Great British Road Journeys - Bedfordshire - Biggleswade to Ampthill Ep. 9

#infrastructure #driving #bedfordshire #bedford #cars
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It's time to move on to another county, with Cambridgeshire out the way let's take a look at Bedfordshire... it's... fine. In this episode, we learn of a tyred train, a missing flyover and about italians.
Using a copy of the 1923 Michelin Guide, I'll be travelling the country to see what remains and what's changed since it's publication. The guide offers suggestions on thing to see and where to stay all with the goal of getting you out there and exploring in your motor vehicle.

[@anonymousinternetuser7519]

Anybody else love these videos but are just secretly waiting for their neck of the woods? (Bonus points for your home town and other places you've lived etc) Edit: Like this post if you too have strong opinions about Jon's hat choices.

[@Original50]

Yeap. I'm just north of Frankfurt am Main, though. 🍺🥨🏢

[@drive2613]

He visited Willey in the naughty names episode which I drove through every day to get to work at Lutterworth

[@infidelcastro5129]

Jon visited a place about 200m from my house (Fire College, Moreton-in-Marsh) but he didn’t tell me beforehand so I didn’t get the opportunity to go and worry him like a creepy 55 year old stalker 😢

[@TheFrowningLizard]

Waiting for a ‘Second Disagreement Infrastructures’ video, got loads of pillboxes around where I live in Hampshire 😂

[@johnburn8031]

Me 🙋🏻‍♂️

[@gordonmcmillan4709]

" By writing a coffee into the script that makes it a business expense and thus tax deductible " 8-)

[@Jimmy_Jones]

Damn. I was too slow

[@m1geo]

I'm sure he's actually said that in the past.

[@craigpix8422]

The more I watch your content John, the more I know that 'Railway Shenanigans' will be a thing in the near future! Keep up the good work Sir. God Speed

[@SashaGrace94]

But it would feature a lot of road infrastructure 😂

[@stephenyates962]

And Michael Portillo 😂

[@The_BenboBaggins]

Watching these really brings home the monumental growth of population and infrastructure over the last 100 years!

[@stephentookey5519]

Never mind last 100 years most of the expansion of Biggleswade Sandy and Bedford has taken place in the last20 to 30 years and likewise all the surounding villages that you now get road rage trying to drive through due to over development and no extra facilities.

[@sue.Hoo123]

@@stephentookey5519 and flooding, cos they’ve built on the land, mostly clay, without thinking about soak aways. There’s going to be a lot of subsidence claims!

[@The_BenboBaggins]

Absolutely! All of this, plus it will be the tax payer footing the bill because these people are way beyond accountability! 🤬🤬🤬

[@sidwainhouse]

The Stewartby brickworks site has been bought by Universal Studios and will become the UKs first Universal Studios theme park.

[@AcornElectron]

It MAY become that. I’m not holding my breath for its opening.

[@womble321]

I hope so but remember the national aquarium that seems to have been a huge con trick.

[@PhillipParr]

Correction - it's the Kempston Hardwick Brickworks that Universal Studios own - not the Stewartby ones.

[@Bwlvych1]

Was expecting to see the airship sheds at former RAF Cardington mentioned in this one :/

[@xr6lad]

I know. When he said nothing came out of Bedfordshire. Well apart from pretty much the entire British airship industry and the R101. Or the motor industry.

[@IainLambert]

If not for themselves, because they’re Rebel Base on Yavin’s moon.

[@sddsddean]

Wot?...no airship hangars at Cardington!!?? I pick up building sand at the quarry at Sandy. You should have flown the drone over it...its a very big, deep hole!!(right beside the transmitter mast). I remember driving up the M1 in the 70's and if the wind was in the right direction, you could smell the brick works at Stewartby.

[@madgardener5820]

My self centredness has encouraged me to write that: In the early nineties I lived in Marston Moretaine and also knew a chap who worked for Renault trucks. With his help I blagged my way into Millbrook Test Track and drove a couple of Renault trucks even though I didn't have an HGV licence. I told the Renault driver in the cab that I didn't have a licence and that I'd driven nothing bigger than a transit van but he said that I'd be alright only just don't tell anyone. During my lap of the banked circuit I was passed three times by a dark blue Lotus Esprit V8. The food was pretty good too.

[@drive2613]

I’ll see you guys next time for another exciting Look At Great British Railway Architecture

[@SirReginaldBlomfield1234]

Mr? Tim(woke as you like)Dunn has already done that one on TV along with his weirdo friends.

[@saintuk70]

As for Sandy, was always funny when watching Blue Peter back in the day (70's/80's) and one of the addresses always used was Sandy, Beds.

[@robertturner4955]

I think that was the RSPB.

[@DavidJCane]

@@robertturner4955it was.

[@bws833]

It still is. @@DavidJCane

[@SirReginaldBlomfield1234]

Miss Betty Lykes The Cockwell Inn Tillet Herts. Is close by too, according to Blue Peter.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Getting infrastructure prepared for nothing sums up so much of UK road planning. That “nothing” eventually becomes “something” that those previous preparations can’t cope with and need to be redone, again. 🥴 Thank you Jon for another insightful episode. 👏👏👍😀

[@stevecarter8810]

"because of some geological land stuff" was a surprisingly satisfactory explanation. That's not the great river ouse, but the river great ouse, isn't it?

[@Vtarngpb]

A Rail line from Cambridge to Oxford? Sounds to me like it’d be a railway for Punts!

[@adamjolley8552]

I like this video so I’ve pressed the button specifically for that 👉🏻

[@bobshop]

The railway that comes off there is the varsity line, I have walked the full length from sandy to Cambridge along the original route as much as is possible anyway! :-) it's pretty awesome and includes the location of the outro for 3 episodes ago at lordsbridge aka MRAO:-)

[@MrBreadman1966]

The Varsity Line is currently being rebuilt, with a couple of diversions n the way due to some blokes building things on the track bed. Some of the line just outside of Oxford, near Bicester was re-laid just a few weeks ago now and Network Rail are due to put in the signaling later this year. The line is expected to reopen sometime in the (erm) mid 2030`s or soo.

[@sandwichbar8226]

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

[@SekritJay]

Had to pause and have a good belly laugh at 9:40 because it was an excellently delivered gag

[@puppet-head]

The varsity line has just been rebuilt, well as far as Bedford. The last section to Cambridge has endless NIMBYs trying to kill it.

[@jonh6585]

The preferred route from Bedford to Cambridge is now to the north of the old varsity line. Some think it should follow old route that is part of the nimby battle

[@wiredwomble7958]

That might be difficult as parts of it are already redeveloped into roads, housing and some great big lakes.

[@K777John]

The stupid part of the line from Bedford to Cambridge is that the route goes south of St Neots-the largest and fastest growing town in Cambridgeshire-and will have a station in Tempsford-a very small village. So to use the train to Cambridge from St Neots you will have to drive to Tempsford which takes nearly as long as driving to Cambridge-so nobody in St Neots will use it……..

[@R08Tam]

I've never had my biggles weighed. I'll get my coat.

[@jimcobb2116]

It never ceases to amaze me how much money the government wastes not building a decent road network. Biggleswade South Roundabout is the first roundabout out of London, and it busy enough to require a flyover, so let's fix that by doing half a job and then not actually doing the bit that will make a difference.

[@wiredwomble7958]

When they started to build the 2000 new homes to the east of Biggleswade the roundabout was upgraded then. I think there were calls for it be a flyover or burger but they did the minimum. Now we have big distribution warehouses going up and the northbound side of the roundabout is a magnet for overturned lorries. Thing is you put in a flyover there and the next two roundabouts are nowhere near suitable to upgrade, plus the Biggleswade to Sandy section is flanked by houses near Sandy plus it is a floodplain.

[@chrisblay]

When driving up the A1 the sign for Biggleswade always made me laugh for some reason.🤣

[@TheThejpmshow]

I once heard it pronounced as BIG-LES-SWARD

[@mtssman]

@@TheThejpmshow In Cornwall there is a fishing village called Mevagissey. Years ago I worked in local university and an international student called it "Megapissy".

[@martinjb7437]

When I told someone I live in Biggleswade they laughed. Then said “nah come on. Is that where the Biggles live?” Which cracked me up. I’m pretty sure we were both high 😂

[@PiousMoltar]

@@mtssman Been there. To be fair it does often piss it down in Cornwall.

[@cannedham8630]

Slightly deviating from the route....a walk along Sandy Hills. Lovely walk where the RSPB is and a walk along the quarry by Sandy Heath Tele Tower transmitter. Which is worth a look... There is a great place to grab a coffee in the nearby Potton😊

[@BarrtCartamn]

@Auto Shenanigans Just Let You Know You Forgotten to do A Secrets of The Motorway - A195(M) Washington Spur There is Lots Of History And Secrets Of this Spur/Motorway, so please do a video about this Motorway.

[@bushcraftdadgary5381]

The 2 great mysteries of the UK 1. The existence of the Loch Ness Monster? And in 2nd place. Why the xxxx has the A1M never been completed? The Thatcher Government 79 -91 wanted, and actually started to do it. But she decided to introduce Poll Tax, and the plan fell on its arse along with her political Career. Good vid John, love it. Keep em coming.

[@daws167]

My dad's family lived in Stewartby. My grandfather worked as a manager there after the war and then my grandmother lived in the retirement section of the village until she passed. I had some great summers there swimming at the pool, walking around the lake and investigating the abandoned parts of the factory back in the 80s.

[@simonrayner3110]

The shadow cast by the cross in Ampthill at the end of your video was the place where a golden rabbit was placed in a time capsule the 70's. The bloke that did this then wrote a book containing paintings and poems giving clues as to the location for treasure hunters. On one day of the year the shadow of the cross marked the spot. Strangely a relative of his ex wife found the gold rabbit a few years later.

[@ilovex1981]

Indeed. Except it was a Hare. I came here fully expecting to see this comment. 'Masquerade" by Kit Williams - a well-known anagram of "I will Mask It". The tip of the shadow of the cross at noon on 21 March is where the golden hare laid. My faavourite book of that time.

[@brianartillery]

Not that strange - as nobody had even got near to finding the hare, which was absolutely beautiful, by the way, I have read that Mr Williams gave some people a steer as to where it was hidden.

[@simonrayner3110]

​@@brianartillerythat's what I meant by "strangely" the find was a bit controversial.

[@highpath4776]

@@brianartillery I thought someone turned up near where he lived at matched the picture of rugby posts to the book illustration

[@brianartillery]

@@highpath4776 - Interesting, but I can't say I've ever heard that before. Not dismissing it, but it is very strange that the 'finder' was known to the author, no matter how distantly.

[@Itsdectaylor]

Please tell me I’m not the only one who replies to “hope you’ve had a good week” with yea I have John cheers

[@SB3136]

If you had travelled a little further up the A1 from Sandy you would have encountered the Black Cat intersection which is just under going its second major revamp in a few years after the previous one was a disaster!

[@RonPanter]

Brillant, thanks for looking some local landmarks but you should have checked on the progress at r=the Black Cat roundabout whie you were in the area. None excpt the statue hasbeen removed for safe keeping and average speed cameras have been installed!

[@InTheBeginningTheUniverseWas]

I was born in Dunstable. Always love to see my wonderful birthplace getting a mention! Haha.... ha 🙃

[@humza890]

Hello neighbor, I grew up in..... Luton 😅

[@harryjohnson9215]

Born in luton It is grate to hear it mentioned but People always make it sound worse than it actually is

[@humza890]

@@harryjohnson9215 Your not wrong. It's an alright place tbh. Definately good as a multi cultural place. Other than that, not much else to say. It's certainly not the worst town in the whole country

[@xr6lad]

I was born in Houghton Regis! Baptised at the church. 1966. Back when Houghton Regis was actually a village and not a suburb.

[@TheGrumpybstard]

Before you get to Stewartby you pass the new village called Wixams. Part of this was built on what used to be Elstow Storage Depot which was originally a prisoner of war camp that held Italian soldiers who worked on the local farms. After peace broke out many of the Italians stayed which resulted in the large Italian population before the bricks were being worked.

[@fenpikey]

POW camp? It used to be a Royal Ordnance Factory, filling factory 16. Construction started November 1940 and completed by August 1942. As for the Italians, they were not POWs. The brick companies had a recruitment drive with an office in Naples. Hope this clarifies things 😊

[@TheGrumpybstard]

POW camp 644 held at least 55 Italians in 1943. The exact location was classified but recorded as Houghton Conquest which was the nearest village. The actual camp was likely at Elstow Storage Depot which was an enormous site.

[@fenpikey]

Can't post the link on here, apparently there was two near to the storage depot though not on it. The Italians who worked in the brickyards were not from these camps. Hope this helps 😊

[@dereknicol5284]

The Dambusters bouncing bombs were made at Elstow Storage Depot, now Wixams.

[@mariemccann5895]

You should have swung by Vanilla Alternative, it must have been on-route...

[@highpath4776]

There is a community centre in Sandy , used by the toy train collectors society about every two years for a exhibition and also I think by the guage 2 railway society ( a big bigger than O guage or S guage )

[@getawayhs2856]

Really enjoyed this. It would have been better though if you wore brightly coloured trousers.

[@fenpikey]

Michelin used to have two warehouses in Bedford on Elms Farm Industrial Estate with a lot of deliveries going to Vauxhall/IBC plant in Luton, Ford plant at Langley, New Holland at Basildon and Crane Freuhauf at North Walsham

[@MegaTube1313]

Fantastic as I live a stone throw from Sandy Sandy 🤷‍♂️

[@MrLense]

It's a shame you go to Ampthill but don't visit the Caffeine and Machine that's there. Would have been a nice place to stop for a coffee for a motoring enthusiast as yourself

[@rover-t]

Thanks for reminding me that Bedfordshire still exists

[@TheThejpmshow]

I like to rock the boat and play with place names, once I regretted it because I stole the D off of Dunstable and it was left unstable

[@queeg6473]

Ah yes, the Biggleswade south roundabout. My car always tries to fall over when I go round it unless I go at 10 mph...The "improvements" took forever to do and just made it worse !

[@sue.Hoo123]

I know what you mean about falling over, the camber on that roundabout is something else!

[@cheesedoff-with4410]

As soon as I saw Biggleswade, I thought he's bound to mention nearby Old Warden and its wonderful aeroplane collection........ I was wrong.

[@AlpakaWhacker]

With all the unfinished road projects, I wonder if "The most incomplete road network" would make a good video - The town/city with the highest number of unfinished and unbuilt roads

[@TravelSignal]

Shame you missed the link between James Bond (mentioned in the airfield) and Millbrook - Daniel Craig's Aston crash in Casino Royale was filmed there.

[@MrFoxCallum]

I bet they didn't demolish them old chimneys like Fred Dibnah

[@Venemofthe888]

Yay you came to somewhere close to where I live lol and yes there's little to note in most towns. Ayy the castle mound lol. The cineworld in Bedford use to be a monastery in the same land which also was a swimming pool before becoming the cinema. The cinema itself is said to be haunted with the ghost of a monk. We also have the car wash where top gear set fire to when putting their convertible people carrier through

[@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330]

Please dress up as the Michelin Man. I am sure that will get you your tyres.

[@AcornElectron]

Nah he’s been through my area a few times. I like to see that everyone else in the country has to put up with the mess of a road network like me.

[@EMT_Artesania]

yeah, it never rains in England... that shot would have been awesome in the rain, but in this episode the gods have been kind to Jon and he got his ass dry. Wicked sweet awesome videos as always, sir! Thanks!

[@hairyairey]

Tempsford might become a large town if East-West rail is built. It'll be a major interchange on the ECML as well. Because bizarrely the only line westbound south of Peterborough is just before you reach Kings Cross.

[@alantheskinhead]

My late father had is offices based in Bedford at the Igranic Works (Later Brookhirst Igrainic) that made massive bits of switchgear and other "things" for the government and power stations. As a kid we would be dumped on the riverside where we torment the swans and the locals. You missed the famous Cardington Sheds that housed airships like the R101's. My dad would take us there to so he could fly a small plane inside the sheds. (Yes they are that big). We found out that this was something to do with Radar and something called Doppling for Radars. This would have had a connection to Leicester where the Marconi Works were where a similar set up was and that was rumoured to be the biggest brick built covered building in the UK. You could fly a small plane in that one too. I also remember the Stewertby Brickworks from the train windows and from visiting the place with the school for some reason. After my dad's death seven years ago we only recently found out that he was working for the government and involved in some weird goings on in Berlin after the "2nd World Disagreement". I do have a photo of me and brother standing outside the sheds and they were utterly massive. Thank God they are listed too.

[@MercenaryPen]

Pretty sure the disused railway alignment at Sandy was once the point at which the London and Northwestern Railway route to Cambridge crossed the East Coast Mainline- the modern version of this route is due to be built going via Tempsford (to support a plan to build houses on the old RAF base) in the coming years

[@martindooley4439]

I recall the Ampthill mob running a dragster at Santa Pod backninnthe day. Oh my grandad used to run a Taxi firm in Bedford in the 59s and 60s 😊

[@queeg6473]

The grand staircase from Houghton Hall is in a hotel in Bedford. At one point they were owned by the same person and he needed a staircase for his new hotel....

[@PenryMMJ]

You should be getting sponsorship from the tourist board as well as from Michelin. I've never thought about taking a road trip across Bedfordshire before, but now I want to.

[@TerribleFire]

Drivers in Bedfordshire are the worst in the UK

[@Stephen_Lafferty]

Great to see the Ouse and Bedford Castle featured in this week's episode! I was expecting the Cardington Hangers to be shown - perhaps a feature of a future road trip episode?

[@samplechannel2fiyd5idjfufjfud]

emissions target))) what a joke

[@Gordanovich02]

Yep, far better to have stuff made in a country with looser emissions regulations then put on a ship burning heavy fuel oil.

[@Dan23_7]

You missed a trick here Jon, you should’ve took a little re route to Cardington, it’s where the 2 HUUUGE airship hangars are. They’re impressive and colossal. Either way it was still a cracking episode as always 👍🏼

[@johnmoruzzi7236]

They aren’t abandoned though…

[@Dan23_7]

@@johnmoruzzi7236 They’re still impressive nonetheless.

[@dereknicol5284]

You need to get inside one to really appreciate how huge they are.

[@linedwell]

I like these road trip videos. Mildly interesting and very entertaining.

[@lefthandedspanner]

at its western end, Verney Junction near Buckingham, the Varsity Line once had a direct connection with London's Metropolitan Railway (now the Metropolitan line on the Underground) the Met used to be much longer at the northern end than it it is today, and was pruned back to Amersham when it was electrified in 1961

[@Mark93944]

Thanks for stopping by in Ampthill!

[@notrut]

'The Emissions Target set by the UK Gov in 2008' were actually EU Directives and Blair never said NO to the EU in Brussels. 50 out of 80 English Brickworks closed and guess what ..... Most of the Bricks used in England today are imported from EU ... Blair & Brown were complicit.

[@whoknows...]

Is there anything other than the bat lights in Worcester?

[@notrut]

Sorry to disappoint you but Michelin bought Uniroyal back in 1990 .... Ahem.

[@geoffashden2]

Great Video. As I was born in the late 1950s in Biggleswade, I am very familiar with all these locations before most of the changes. Very nostalgic, thank you.

[@GrahamMacdonald-w9o]

Stewartby is indeed a bit weird but there is an interesting walk you can do around the nature reserve where the quarry has now been flooded. The changes they made in 2014 to increase the size of the Biggleswade South roundabout work pretty well when you are driving south along the A1. However, travelling north up to said roundabout, the approach section of the road doesn't bend round to the left enough and a lot of traffic on the inside lane (of two) before the roundabout drifts into the middle lane because the change of direction is too great (or people are going too fast or both). Mind you, the engine of my friend Gareth's car blew up when he was coming up to the roundabout and the brakes and the steering went on a go-slow, so he was unable to keep in the correct lane. Fortunately, no-one was coming round the roundabout at the time and his car ploughed straight across the middle before ending in a hedge on the other side of the roundabout. The car was a write-off and Gareth's only souvenir was that the inflation of the airbag somewhat re-shaped his glasses.

[@teamhandsome1974]

I’ll be down around there later this week. I think I’ll trace your route. Any chance of a pdf of the pages from your guidebook?! 😅 Argh Millbrook Proving Grounds! I’ve only been inside once to help to Vmax speed confirmation tests on a K11 Nissan Micro facelift (major minor change in Nissan jargon!). We used the mile straight and the banked circuit. As we came off the circuit (94mph in 4th happily if noisily achieved) we spotted a then under developed McLaren F1 GTR Longtail heading onto the circuit, so we sat on the bridge to watching go by a few times. Sure enough it was lapping at 150mph, the max speed limit allowed without exclusive usage arrangements. My brother and I would drive past every day on our way to and from work, and quite often some manufacturer or other would be finishing off a nighttime high speed durability run as we trundled past stuck behind yet another dawdling commuter! Catch a glimpse of those 90’s AMG’s at flat chat as you came down the hill out of Millbrook Village was a pleasant wake up at 7:45am. 😍😍😍

[@_Cads]

Welcome to Bedfordshire John! And you’ve been to some of the nicer bits. Can’t wait to see what you think of some of the less salubrious bits in the south. 😂

[@SampleTracks2224]

Who's watching in 1923? I am - we managed to invent a time machine. Wow, 2024 is in a right state isn't it! You're probably wondering what 1923 was like. Well it was great, just without air conditioning. And yeah, things look pretty shit now. So no-one's really interested in the future any more. I'm off back to 1923 then. Well, bye!

[@ewanmcgregor146]

6:04…. The Sapporo Subway Namboku Line?! Definitely DO NOT tell the French you chose THAT over the Paris Métro!!

[@tassiehandyman3090]

6:17..."free of charge Michelin tyres, don't you think...?" Bugger me, if the PR department of Michelin in the UK don't get on to this this week, they'll have dropped an utter sitter... then again, they are French, so I'd be skeptical of their cricket skills..😂🏏👍❤️🚗🇦🇺

[@chriswall4795]

We moved to Biggleswade in c. 1973 and South roundabout was already there ... widening of roundabout happened after 1986 when my parents moved north to near Huntingdon. When we arrived in Biggleswade in 1973 the Sandy roundabout was then a significant traffic light controlled crossroad. Bedford to Cambridge railway crossed East Coast mainline at Sandy - as per your comments on Willington.

[@malcolmhedges7346]

My wife's (Italian) Aunt was Lord Hanson (co owner of London Brick) housekeeper .... there was obviously a strong connection with Italy. The Aunt used to get Lady (?) White's hand me down clothes, they have family photo's of her various other aunties in Italy rocking some Chanel, Dior etc ... unfortunately my wife donated most of what she had to charity shops, it would be worth a small fortune now!

[@cb01ttr]

I like to call it Boggleswode but that’s just me. Very interesting especially the bit about RAF Tempsford. I once hosted a gentleman who was in the Special Operations Executive based there. Fascinating what they got up to.

[@martinhowe1422]

Pedant Corner here.....its actually the River Great Ouse, not the Great River Ouse. You will need that little piece of advice if you stray between Milton Keynes and Buckingham next week......

[@JonosBtheMC]

Fun fact: the Vauxhall 30-98 was the first British production car that could do 100 MPH. John Steed of The Avengers had one...

[@pgVeritas]

The reason for the large amount of Italians in Bedford, also has to do with it housing a large Italian prisoner of war camp. Many of these stayed behind after the war and their families emigrated to Bedford. As someone else pointed out, you missed Cardington. However, the reason why you should have visited there, was because of the infamous R101 airship disaster and its memorial. This segways to another important miss, which is Cranfield University, whose first Vice Chancellor, Harold Roxbee Cox (later the Lord Kings Norton) as a young aero engineer, didn’t take the flight because of a dream from his mother. He was also one of the few people in the World to have met both the first men in flight, the Wright brothers and the first man on the moon (allegedly) Neil Armstrong. Cranfield is the site of the only University outside of the U.S. with a fully operational airport and Europe’s number 1 APPLIED research university. (“Applied’ in capitals because it is not the biggest overall for research, but applied is the important sort of research, as opposed to sociology studies and gender studies research.) Now, I do realise that you used your Michelin guide book as a basis of comparison, but to call Bedfordshire boring and unimportant, is a little remiss since without Cranfield the World’s airlines wouldn’t be flying after volcanic eruptions. It’s their research planes that fly into volcanic ash clouds to determine when it’s safe for everyone to fly. It also issues over 80% of the safety certificates for the FIA so that F1 cars can race every Sunday. There’s a bucket load of important things about Cranfield University, which make it it the best kept secret (for a very good reason) in Britain.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

9:14 Millbrook is where they filmed Daniel Craig's Bond flipping his Aston in Casino Royale. Adam Kirley the stunt man was really hoping for 3 or 4. We got a record making, truly magnificent Seven! In other news, it also happens to be where I had the best day's paid employment ever. Filming a video for a brand new BMW, the director noticed the similarity between the presenter and me, the lowly runner. Suddenly I was the one bombing around the track at the side of BMW's chief test driver, Steve Soper. The banked track was fab but the tarmac sphere here was sthg else. When they put on the water sprays... wow!

[@hotmechanic222]

I used to stay over night in Sandy alot, there was a lovely curryhouse there call The Gandhi, it was the Gandhi in Sandy lol

[@tobyjackman3212]

That certainly is LOL.

[@getreal7964]

Bedford AND Dunstable !! In the SAME video !!! Did well to shoe horn both of those in under 12 mins, tho a bit complex on the "Geographical Landstuff" Jon, lost me there for a while mate!

[@geoffreycoan]

My local area ! Biggleswade South’s big roundabout is part of the plan is/was to remove all the roundabouts off the A1 but as usual its been shelved due to lack of money etc. After London all of the A1 roundabouts Northwards from Peterborough have been removed, apart from 5 in Bedfordshire/Cambridgeshire. Aren’t we lucky? At least the Black Cat will finally get its proper flyover soon

[@jovetj]

Still weirds me out to hear British people say /KON-trih-yoot/ versus what everyone in the US says /kon-TRIB-yoot/ ....

[@hairyairey]

I suspect Stewartby is similar to Peterborough Jon. Some of the Italians that settled and worked here were former prisoners of war during said 1939-1945 disagreement. We also have a large Italian population but nothing like Bedford.

[@m1geo]

"UniRoyal Tyres" -- Ahh, the modern day Canvas Cruisers! :) Now also tax deductible :)

[@Dumptheclutchevo]

I grew up in Bedford, and I now live in New York City, go figure... But yeah, that awful one way system made for a great street racing circuit back in the mid - late nineties, ask me how I know...

[@simonbaxter8585]

After watching you for years, thank goodness you've got to Sandy where I lived for 37 years. Now I can stop following you. Only joking, you make all roads interesting, keep up the good work, wherever it takes you.

[@MajorT0m]

I urbexed Stewartby Brickeworks before the demolition. Fascinating site, absolutely huge. Lots of it remains (or it did two years ago when I was last there).

[@peterallam6494]

01 6 24, Large parts of Sandy laid out by The GLC following ' the 2nd little disagreement.'

[@PLATE_FACE]

"Doesn't contribute anything" we had the top 3 largest brickworks in the world, an iron works that supplied a lot of both world wars metal resources, we've still got the Zeppelin hangers where massive Hollywood movies are filmed and TV programmes, speaking of which we're getting another Hollywood movie set / headquarters soon... oh and lastly we've got the green light to get a Universal studios theme park to compete with Orlando Florida

[@GarryMcGovern]

I hit the like button before I hit play......... I just like getting sh1t out of the way quickly so I don't forget later! 😉

[@davidcronan4072]

Looking at the first drone shot is a reminder of how many flat-roofed warehouses and distribution centres there are now. When I flew to Guernsey from East Midlands Airport last year the plane flew at a hight of 14,000 feet. On the journey south there seemed to be these very large white boxes everywhere.

[@sarahjrandomnumbers]

"But by writing a coffee into the script, I'm forced to stop and get one. OH NO!" And now you're forced to make it a business expense. 🤣🤣

[@markarnold8160]

To upgrade the A1 from Stotfold to Black Cat roundabout at Wyboston would be no mean feat. A flyover at Big Les Wade South is nothing in the overall cost of achieving that. Like HS2, probably not happening in my lifetime.

[@hydorah]

Always noteworthy the evidence of the decline of British industry everywhere you go. On the subject of which don't become a Clarkson-alike by mocking what remnants of British industry remain. Oh and Lotus Carlton? I gather they were rather rapid

[@MummaBear]

We now import bricks from China and India 😅

[@jamesgallagher4655]

My thoughts exactly M. Close down a business because of environmental issues, 0.002 or whatever it is contributing to world pollution. Then pay through the nose to the heavy polluters to import. Tax upon tax paying gullible Brits as usual.

[@acfbrown1]

We have the same problem on the Sherriffhall Roundabout on the Edinburgh City Bypass. They keep finding excuses not to do anything. I do find it remarkable that a junction so far south hasn't been grade separated though when they've grade separated all the junctions further north in Nottinghamshire etc.

[@Andrewjg_89]

I agree with you about the A1 that needed a better junction with slip roads just like the one at Biggleswade. On the A3 as you head down from London and Hindhead Tunnel and from M27 & Portsmouth. There is a roundabout called Ham Barn a mile north from Liss where the A3 and B3006 meet and that too is also a bottleneck since the Hindhead Tunnel was built and opened in 2011.

[@tflwulf69]

I've got a tenner lets see what we get I am dying

[@90vanman]

I fear that you have missed a place of enormous import. As I have recently pointed out I used to travel from Ipswich via Bedfordshire to Essex. The place you have overlooked is Houghton REGIS. I have no real idea where Royalty came into the story but all the same it is REGIS

[@davidcolin6519]

A video about my neck of the woods. Bedford castle was raised when the owner of the castle disagreed with the government of the day (can't remember which or when - nor am I particularly bothered). And I totally agree with your description of Bedford and its shire, it's a really dreary place whose entire raison d'etre seems to be to provide a stepping stone for people going somewhere else. I lived there for about 13 years and I think the only people that I met who had been born there were either too young to be able to move away or too lacking in imagination to leave. Talking of which, Bdford is also home to a tier one "public" (ie private) school which, when I was there, provided a very mediocre education for an extremely expensive sum. The school has a very long history but I was spectacularly ill served by it as the headmaster still managed to be, by all accounts, the worst in the entire history of the school (C.I.M.Jones, to be precise)