part of the wordplay to the clue of 12a, took me down memory lane. I, along with members of my family, visited London in October 2012. During the tour, I became familiar with M1 motorway. I reminisced that I enjoyed walking on the roads and pavements of London, but it also saddened me to think that my knowledge of the motorways and roadways of the United Kingdom, in particular, is actually very little, and so I had to explore the net to update myself. I learnt that there are four types of roads in the United Kingdom. There are roads that are motorway standard the whole time and very important. They are each called M followed by a number. For instance, M1 is a motorway between London and Leeds, while M2 is that between Strood and Faversham and M3 runs from Sunbury-on-Thames in Middlesex to Southampton in Hampshire. Then there are roads that are still important and expected to carry a lot of traffic but are not motorway standard for the full distance. They are called A roads and followed by a number. These roads are major routes that often connect towns and cities. The roads are often dual carriageway, but still there are also many such roads that are single carriageway. Thus, A1 is a major road running from London to Edinburgh. It is a dual carriageway for most of its length. Motorways only allow motorised vehicles, so that means there won’t be any pedestrians or cyclists. They have the M designation before or after the road number, such as M1 or A1(M). The addition of the (M) means the former dual carriageway, that is the A1, has been upgraded to motorway status. There are signs warning non-motorway traffic to leave when the designation changes. In the third category, there are B roads, designated as B and followed by a number. They are often narrower, less used and hence less busy than A roads and are almost all single carriageway. They are used to interconnect towns and villages. Speed limits vary from 20 mph often in residential areas and in rural locations up to a maximum of 60 mph. The unclassified roads belong to the fourth category and do not have any number. They are used to connect a village with the next village and not expected to be used heavily.
Sunday Telegraph 3217