Southampton, via the A272 cross-country route

Our drive down to Southampton the other weekend, followed a different route from our usual one. I shall explain the reason shortly, but for a moment let's reflect on our usual drive which is to follow the A26 from Tonbridge, down to Lewes, via Tunbridge Wells, Crowborough and the Uckfield. 

It's a route I know well, after having worked for three years in Lewes, but as far as speed is concerned, the A26 is not the quickest of roads as it's single carriageway in its entirety. At Lewes, we turn onto the A27, which then takes us into the back of Brighton, close to Falmer and Brighton & Hove Albion's football ground, before continuing on past Hove, Worthing, Arundel and Chichester, before picking up the M27 at Portsmouth. From there it's a relatively straight forward run into Southampton - providing you don't follow the route suggested by Mrs PBT's sat-nav! That's a story for another day, though.

This time around, I was advised by a work colleague to avoid Worthing altogether, as the roads there recently have been gridlocked, due to cable installation, or some other "essential" task. My colleague lives locally, and because of the road works, advised me to seek an alternative route. He came up with the same road as me, which was the A272, a cross-country road that starts just outside Uckfield, and then continues all the way to Winchester. It's not the fastest of roads, as not only does it twist and turn a lot, but it also crosses several of the major routes that radiate out of London, like the spokes on a wheel. The A272 is a road I've long wished to journey along, as it would bring back memories of the time my father decided that taking the cross-country route, that avoided London, back from South Wales, was a good idea.

I think that like me now, dad wanted to experience a part of his youth, which was why after stopping off at Stonehenge (an attraction the family had visited before), he continued on to Winchester where, up on St Catherine's Hill he'd carried out various manoeuvres and other military stuff, as part of his National Service, with the 7th Armoured Division of the King's Royal Rifles aka, the "Desert Rats". Dad was in his element here, reliving the experience of, what he described as, "playing soldiers." He was also fortunate that his National Service only took him as far as Hampshire and Germany, as some unlucky conscripts were posted to active war zones, in areas such as Malaya, Kenya or even Korea, and quite a few of them, sadly, never came back. 

I've a feeling that on that trip we also visited Winchester's imposing cathedral, although that might have been on a different occasion, but whatever the case we picked up the A272 there, and continued on what seemed like a never-ending journey back to Kent. The family lived just outside Ashford at the time, so not only did we have the whole of the A272 to travel along, but there was then the added "bonus" of the rural route across to Tunbridge Wells, followed by the A262 back through Goudhurst, Cranbrook and several other villages further east. 

In short, the journey took an age, but my father seemed to relish it, and it was almost certainly the inspiration for me wanting to repeat part of that monumental drive. There were places such as Petworth and Petersfield, with similar sounding names, that stuck in my mind, there were also several "hursts" along the way as well (Midhurst, Billingshurst), and whilst hurst is a common suffix in the Wealden areas of Sussex and Kent, these places had a certain appeal about them, that like my father, I also wanted to experience again. The fact that some of these places, whilst not quite on my doorstep, are close to home, was also not lost on me either. 

So, shortly after 8.30am, on a bright and sunny Sunday morning, Eileen and I set off on our drive down to Southampton, in order to join our cruise ship. I'm not going to describe the whole journey, but the strange thing is that 50+ years after that journey along the A272, none of the towns and villages we passed through, looked remotely familiar! 

This didn't matter though, and if anything added to the experience, although the drive from Uckfield to Petersfield did seem to take an inordinately long time. The road now bypasses certain towns, such as Haywards Heath and Billingshurst, although I don't think it did 50 or so years ago. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, and some quite narrow stretches as well. The A272 isn't a road for putting your foot down either, and most of the way we were lucky to make 40mph, but despite the slow progress it was a pleasant and enjoyable drive.

We stopped for a "comfort break" at Midhurst, which seemed a pleasant and attractive town, and a bit later on we passed through Petworth. If anything the latter seemed even more appealing than Midhurst, and it set me thinking, that this relatively unknown part of West Sussex would be a good place to explore further, and get to know some of its pubs. I noticed that Simon (BRAPA), has recently been GBG ticking in the area. I haven't got round to reading his reports yet, although I expect they will make interesting reading. I'm not sure yet whether we will be taking the same route when we return from Southampton, but I will be checking in advance with my colleague to establish the state of play regarding the roads around Worthing. 

Spoiler alert, after consulting my colleague, and finding the roadworks had been lifted, we took the southerly route, via the A27. It was not as attractive, but was considerably quicker.