1 into London . Great video as always.
The abandoned tarmac at the M1 junction it looks like they were going to have the main outer lane go North to join the M1. Shame it was abandoned as the junction design could of been far better! However the logic of the M69 going straight to the other side of the M1 made a lot of sense! Because in the 1960’s and 70’s there were plans of an expressway or mini motorway to stretch from Belgrave to the top (South side) of Victoria Park. Had they continued with these plans I imagine they would have been connected allowing high speed traffic straight in and out of Leicester city centre.
In the 90s I'm pretty sure that the carriageway was one of those sectional concrete jobs that threw up vast amounts of road noise with repetitive pah-dmps between sections
Drove from Coventry to join the M1 northboumd yesterday, saw the dummy sliproads (the reduction from three lanes to two approaching the M1 is a giveaway) and thought "I know who will tell me why that is there". I'm a subscriber but haven't seen all the videos.
I used to drive regularly up and down the M69 going from Leicester over to Leamington via the Coventry bypass. In the last 20 years I can never remember a time when there haven’t been roadworks somewhere along the Coventry bypass. I just thought I would share that.
One of the original plans for the Leicester end, which you mentioned as meeting the A563, was going to take the route of the A563 which was only completed in the 80s as still the M69 and go right through to the A47A563 roundabout as we know it now. And at the other end at Coventry, you used to be forced off on the loop road round to the M6, because the continuation into the Coventry bypass had not been built, you were forced left, the M69 went on to the top of the hill (but was barriered off) and just beyond the overhead gantry, it dropped off a sheer edge down to the dumbell junction that now runs underneath 😂. Looked so weird! For many years, until the continuation around Coventry was built, the M69 was about as as busy as the A45 Fun fact: If you are travelling east on the M6 and take the sliproad to the M69, the numbers on the road were not done properly. For some reason, rather then using the stencils/outlining for M 6 and 9, they used. M, 6 and oddly a backwards P. So locally its been known to some people as the M Sixtybackwards P for years. One still remains although the other two were resurfaced over recently.
Great video 😎. I'm spending the rest of my week ooop North on hols so I have 2.5 hours on the A1 northbound from Peterborough with Dad in the passenger seat telling me, again, how the A1 "used to go through the centre of Stamford"...
This must be the UK's most boring motorway. I used it 5 times a week for 18 years. Soul destroying. Apparently during the first Covid lockdown it was possible to go down it at 170mph on a Suzuki Hayabusa with no chance of meeting any other traffic. Apparently......
I grew up in Broughton Astley, just a stones throw from Croft, always good to see something you know on these videos. Also Whetstone is pronounced "wet-stun".
