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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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. 👏👏👍😀

"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?

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.

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

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

Thanks for stopping by in Ampthill!

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.

Very interesting, especially about Bedford. Thank you Jon! People have often said, that after WW2, half of London was built and reconstructed by Irish builders and labourers. Now, I'm sure it would be safe to say, that after the war, a lot of London (As well as many other towns and cities that were bombed by the Nazi's) was built and reconstructed by Irish builders and labourers, using bricks mainly made by Italians at the London Brick Company. It must have been so much hard work doing all that. Well done!

Thanks for reminding me that Bedfordshire still exists

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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:-)

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.

What I love is that you have just done a journey that in all likelihood I will never ever take, featuring towns I am less than likely to visit and villages I would never have had any reason to visit and make them relevant, intriguing and relevant. The Italians in Bedford due to a now abandoned brickworks is something I would never have conceived of (other than perhaps the fact that there is a similar story up the road at Peterborough, hence some fine Italian cuisine is available, but how many other people knew that? 🤷🏻‍♂️) but is inherently interesting 🧱 🇮🇹 🍝 And a flyover that hasn’t been built and will in all likelihood never be in my lifetime. Not that there are loads of those 🫣🙄🤣 Excellent stuff John, loved it 😎

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

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.

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.

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😊

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 😊

I live in Montreal 🇨🇦, one of those places with tyred metro systems. Yes Michelin makes the tyres for us. Yes it’s smooth. Yes it means the metro can never go outside because of our cold snowy climate. Yes it was probably a useless expense. Yes we’re stuck with it. Yes I admit I love our metro anyway. Love your sarcastic tour!🌟

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

abandoned train station, old air field, old (type 20) pillbox, derelict brick works, old mansion, lots to like on this one.

"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. 🤣🤣

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.

I completely agree with the quality of both coffee and food at the Sandy roundabout. The Alpine track at Millbrook is where (until recently) the world record for canon rolling a car was held, the Aston Martin in Casino Royale.

No, I haven't had a good week but this video made up for that! lol

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.

The last place I ever expected to see this channel visit is my little town of Ampthill lol

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

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

I used to have a colleague who lived in Biggleswade, he would often informally refer to it as "Biggley-Wiggley"

Get this man some Michelin tyres for the Great British Car Journey! He's promoting them from a 100 year old handbook. Keep up the good work, Jon. Your wit and humour is what makes your videos great to watch 👍

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!

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 )

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

9:26 Go easy on the griffin! The Lotus Carlton stomped around that bowl.

Came back again to locate some -locations- places and ended up watching the whole thing again. It's surprising just how much I didn't pick up first time around. Well worth a second watch.

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....

Lived outside of Sandy for 30 years and this is pretty accurate :) Down to the 'nothing happens here' type description at the start lol

I live in Sandy, interesting to see your take on the locality. Thanks for another great video.

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.

1 of old quarries at Stewartsby now houses a massive incinerator power plant with another under construction next door to it

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!

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. 😂

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.

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.

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!

Moved to Bedford in 2003, every time we had viewed the house the wind must have been coming from west/north/east. Day after we moved in the wind was coming from the south - I'll never forget the sulphurous stench of Stewartby brickworks.

Sandy, Beds - oh for the Blue Peter RSPB days...

Thanks

As a Bedfordshire native... I agree with John's introduction perfectly. As a Luton native... I agree with John's pained sigh of sadness.

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!

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.

Lovely stuff. I live in Bedford so know all these places well :)

Millbrook Test Track, where 007 rolled his Aston Martin in "Casino Royale," and where Clarkson, Hammond and May indulged in some cocking about in the days of real Top Gear. The Convertible People Carrier lost its roof on the high-speed bowl; 2 out of 3 British Leyland cars failed the hill brake test; May got egg in his eye on the bumpy road, looking like "a spaniel that's crashed into the back of a hen" (as Clarkson put it); the HGV's gear lever went-up Clarkson's backside; May's Torrey Canyon (Jaguar XJS) leaked oil all over the place....... Some epic Top Gear moments took place there.

The most interesting thing about Bedford is the former RAE Bedford site, home of significant aircraft experimental development work, plus being one of two key national wind tunnel sites in the UK (along with Farnborough). One of the RAE wind tunnels has survived as the Red Bull Racing tunnel, while the Aircraft Research Association down the road still runs their large transonic tunnel. I believe there was a plan at one point for the countries longest runway, and one of the neighbouring roads still has the cutting where the runway or taxiway would have passed overhead.

@9:43 " I got a ten'er..." I almost pissed myself! 🤣

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?

Missed a trick John theres a fantastic coffee shop in the center of Biggleswade called surfin cafe full of slabs of home made cakes. Next road trip though write into the script a full coffee AND cake break!

I'm loving how these vids have developed into local guides ❤

I always get a laugh watching these videos but I think today has surpassed expectations. Thanks for making my tea break at work a lot more bearable 😆

Brilliant matey ace as always...😂

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.

I love all the detours you take in these road journeys 😊

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

Very interesting John.

When you kept mentioning Sandy, I thought you were about to break into song. Just greasing the wheels. And then the Castle on the Hill. Oh dear.

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.

Grew up in Bedford, you did well to find something of interest. Its a place thats in my blood I guess, but rarely in my thoughts.

The chimneys at Stewartby used to be a light saying i was half way home. Shame they were demolished.

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

Some very efficient greenhouses there behind you at the beginning..

I have many memories of Ampthill and the beautiful park. Bedfordshire has some lovely areas and lots of history. I remember the smell of Stewartby brickworks.

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 !

Finally my local area! The description of Bedfordshire is... accurate 🤣

Great stuff John, Thanks for making these interesting video etc. All the best Bob

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

Excellent episode.

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.

The intro is spot on. For many years, one of the boundary signs (on the A421, I think) had been defaced to read, "Welcome to Bedfordshire - Full of Pikeys".

Ah, Bedford. Remember when van versions of the Vauxhall Astra came badged as Bedfords?

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

awesome video, looking forward to the next one.

Interesting point about Millbrook - the mountain circuit bears a striking resemblance to Monte Negro according to Casino Royale (the Daniel Craig version!).

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