The Roads the Motorway Forgot: Five Old A-Roads Worth Driving Slowly

Motorways are brilliant at one thing: making sure you never accidentally see anything interesting. The old A-roads they left behind are the antidote. These five stretches were once the main event; now they run in the shadow of a motorway, through towns that still have a butcher, a war memorial and a pub that does a proper lunch. Drive them slowly. Stop more than you think you need to. And where you can, use the train for the return leg so the day ends with a view rather than a motorway services.

1. A4: Reading to Bath, via Hungerford and Marlborough

Drive this bit: Reading, Theale, Newbury, Hungerford, Marlborough, Chippenham, Corsham, Bath. The M4 is never far away, but you would not know it in Marlborough high street. This is the old Bath road at its best: wide verges, brick and flint, and long views over the Kennet valley.

Lunch: Hungerford or Marlborough. Both have proper pubs and cafés within a short walk of the old road. Avoid the retail park at Newbury and eat where you can see a church tower.

Rail return: Great Western Railway runs from Bath Spa and Chippenham back to Reading. If you are doing a one-way drive, leave the car at Reading and train it back from Bath. Check off-peak returns before you go; a flexible return is often better value than two singles.

2. A6: Derby to Buxton, via Matlock and Bakewell

Drive this bit: Derby, Belper, Cromford, Matlock, Bakewell, Buxton. The A6 here is not a museum piece; it is a working road through the Peak fringe. But it still feels like the old trunk road, with mill towns, river bends and a proper sense of arrival at Bakewell.

Lunch: Matlock Bath for fish and chips by the river, or Bakewell for a pub lunch and a pudding. The latter is not a cliché if you buy it from a bakery rather than a motorway services.

Rail return: The Derwent Valley Line connects Matlock to Derby, which makes a neat car-free finish. Drive Derby to Matlock, park, then train back? No, better: train Derby to Matlock, walk the town, then drive back if you have a second driver. For a linear day, use the train from Matlock to Derby and leave the car at home. Peak Rail heritage services also run on part of the route on selected days.

3. A5: Stony Stratford to Hinckley, via Towcester and Rugby

Drive this bit: Stony Stratford, Towcester, Weedon Bec, Kilsby, Rugby, Lutterworth, Hinckley. Watling Street in miniature. The M1 hums alongside, but the old road still slips through villages that were once coaching stops.

Lunch: Towcester or Weedon Bec. Towcester has the better choice; Weedon has the stranger history, with its canal arm and old military depot.

Rail return: Rugby is on the West Coast Main Line, and Milton Keynes Central is an easy start or finish. An off-peak return between the two gives you a linear day without retracing the drive. Check whether your ticket is valid via the old road towns you want to visit; rail is for the return, not the whole day.

4. A30: Honiton to Exeter, via Feniton and Whimple

Drive this bit: Honiton, Feniton, Whimple, Clyst St Mary, Exeter. The A30 dual carriageway does the fast thing; this old section does the East Devon thing. That means hedges, farm gates, village halls and the occasional smell of silage.

Lunch: Ottery St Mary or Exeter. Ottery is the more interesting stop, with a collegiate church and a proper town centre. Exeter is for a late lunch if you have dawdled.

Rail return: South Western Railway serves Honiton and Exeter St Davids, with stations at Feniton and Whimple. A train back from Exeter to Honiton is short and scenic enough to feel like part of the day out. Buy an off-peak return if you are not sure how long lunch will take.

5. A38: Worcester to Bristol, via Tewkesbury and Thornbury

Drive this bit: Worcester, Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Thornbury, Bristol. The M5 does the heavy lifting now, but the A38 still threads through Severnside towns with timber-framed pubs and abbey towers. Tewkesbury is the highlight; the approach from the north gives you the abbey across the meadows.

Lunch: Tewkesbury. Pick a pub near the abbey and leave time for a short walk to the confluence. Gloucester is a good wet-weather alternative if the clouds are doing that Severn thing.

Rail return: CrossCountry and Great Western Railway link Bristol and Worcester, though you may need to change at Gloucester. A one-way drive and a train back from Bristol Temple Meads or Bristol Parkway works well if you start early. In 2026, split ticketing can still save money on this corridor, but check the operator app for the simplest flexible fare.

The bypass mentality, and how to avoid it

Set the sat nav to avoid motorways for the chosen segment, but do not trust it blindly. Old A-roads often have parallel bypasses with similar names, and you want the signed town-centre route, not the ring road. Use a paper map or the old road number as a sanity check.

Start early, plan lunch for noon rather than 1pm, and leave the afternoon loose. These are not roads for a checklist. If a town looks interesting, stop. If a pub has a car park and a chalkboard, that is a better sign than a brown tourist sign.

Where possible, make the day linear and let the train bring you back. That avoids the dull return drive and gives you a legitimate reason to have a second pint. Buy an off-peak return, check Railcard discounts, and remember that a rail replacement bus is still better than motorway services coffee.

And do not try all five in one day. Pick one stretch, drive it properly, and let the motorway do its job on the way home.