Great British Road Journeys - Cambridgeshire - Huntingdon to Duxford Ep.7

[@clickrick]

"Herbies ... A family-run business and it's bloody brilliant." Props to you for promoting a local independent eatery!

[@catlee8064]

If you ever drive by it and have time....food its very good

[@ajw9533]

Legendary milkshakes

[@ALMELMUSIC]

Loved the improv'd outro 🤣. That's not Concorde at Duxford though... that's Concordski. Save that story for Flying Shenanigans

[@LuckyWatford]

@@ALMELMUSIC It's Concorde 01 later 101, the third Concorde built and the British pre-production Concorde it was used mainly for testing the variable engine intakes and also had a new design nose section and was larger than the two prototypes. Assembled at Filton, Bristol. So not the Tupolev Tu-144 Concordski

[@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw]

Didn't Concordski crash ?

[@jarrodwilliams3451]

Today’s video reached new heights, unlike the drone….

[@gl1tcheddatabase270]

That was an amazing outro on this video today. Loved it haha!

[@dave_h_8742]

That mincing into the distance looked exhausting and I'm sitting down 😂

[@Eledore]

I say he does not fix the drone, it would improve his cardio..

[@andrx074]

Was it deliberately a Morecambe and Wise outro to camera, or happenchance?

[@chrisblay]

Full of punts 🤣🤣🤣

[@davrosg565]

He’s not wrong 😂

[@charliemansonUK]

I replayed that bit to check what he said!

[@dave_h_8742]

But do you agree ?​@@charliemansonUK

[@jovetj]

Ain't that the couth.

[@TNT-projects]

How many punts 😂

[@Supposedlyimrightwingnow]

The "small disagreement" gag will never die. Keep up the good work. Brilliant.

[@MRSportsCarcam]

Had the pleasure of watching Jon from my office whilst he recorded the bridge at Huntingdon. Was going to pop out and shake your hand and thank you for the motoring entertainment - then I thought about being in the outtakes as the awkward fan and thought better 😂

[@jean-lucpicard5510]

You should have done it.

[@DigitalDiabloUK]

The American display at Duxford is awesome, particularly the aircraft of the cold disagreement.

[@WhiteDieselShed]

I cannot keep track of all these little disagreements. Was the cold one where Mr V Iking decided he wanted a holiday cave on some isolated and rainy little island? :)

[@darren25061965]

@@WhiteDieselShed I think the "Cold disagreement" referes to 2 Big Men Boasting about who had the most and biggest fireworks. In fact there is still "A little Fat Man" in N Korea who is still playing with fireworks, but his are sparklers compared to the other two fellas.😂🚀☢

[@chrisblay]

Hello, Duxford has lots of historic aircraft. Great place to visit.

[@Dan23_7]

I enjoy the newly jigged A14. My sat nav thinks I’m in a field and then a lake. It makes me chuckle. Cheers Jon 👍🏼

[@David_Crayford]

Update your software!

[@johnd6487]

Takes me back to the days of TomTom.. I couldn't hit a stretch of A1(M) without it insisting I was in the middle of a lake and telling me to turn right - and that included after I'd updated the map

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

Had exactly the same 1 week ago. Very nice road though.

[@jonathananderson32]

How old is your sat nav??

[@WhiteDieselShed]

When you sober up you will realise your socks are wet and your car smells fishy... :)

[@MervynPartin]

"They are not particularly fond of the motor car here in Cambridge"- Surely the understatement of the decade. 🛑🚗

[@sarkybugger5009]

They're not too keen in Oxford, either.

[@TheDeadfast]

They clearly never got over that car on the roof gag.

[@ehsnils]

@@TheDeadfast Classic student prank, you can't deny that it was creative.

[@philard]

It's like driving in London. Watching out for cyclists that may be undertaking an undertake is a challenge.

[@JT-nr2ss]

​@@philard just "watching" at all is a challenge for drivers it seems

[@Jablicek]

The bset part of watching you skipping off into the distance was knowing you'd have to walk back for the camera. Thanks for not disappointing us at the end.

[@Pratalax]

Always liked saying "Godmanchester". Fun sounding word. Almost as fun as "Lolworth", but that was only after the year 2000

[@andyalder7910]

Used to be pronounced "Gumster".

[@Rebecka_J]

@@andyalder7910 I am not that old, nor from the area, but I still call it that!

[@thebiglimpet]

I have a friend who likes to point out that he's from "Godless"-manchester.

[@steviepriest3601]

@@andyalder7910 no it wasnt. It was a mistake in a guidebook

[@Zedd7]

Isn't it more Godmn-chester, rather than God-Manchester?

[@ritchiehenshaw9075]

If you're where I think you are at the end, that observatory runs on the route of the old abandoned varsity railway line

[@stevekelly5166]

He wasn't where you think he was. You're close. He was 720m south, and it was neither an old railway or the Varsity line. It is on railway though. Well the one Jon was at is not part of that telescope railway, but you can see it in the background two dishes in the background that are.

[@duncan649]

These road trip videos are most enjoyable. Well presented and interesting with John's usual quirky flair. He goes to the abandoned slip roads so you don't have to. Keep up the good work and thank you.

[@wilkybarkid]

It kinda feels like it should be a fast show sketch

[@nitehawk86]

Aa an American, I just don't think this series could work here. Even on our east coast there is just so much... nothing... in between towns. And for the country that invented the "roadside attraction", we have really let that go to waste.

[@duncan649]

The UK is geographically small yet has so much interesting history packed into it. Always more interesting to take the road less travelled.@@nitehawk86

[@stuartcotton8416]

Not only was Duxford flown out of during the "second disagreement", it was also used as a filming location for the Battle Of Britain film, having 1 hanger destroyed in the process.

[@paulsengupta971]

You can't leave it there, you have to tell us about those dishes. There used to be a services on the A604 (?) near Huntingdon called the Megatron. It was spaceship shaped, and the interior was all done up like a spaceship. You ordered on a touch screen system run by Acorn Archimedes computers. This was back in the late 1980s, well before the McDonalds touch screens became a thing. It was a brilliant place. There were speakers providing a droning sounds as you walked down the corridor into the main building.

[@David_Crayford]

My brother went to Brunel and told me of some engineering students that disassembled a students Mini while he was away, and reassembled the Mini inside his room. It's certainly one way of making sure it doesn't get stolen while you are on holiday.

[@robturner3065]

A small tractor suffered a similar fate at my college, it was dismantled, the parts being rowed across a lake in a dinghy to be rebuilt on an island in the middle

[@gazapc]

1:17 think you mean the second Anglo-Dutch war. Saxon was a bit older..

[@jeremywilliams5107]

Well done, I was wondering what he meant there!

[@ianseddon9347]

Great fun! Cambridge is definitely full of punts!

[@johnmiller4973]

Sundays just wouldn't be Sundays without Jon and Auto Shenanigans

[@paulcooper3410]

If Top Gear existed in 1958, the car on the roof prank is exactly what they would have done

[@perkin2000]

The lap times would have been a highlight. "The latest Austin made it round in under fifteen minutes with the absolute bare minimum of stops for essential repairs."

[@WhiteDieselShed]

And typically the council took a week to do the easier job of getting the car off the roof where it only took a few drunken lads a couple of hours to lift it up there in the first place. Not a lot of change there then?

[@ChrisBrown-px1oy]

Top Gear might have used an Austin Cambridge.

[@johnlewan1114]

Never change Jon, your videos give me a reason to keep living. As usual your outros are absolutely the best!

[@lastofthebrownies]

That outro was well suited to a Skegness video… much jolly fisherman vibes…!

[@ptonpc]

2:57 Look at the length of those back gardens. Modern builders would have a housing estate on each one.

[@whyyoulidl]

Guaranteed they've been eyed-up for future development 🤫

[@dave_h_8742]

Our estate has gardens that long but mine was commandeered for a sub station years ago 😢

[@twocvbloke]

Yeah, a lot of punts in Cambridge, oddly enough though, that's where the good ol' ARM processor was invented, cos of Acorn, which came about from a falling out with Clive, who went on to make Sinclair computers, which is now all owned by Sky, cos Amstrad bought out Sinclair, and Sky bought out Amstrad, and, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah, daft punts... :P

[@robinwells8879]

Don’t forget Bluetooth and Nokia phone software. Cambridge used to be something to write home about. Now they just have Cambridge Analytics 😂

[@m1geo]

The Arm site can be seen on the right of the picutre at 6:27 - I work there 😁

[@frogandspanner]

Apparently Piers Morgan and Katy Hopkins are filming a programme about the maintenance of these traditional Cambridge water craft: _The care of punts_ .

[@shahedmc9656]

A great BBC docu-drama on Sinclair and Acorn called "Micro Men" can be found on KZbin.

[@darren25061965]

Amstrad - Alan Michael Sugar Trading

[@edbrown84]

I was born and raised in Huntingdon, thank you for covering my home town. 🙂

[@johnmehaffey9953]

Made me smile again Jon even though I didn’t get to wave back this time 👋👋

[@Pugjamin]

7:15 fun fact, I’ve spent the last 5 weeks working at a Cambridge water pumping station situated within Sawston Mill grounds. The whole place looks like the set of 28 days later. The water comes from a borehole in the grounds of duxford airfield.

[@richardramsden4626]

So I've watched this fr the second time around now still love all the little puns keep up the good work

[@opathe2nd973]

I'm a Yank and I enjoy the comments as much as I do Jon. Who ever said Brits don't have a sense of humor. Love it!

[@simonbrown-id6ud]

I thought that’s one thing brits are known for

[@juliaw151]

​@@simonbrown-id6ud it is.

[@DanielleWhite]

The remark about Cambridge not being fond of cars brought back a memory from around a decade ago, when I was acquainted with a city councilor and a lot of the remarks were rather anti-car.

[@roderickmain9697]

Just wait till you get to your 60s when knees, ankles, hips, back all start protesting at long walks....come to that, short walks. Interesting stuff Jon. Hope your drone is fixable.

[@martinoutdoors6941]

The double bridge at Girton Interchange was part of Coton footpath and farm access track, which has now been trounced by the A14 upgrades.

[@UK.RoadsCyclingandTransport]

What another exiting new episode of great British road journeys

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Stellar 👏👏👍😀 ……. and that’s just the ending!

[@mikejennings7779]

As usual, the sarcasm is worth it alone

[@AlexHitchins]

Thanks

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, appreciate that!

[@SimonHalsey]

Until early 2000's, I think, Lolworth services was the first services you came to after leaving London. Swavesey was the last. They both used to be very busy because of that. If Lolworth Services did burn down, it wouldn't be the first time. The slip roads were terrifyingly short & in the think fog one night in 1990 a lorry ploughed through the forecourt, before crashing into the shop, killing a customer & burning the place down.

[@stephenhorobin580]

The A 604 started in Harwich and finished in Kettering. On the 1970's our family regularly used this route from Suffolk. It would take what seemed like hours before we reached the A1!

[@Sarge084]

Mad as a box of frogs!

[@samsizer9093]

I can confirm that Herbies Diner is indeed bloody brilliant. Well worth the drive from where I live in Baldock, Hertfordshire.

[@EleanorMacy]

Thanks!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot, that's most kind of you!

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

Another fantastic and informative episode as always Jon.

[@thegeneral9483]

My neck of the woods, having previously lived in Cambridge, Cherry Hinton, Whittlesford and Duxford and now nearby. Spent many a time as a teenager hanging around Sawston and trespassing round the woods in Spicers Paper factory. There used to be a great rope swing there over the river. In the last 25 years, there's been plenty of plane crashes at Duxford, including quite a large plane that didn't stop on the runway and ended up crashing onto the M11 itself. It was also a site for F1 cars to be tested and several years ago, a F1 test driver died in a crash there on the runway.

[@steamsearcher]

Another FRIGGIN SWEET AWSOM video. Thankyou Jon.

[@JohnDavis-ed5sg]

Highly enjoyable as usual, especially this series which are all places I have been driving around for the last fifty years, so much has changed.

[@Stephen_Lafferty]

Great outro, Jon! I loved seeing the University radio telescopes, as well as the Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits! They are all really nice to walk around on a sunny day :D

[@SkyKnightDude]

I work in Godmanchester and have been to Cambridge many times. I'm glad to see you cover them and Huntingdon 😁

[@BCO44]

Herbies is indeed awesome

[@Smithy67]

Towards a new drone!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks mate, a replacement has been delivered!

[@lewis6565]

I love these road trip episodes, the chalk pits are a nice place to go to chill out or do mountain biking aswell. There's also used to be an abandoned mansion on the road at 7:02 just before entering Great Shelford

[@jasonclayton7217]

The "car on the roof" story is one of the best pranks I've heard of, bloody brilliant- would be awesome if any of the guys involved could do an interview with John to tell how it came about, would make a great vid I think. 👍👍👍

[@WheelchairWonders]

Brilliant as usual John.. and thank you for the 2 lanyards you gave us yesterday (Phil and Tracy)

[@chestnut01111]

A130 used to start at Canvey an go all the way to Cambridge. It was shortened back to Dunmow in 1980, then shortened again in 2008 and now finishes at Chelmsford.

[@david_harvey]

Actually it use to start in Eastwood, but that stretch is now the A129/1015. It went to Canvey after they built the Carpenters Arms to Sadlers into Canvey Way stretch in the 1970s.

[@Vtarngpb]

Oh Little Chef… Still a good outro though! 😂

[@philwalton2009]

Hi Jon I love it how you pronounced Godmanchester the way we common people would say it and not like the locals who say Gomster! Gomster for crying out loud!

[@sarkybugger5009]

I've been looking for this comment, as eny fuel nose that the _obvious_ way is *never* the _correct_ way to pronounce old English town names.

[@SampleTracks2224]

Daft. Why Br'pl als ignalf thlers iw'd? Stpd.

[@nickhill2223]

The A14/A1307 around Huntingdon may be of interest. The Concrete viaduct taking the former A14 over a section of Huntingdon was found to have a few problems not so long ago, and short term strengthening was installed, but long term measures were going to be very expensive, so the building of the new A14 route to the South was somewhat hurried up. The viaduct was then removed, section by section, but not without problems as some sections turned out to be far heavier than anyone paid lots of money to work these things out, actually realised. The 2 ends of the former A14 now A1307, then had to be reconnected to the surrounding road network within Huntingdon by building two new pieces of road.

[@brianartillery]

Nice video, Jon. Pleased to see you end up at the Mullard Radio Observatory. That was built on the site of a WW2 'Filling Station'. Not the usual kind, though. It was where munitions were filled with Mustard Gas, which thankfully, was never used for a second time. "Buy us a drone" 😆😆😆

[@philreed1605]

I’m still expecting Jon to say “secrets of the motorway”😂

[@StephenBoyd21]

I always like to listen to you drone on John. I guess I won't have that pleasure any longer.

[@davidostrowski679]

as someone who left the UK 8 years ago, your videos are my weekly guilty pleasure. Thanks mate!

[@SampleTracks2224]

That was a brilliant "fwhicked sweet awesome" this week!

[@TheManFrayBentos]

Some of the biggest punts I've ever encountered were in Cambridge.

[@implodabubble]

I’m a day late but still here. As soon as I saw the drone had died I knew you’d be in for some hard work for the outro. So glad you didn’t just recycle on old shot. Such a good content creator 👌👌👌

[@minordelayz]

What were the dishes?

[@Rega128]

XD The Outro was still Epic even without the drone LOL Nice work John!

[@nervo6321]

Cheers John, one of your most entertaining videos yet !

[@jackanory-balamory]

I live in Huntingdon and I never knew it had anything interesting at all.

[@LordCaes]

I grew up in godmanchester, and now live in Duxford, so this felt like it was made for me! Great stuff, excellent presentation and lots of facts and information with no waffle. I also fly a drone, not sure the radio station allows, but would have been a great shot!

[@philipellis7039]

I’ve only been to Cambridge once (as a tourist it’s very disappointing compared to Oxford) but I stayed on Cherry Hinton caravan park and yes that is quite an interesting area.

[@haggielady]

Have a nice week John and hopefully the drone will miraculously start working.

[@TheNegged]

i just love all your stuff please keep it up !!!! some how !!!

[@bikecommuter24]

I have fond memories of Cambridge, In the late 80s's I was stationed at RAF Woodbridge, I visited Cambridge a few times lovely place that was also the only place I ever got a ticket in England, purely my own fault, I over stayed my time parking, also lovely at the time they left a payment envelope with my ticket and the nice gentleman at the post office got me a money order and I was able to pay my fine through the post. Cheers

[@williamc6774]

Duxford also has a B52 that landed there and can never leave despite only being on loan! That'd have been a good factoid to use and very much on message for this glorious channel.

[@AndrewMartinIsHere]

This is about as close as you could get to film, without being up my nostril. Thanks for covering this route!

[@timwood7808]

Brilliant episode John, thanks. My local area too, although didn't know about Cherry Hinton chalk pits.... Will explore

[@stevekelly5166]

Back towards Godmanchester, you skipped what is certainly a Little Chef on the west bound carriageway. Hemingford Abbots Services. Although HOTTUBSDIRECT also had that for a while. There was also a Shell fuel station. The drone started working again at Girton. Clever editing, or did you turn it off and on again? Then you ended in Barton Road (without drone), dancing past the One-Mile Telescope, towards the (Arthur) Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. Nice to follow your journey. (Edited to speel Arthur correctly!)

[@charliemansonUK]

Ive just moved from Huntingdon after living there for 14 years and can back up the claim of Herbies American Diner being a great place to eat. Not a bad little town but getting worse each year with its closeness to london (its in the magical sub 1hour train journey)

[@sandwichbar8226]

Is it becoming more 'vibrant' thanks to the 'youths'? 🤔

[@ianreynolds9733]

I’ve stayed at the Travelodge and ate at herbies last Christmas. Herbies was fine but I felt sorry for them as the new road bypasses the restaurant. Keep up the good work fella!

[@mbak7801]

Old maps are interesting as many sizable towns now were super small about 80 years ago. It make you wonder how accurate population estimates are these days. Maybe 20 million under, or more! Who knows but the differences really are shocking.

[@CodingAbroad]

A moment for your drone 🕯️

[@spamnjunk-qg9dk]

Lulworth services was where they had that dreadful crash in 1990 I think. Great video.

[@simontaylor2319]

We did the same - put a car on the roof of our college in Cheltenham in the mid 70s

[@luke1978]

This video makes me yearn for the motherland

[@robturner3065]

I'm afraid the motherland is now anotherland

[@portlandfester7510]

Amazing

[@saintuk70]

liked even just for the Morecombe and Wise outro lol

[@Mozzleon]

Cheers

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, appreciate that

[@RampageObidos]

I came, I watched, I commented, I liked. More please :D

[@raz1250]

Sawston resident here was great seeing you mention my village!!

[@landcrab75]

Like the new format. Always wondered what you’d do when you ran out of motorway. The result is really good - keep up the good work. You’re much too clever for the BBC.

[@DavidShepheard]

4:18 I just watched this video again and realised this bit was LOL worthy.

[@ChrisGuarraia]

Still an amazeballs outro!

[@mc4130]

So well written and edited, as ever. I could watch you narrate anything and make it interesting! Map markings are brilliant! (‘No bridge’!!)

[@alanplom8909]

Thanks John. Another very funny and informative contribution to our knowledge of ephemera - once again covering another of my own Stamping Grounds (south of Cambridge City).

[@timsully8958]

Nice to see an improvised Dance Of The Cambridge Punts at the end in lieu of drone action. I know you were knackered but hey, why not style it out? 🤷🏻‍♂️ This is most definitely my favourite journey thus far, albeit largely because I know most of the features in it and have used that old BP/Burger King place loads of time in the past. Even now we still haven’t got used to not going through Huntingdon en route to Lincoln on the A14. The bridge over the railway is now gone and it has much improved the location, albeit it means we don’t see the old water tower which used to mean we were less than an hour from our destination. What thrilling lives we lead…🙄 Didn’t know about the runway at Duxford being truncated. Seems a bit of an extreme measure to build a new dual carriageway just to stop a plane being able to take off though 🤔 Excellent stuff as ever 👍🍀🍻

[@markgr1nyer]

That outro is brilliant

[@Sam_Green____4114]

The best journey in this area is - turn right at Godmanchester ( coming over the bridge from Huntingdon ) and get onto the St Neots road ( I think this might be the old Great North Road ? The old A1 ? ) Very pleasant if you are not in a hurry and want to see some backwaters !

[@WilliamDavidKirbyUK]

Another great episode, thanks Jon.Most informative and thanks for promoting that burger outlet.

[@RylanceStreet]

Even at its full 6000m length the runway at Duxford was too short for a normal Concorde landing. In order to make the flight they had to reduce the weight of the aircraft by removing all the test equipment, and they had to use drag parachutes to bring it to rest. Concord 101's final flight was piloted by former Chief Test Pilot, Brian Trubshaw, who had piloted the first flight of a British Concorde in 1969 (the first French built Concorde flew a little earlier). Two days after it landed the motorway contractors started tearing up 1200m of the runway.

[@cmjones01]

Great to see a video from my neck of the woods. Thank you! It was good to see the porridge bowls, an important landmark from car journeys in my childhood, featuring in the outro too.

[@neilbain8736]

Natty end sequence backing track. Love Cambridge. I don't want to drone on but when I was there they were turning an old railway into a guided busway so I explored that for a bit on the bike, cycling along miles of building site on a block of concrete about a metre off the ground and not very wide. I don't know how that came along but there's now the reinstatement of the East West rail link reinstating the old Varsity line between Oxford, Cambridge and onwards. It's quite an ongoing mega project.

[@MrGadgetgav]

Oh... my old stomping grounds..! If you're doing abandoned factories like the Sawston Paper Mill, you could have done Bird's Chemical Works at Duxford (now the Volvo Trucks site) which used to turn animal carcasses into bone meal, gelatin and glue. Used to smell great back in the day. Probably not something your Michelin Guide points out though. (Why did they even do a route to Duxford?) Also, the other reason the Concord could never take off from Duxford Airfield is that once it landed they took the engines out to use in the fleet that was still flying. I'm sure they thought there was no point having all those spares sitting in a field in Cambridgeshire if it was never going to fly again.