Great British Road Journeys - Norfolk - Norwich to Cromer Ep.1

[@SashaGrace94]

It’s been said before but I’m convinced Jon is a closet railway enthusiast. Railway infrastructure in videos about motorways, railway infrastructure in videos about random roads, now we have this series inspired by a programme about railways… We’re on to you mate 😂

[@Red_wine]

Hardly closeted, Secrets of the Motorway is heavily inspired from Geoff Marshall's Secrets of the Underground.

[@bobtrains]

I think secrets of the motorway was a knockoff of Geoff Marshall secrets of the underground

[@SashaGrace94]

OMG yes! More railway links. It must be so. And that’s ok, I like trains and aeroplanes too, never stop throwing in the other infrastructure, all transport is interesting 😊

[@johnmehaffey9953]

He must not have been given a train set for Xmas and he’s now fulfilling his long lost childhood 😊

[@375-Productions]

Definitely. This thinly veiled cover up won't fool us!

[@MikeyJG]

Proper laugh out loud at the pier and storms bit. Well done!

[@chrisblay]

Tonight, from Norwich, it's the quiz of the week. 👍

[@MervynPartin]

With the top prize of a "Television, with all the latest push-button controls". Damn, that dates me!

[@whyyoulidl]

​@MervynPartin wasn't there a food blender at some point?

[@MervynPartin]

@@whyyoulidl I do believe you're right.

[@xenon53827]

@@whyyoulidl No, That was the Generation game, food blender, cuddly toy, hostess trolley.

[@Mark.Andrew.Pardoe]

Whato@@xenon53827, No, I couldn't get a hostess trolley on the conveyor belt.

[@karttrakcromer2945]

Hi Jon, thank you so much for the mention. One of your subscribers visited us at the track today with his family and mentioned you and the shout out you did for us. Did you have a go on our karts? If not Next time your in the area come and come and say hello and have a blast round the track 😄😄👍

[@AutoShenanigans]

That's great to hear! I assume you guys were closed when I was filming but I'll be sure to say Hi next time I'm up that way :)

[@karttrakcromer2945]

@@AutoShenanigans we were open, so definitely pop in next time your in the area 😄👍

[@Misty_Bottom]

Breif glimpse of Thorns in Norwich there. That place is worth a mention. It's a surviving example of the old style DIY shop. Looks small from the outside, but occupies 83 different levels and contains every single imaginable thing on the planet.... in packs of 10. You might think some of the customers coming out of the doors are quite old, but they were still at school when they went in.

[@sixcylinders6346]

I’ve spent several hours in there over the years just browsing. Absolute Aladdins cave for diy enthusiasts. Great video Jon, nice to see my County on your channel. You should have chosen a better day to visit though 🤦‍♂️🌧

[@simongray1308]

Thanks

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, really appreciate that

[@lollington_bear]

I think this is a winning idea. Lets have more of this. Your next "Secrets of the ..." series can wait for now!

[@brianartillery]

'Secrets Of The Lay-bys'. Sounds a good idea, but probably best left well alone, I think.

[@womble321]

​@@brianartilleryespecially around here. For some strange reason people seem to like getting in each other's cars.

[@brianartillery]

🤔🤔🤔. 😆😆😆​@@womble321

[@barrybritcher]

Ah my neck of the woods. Nice

[@ChannelSres]

The "adjusted for inflation" joke made me chuckle

[@johnmoruzzi7236]

I only got that after rewatching ! Top notch !

[@leostockley415]

For reasons that are not yet clear to me I’m really glad I discovered Auto Shenanigans

[@alan-sk7ky]

7:58 ' Listen, lad. I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was swamp. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad: the strongest castle in these islands. '

[@MauriceHotblack]

And marry a princess with huge....tracts of land.

[@hunchanchoc8418]

"Oh HIM ! I thought it was a bit funny me having to guard him, when he's a guard..."

[@justsammy8258]

Pure gold

[@thejimiperkins]

Around 3:30 that type of lay-by is known as an Oxbow Lay-by.

[@ItsFriscoBaby]

Yes. I love this

[@ProAndCon]

As a resident of this county, was lovely to see the area get some more attention. Cromer is well worth a visit in the Summer and thanks Jon for insight on the railway bridge which was the only bit of local trivia I didn't know. Only criticism was that we couldn't see you while you were here. Excellent work, looking forward to the new series.

[@alanphipps]

Yea cromer is nice

[@gibospartan6185]

‘Jewel of the Norfolk Coast’

[@hunchanchoc8418]

@@alanphipps But Sheringham is, perhaps, a bit nicer ?

[@astralplane47]

excitement builds

[@HaybaleMelon]

Yay norfolk

[@paulcooper3410]

The outro for this series was way better than the outro for great British railway journeys

[@RichardLordRix]

Jon, you are a genius! I can even see this series expanding into Great Continental Road Journeys and I'm sure Michelin can supply the guides to follow too.

[@whyyoulidl]

...and a colab with a certain Mr. Portillo 🤔

[@rogink]

I think our host needs some more colourful clothing if he wants to fill Portaloo's shoes :)

[@k.r.baylor8825]

And the celebrity endorsements, too...

[@I-Love-Taylor-Swift]

Any true Alan Partridge fan will have noticed all the stuff in this episode that is related to the aforementioned Partridge: 1) 1:13 - Norwich is Alan's home town 2) 1:30 - the market on the left is seen in the episode "Partrimilgrimage" 3) 1:53 - The Town Hall is a fairly big part of the episode "Partrimilgrimage" 4) 3:58 - Blickling Hall is featured in the classic "I'm Alan Partridge" episode - I Know What Alan Did Last Summer 5) 6:07 - Cromer is mentioned quite frequently in various episodes 6) 8:30 - This is the pier that is featured towards the end of the feature film "Alan Partridge - Alpha Papa"

[@kevinmothers904]

Alongside the new A1270 at Horsham St Faith is the City of Norwich Aviation Museum which has in its collection the GR1 Sepecat Jaguar XX109 which Jon mentioned in his video on the M55. The Jaguar landed, refueled and took off from the soon to be opened motorway near Blackpool in July 1975 in a demonstration of its flexibility by BAE at Warton.

[@FuddButter]

Thanks John!

[@tonyneville2905]

Great video, Portillo without the boring interviews with apple growers etc, looking forward to the next one, keep it up !

[@nubink]

Brilliant, thank you..!!!

[@m1geo]

He's back! Yes! ❤

[@Dan23_7]

He’s never been away 😂

[@m1geo]

@@Dan23_7 I know, I know, but I was worried once the service station series ended. I was even more worried when the motorways finished!

[@cargy930]

He's front and side too! Top man.

[@mellowfellow6816]

Yes, you knew what I was thinking

[@donalddodson7365]

Great new series, Jon. Thank you! I may never actually travel on any motorways in Great Britain, Scotland or Ireland, but I enjoy seeing them through your eyes. Cheers.😊

[@southcalder]

Sorry for the pedantry, but most of Scotland is geographically a part of Great Britain (along with England and Wales). Even if Scotland became independent, it would remain a part of Great Britain, as the name refers to the largest island in the group (sometimes called the British Isles, but that name is complex as far as Ireland is concerned). Hence the overall country name of “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, with Northern Ireland as a distinct entity as it is not on Great Britain. It’s an easy mistake to make.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot sir! Hope you are well.

[@RichardMigneron]

The History channel, automotive style. Love it Jon.

[@PineappleSkip]

This could be the greatest travel show since Francesco Albertini wrote his guidebook about Rome!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one mate, thanks a lot!

[@SloaneEsq]

What a brilliant idea for a series.

[@zippyversion12]

When is "Secrets of the A roads" starting? To be honest I'm more looking forward to "Secrets of the B roads" but appreciate that won't come until the former is completed.

[@Taladar2003]

What about "Secrets of the Abroads" as a collaboration with "Abroad in Japan" and similar channels? :-)

[@smorris12]

I'm holding out for "Secrets of the C/D roads" which arguably could be more interesting as they're (almost) never numbered so it becomes it's own guessing game

[@garrymartin6474]

Secrets of the A38 would keep him going for a few years !

[@hypotheticlz]

Secrets of the B roads would take 20 years to complete

[@TedJM]

I​@@smorris12I've found if you dive super deep into your local council's highway department you can find them and their routes. Sabre Roads also has some info on some of them (filtered by jurisdiction)

[@rudemedic]

Loved the musical interlude at 1:05 very subtle

[@ihathtelekinesis]

Plus the “where to travel, what to see and where to stay” line from the early series.

[@andrewlavelle8105]

Fabulous, thank you

[@mrcogginsgarage7062]

Thanks for that Jon really cuts the mustard.

[@matthewfranklin7541]

Fun fact. The UK road numbering convention was developed in the 20's and is like a compass centred in London.... North to East, numbers start with 1 (like the A1), East to South, 2 (e.g. A2), South to West, 3 (e.g. M3), West to North 4 (e.g M40)...

[@whyyoulidl]

Thx! Had a feeling that was the case years ago; appears now my hunch was up there 👍🏿

[@richardphillips6281]

Gosh I'd never even thought about this but thanks for the history lesson.

[@therealtimwarren]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain_road_numbering_scheme

[@DavidAspden]

Happy days. Inspired.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Comic genius 😂 Cracking start to what promises to be an entertaining new series. Well done Jon. 👏👏👍😎

[@radders261]

Love this new direction!

[@antonymification212]

Lovely to see John's driver getting a cameo on the establisher of the Guild Hall. 🙂

[@patrickward8144]

Thorns is a total gem, as are your vlogs, John!!!!!!!!!!!

[@dragontriketv]

Great new series, Mr Portillo.

[@rockypupoxo]

Got a feeling this series is gonna be most excellent 👍

[@SonicOli92]

Very much looking forward to see what other road journeys you and the book have to offer. Great start to a new series Jon

[@_Cads]

I like the premise of this new series.

[@tradeplatetravels]

I love seeing how a 100 year old book can still take you on an adventure today, even if it wasn't what was originally intended!

[@CynicalPlatapus]

It's a nice mix of interesting facts and humour

[@zippyversion12]

I can't believe how much of a difference the pedestrianisation of Norwich city has made, did they not realise traders needed access to Dixon's?

[@amichaelthomas83]

Not sure about that but they do say it will help people in wheeeeeeeellllllccchhhaaaiiirs

[@womble321]

I'm going to live this series thank you

[@Simon_W74]

This is my neck of the woods. The Journey from Norwich to Cromer now is a massive pain in the arse as we have a population that drives at 40mph on 60mph roads, and sometimes 40mph is pushing it, the famers would drive faster than some of them. Then when you find them on the minor roads and the arsewipes are in the middle of the bloody road. Great fun as they are often found swerving to get out of on coming traffics way on blind bends.

[@raynarnslr1966]

It's annoying when you reach a 30 mile speed limit and they disappear into the distance!🤬

[@ZedderZulu]

I remember them well; I used to love driving through Norfolk if not for the fact that I'd always come across them. Then you'd get to 30mph villages and the sods would still do 40... Never more, never less - unless of course they noticed a car hoping to pull out to join a main road, in which case they'd slam the anchors on to let them out, though it would be hard to determine in which direction the car would pull out, because no-one ever fecking used their indicators... Seemed the way back then anyway - don't know if it's got any better or worse since?

[@Simon_W74]

@@ZedderZulu I have lived in Norfolk for the last 35 years and the standard of driving if you could call it that has defiantly gone down hill. I swear that some of them know your driving at the speed limit with nothing behind you and just pull out to slow you down. It did get worse when we had the Supermarket wagons doing 40mph and some obviously got used to it and simply just carried on, even though the speed limit for wagons went up a few years ago and you don't often see a Supermarket wagon these days. Norwich has gotten worse to drive though with all the 20mph areas and some forget that they are in 30. Unlike Aylsham where they largely tend to ignore it.

[@tobyjackman3212]

This is the best video I've ever seen about anything

[@ianwhiting8822]

Jon, do realise that there is a large invisible city in Norfolk? It's called Byway. There are lots of old roads that lead there but it is not on any map.

[@TravelSignal]

It's the English translation of the German word "Bielefeld"

[@davidtraynor8075]

"Adjusted for inflation" love it! This kind of info etc is fantastic. Keep up the good work Jon!

[@karttrakcromer2945]

Fantastic video by the way, it certainly me us laugh, and now looking forward to further episodes 👍👍

[@WarriorRazor]

Oh boy, a new series! Here we go!!

[@GS-lu2zu]

1:36 We get to see how Jon's really travelling for this series in his new car after the massive success of this channel 😊

[@barneypaws4883]

Why not, youtube has indeed been kind

[@neilgorin1037]

Lol

[@AutoShenanigans]

Yeah I wish...

[@kevinpage9229]

Brilliant watch.

[@eddiemaylor2716]

Really nice video, it reminds me of one of the last trips I made with my wife before she died. We had a great time in Cromer and spent some good time in the RNLI cafe having tea and cakes.

[@MrGadgetgav]

Great description of the good people of the RNLI..!

[@williamriven]

This is awesome, I love the comparison between 1923 and 2024. Another great series for me in the States to see interesting bits of the UK.

[@malcolmcog]

Woo hoo ! Another series from Auto Shenanigans ! Because I'm old I remember travelling from Birmingham to points North before the M6 was built !

[@2008tourer]

Oh my, what a fantastic idea with that series! Can't wait for more, I already have a list of things to see for my future UK holiday and now I will be adding more things to it

[@AdamFahn]

Love the new series. What a great way to earn a living.

[@markb159]

Jon - Awesome incoming series as always - looking fwd to the next ep. Have a nice week...whatever it is you get up to...oh wait making these :)

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, appreciate that!

[@RobSchofield]

Excellent! Really enjoyed that. More!

[@impy1980]

Brilliant series idea John, especially since so many old routes have been by passed or left to rot. Plus I'm sure there will be many more visitor attractions in that book that many of us will know nothing of. Looking forward to more.

[@annecampbell3339]

Brilliant.

[@colingill4458]

What a cracking idea to enable us to get our "fix" of Auto Shenanigans...thanks John keep up your awesome work ;)

[@abarratt8869]

Am enjoying this new series!

[@DavidRGray]

So as well as taking in places in the great Partridge tour of North Norfolk such as Bono’s house (Blickling) and where we lost Geordie Michael when he jumped into the sea. You have me walking past the guildhall at 01:40 behind the Roller. Also your guide for Americans is spot on. PS there’s a sit in strangers just round the corner from the one you visited. You can watch the crackheads shuffling by until they see their dealer and they immediately become Olympic race walkers. Keep up the wonderful work

[@inthemicz]

Came here to mention Bono's house.......

[@Slycockney]

I live on the North Norfolk coast so really enjoying this series, cheers

[@pluxauag7555]

You were so near Six Mile Bottom village.....Big Thumbs Up again superb as always. Norwich was one of my favourite places to visit. Great idea for a series.

[@adamkiddle]

Love it, John. Can't wait for next Sunday!

[@gdavo]

The coast road between Scarborough and Whitby is both spectacular and terrifying. Should make a great video.

[@shaunmorrissey7313]

Hardknot pass, now that's trouser staining.

[@Digitalpiracy]

Brilliant! Looking forward to the next one

[@01mememememe]

Exciting new series! I'm eagerly anticipating the upcoming episodes. Considering the calibre of your channel, featuring the 'Wee House' in Cromer would have been ideal for viewers beyond Norfolk. Speaking of railways, Sheringham offers ample material for Jon's secret interest, conveniently situated next to Cromer. I wouldn't be surprised if Jon explores it soon. Perhaps next week, we'll see "Great British Road Journeys - Norfolk: Sheringham to Cromer, Episode 2." At that point, it might even qualify as a business expense.

[@dajogb3330]

I don’t know the “Wee House” in Cromer. If you mean “The Wee Retreat” that’s in Sheringham.

[@01mememememe]

If ever there was a need for Jon to go to Sheringham then...@@dajogb3330

[@kimjongbingbongtingtong4430]

@@dajogb3330 Yep, I think that's what he means. If he does Sheringham, there's also the blue plaque that marks the first place that Britain was bombed from the air, by a Zeppelin in 1918?

[@markawilliams4829]

With Jon’s style and delivery he could talk about paint drying, and make it interesting

[@himofthenorth-east]

Great video Jon and a brilliant description of the Cromer pier construction. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

[@paulkrenz9593]

Absolutely loved it, can't wait for the next one in the series

[@Pixel_400_Photography]

Great idea for the new series! I look forward to upcoming episodes!

[@PTD2023]

I second Strangers coffee - highly recommended if visiting Norwich !

[@stevieandthebarbies]

yaaayyyy! I love driving on the old routes when I have the time to meander. I drove this route (in reverse) by accident a couple of months back having missed a turn off the Fakenham-Cromer road (A148). The 1969 AA Book of the Road is my guide.

[@bloomcomputing]

As a very local resident, it was lovely to see some little tidbits be picked up along the way!

[@tucker9162]

What a great original, never been done before, idea John. Looking forward to this series if this first episode is anything to go by. Thanks

[@binaryslate]

Fantastic start to the new series, more trademark humour and interesting facts. Looking forward to Ep. 2

[@ZedderZulu]

This is a cracking idea for a series - gonna love watching along! Spent most of my childhood in Norwich and Norfolk so this was lovely nostalgia (/edit - I even remember walking underneath those bridges at the start). It's changed a lot in the time since, of course, but the A1270 was the starkest alteration for me when revisiting; taking my old backway from Old Catton to Spixworth only to find it obliterated by a ruddy-great dual-carriageway... One other attraction that's not far off the route but wouldn't have been mentioned in the 1923 edition - City of Norwich Aviation Museum. Hosts a range of static displays including a Vulcan, Nimrod, some Lightnings, Harriers, Hunters and Meteors - and more beside - well worth a visit if you're into that sort of thing :)

[@mattsrailwayadventures]

I'm glad you've got a new series Jon, it's a small bit of normality for me in whats a completely different time right now. Keep up the good work!

[@johnb8746]

Most good new series Jon

[@Mmmmetro]

I love the brief mention of banjo’s and incest. 😂

[@bucephalus00]

I hope that, in 100 years time, someone will be making a video about this video, refering to it as a guide

[@gilleyb1900]

Nearly spat my coffee when you described Norflok like the deep south and its peculiarities.

[@andrewmurray5542]

Blickling Hall, home of Bono and where U2's album the Joshua Tree was written.

[@madhatter61]

Brilliant episode. Love the Cromer stuff.

[@randallflagg9498]

Yesss john! Another great series, excited for the rest!

[@keithkilvert]

Great as ever, Jon.....

[@coldparanoia1540]

Haha brilliant, love the new series!

[@grumpyrocker]

A great idea for a series.

[@munchkin2302]

Hi Jon my name is Kate and it’s me and my family that own Karttrak Cromer. Thank you so much for the mention and next time your in the area come and say hello and have a few laps and a cuppa 😃👍🏻

[@AutoShenanigans]

I might just do that! :D Thanks for watching

[@andrewclarkson7767]

Nice to have you back, look forward to next episode 😀

[@chrisbiewer-rallye-info]

I love that new series. On the piers, except Brighton and Eastbourne that is where the piers keep burning down....

[@Rorschach.]

Here we go again!! 😎

[@sixfootbear]

Happy days..