Chapter I: Preface

There have been many inquiries for this new volume of the 'Motor Routes of England,' which I should have been glad to publish a year ago had the necessary time been at my disposal. Finding that there was little chance of getting the book out even this year, I obtained the help of Mr. Charles H. Ashdown, who has written a considerable portion of the letterpress under my supervision. We motored over a great part of the routes together last year, and part of North Wales, which I had no time to visit, Mr. Ashdown motored through in my car without me. Although he knew the country intimately, I thought it better, from the motorist's point of view, that he should go through the district afresh. I hope, therefore, that, having taken great pains to give the latest available information, this book will prove of use to all who take their cars into Wales and those parts of England which are included.

As in the previous volumes of this series, I am greatly indebted to the Secretary of the Touring Department of the Royal Automobile Club for his exceedingly kind assistance in working out the routes. They are planned on the accumulated experience of a great many members of the club, who have placed their knowledge at the disposal of their fellow-members.

My experience of the Daimler 38 h.-p. car in which we toured through the greater part of Wales and the adjoining English counties was, as before, entirely satisfactory. We never had to give a thought to the running of the car in the hundreds of miles of mountainous roads we traversed.

Although the route maps accompanying the text are generally sufficient for all the ordinary needs of the touring motorist, I do not think it desirable to travel without the sheets of Bartholomew's half-an-inch-to-the-mile reduced survey maps. The coloured contours are of such service in showing the chief features of the surrounding country that I always feel happier with them. The sheets required for this book are numbered 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30.

I have been asked by those who have used the previous volumes of this series to give a list of hotels, and in that printed at the end of this book I give the names of those hotels I can recommend. I shall be exceedingly grateful to any reader who discovers any inaccuracies in this book if he will be kind enough to let me hear of them.

GORDON HOME.

43, GLOUCESTER STREET,
WARWICK SQUARE,
LONDON, S.W.
_May 1, 1911._

CONTENTS

TRUNK ROUTE

SECTION PAGE

I. LONDON TO DUNSTABLE, 32 MILES 1
II. DUNSTABLE TO ATHERSTONE, 72½ MILES 18
III. ATHERSTONE TO SHREWSBURY, 59 MILES 29

LOOP No. 1

(a) SHREWSBURY TO CHESTER, 39½ MILES 38
(b) CHESTER TO MOLD AND RHYL, 35½ MILES 52
(c) RHYL TO SHREWSBURY, 86½ MILES 61

TRUNK ROUTE

IV. SHREWSBURY TO LLANDUDNO, 81½ MILES 75
V. LLANDUDNO TO BANGOR, 18¾ MILES 89

LOOP No. 2

BANGOR TO BETTWS-Y-COED, 20¼ MILES 98

TRUNK ROUTE

VI. Bangor to Dolgelley, 65¾ Miles 103

LOOP No. 3

DOLGELLEY TO CEMMAES VIA TAL-Y-LLYN, 40 MILES 119

LOOP No. 4

CEMMAES TO ABERYSTWYTH AND LLANGURIG, 49¾ MILES 127

TRUNK ROUTE

VII. DOLGELLEY TO LLANGURIG, 48¼ MILES 134

LOOP No. 5

(a) TALGARTH TO ST. DAVID'S, 117¼ MILES 142
(b) ST. DAVID'S TO HEREFORD, 132¼ MILES 162

TRUNK ROUTE

VIII. LLANGURIG TO ABERGAVENNY, 68 MILES 180
IX. ABERGAVENNY TO GLOUCESTER, 84¼ MILES 189

LOOP No. 6

(a) HEREFORD TO SHREWSBURY, 54¾ MILES 219
(b) SHREWSBURY TO HEREFORD, 81¼ MILES 232

LOOP No. 7

GLOUCESTER TO BATH, MALMESBURY, EVESHAM,
TEWKESBURY, AND GLOUCESTER, 153 MILES 243

TRUNK ROUTE

X. GLOUCESTER TO OXFORD, 50 MILES 269

LOOP No. 8

OXFORD TO STRATFORD-ON-AVON, COVENTRY, BANBURY,
AND OXFORD, 110 MILES 280

TRUNK ROUTE

XI. OXFORD TO LONDON, 67½ MILES 305

TABLE OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND, THE CHIEF
EVENTS OF THEIR REIGNS, AND THE ARCHITECTURAL
PERIODS 320

A LIST OF MOTOR-CAR SIGNS 323

A LIST OF HOTELS 326

INDEX 327

NOTE.--Anyone wishing to plan a tour including the West of England and Wales will find that this book joins with the Southern Section volume at Bath and Windsor, and the large maps at the end of the books will show other points between those places where the motorist can run from one book into the other with only the slightest gap.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Distant View of Bettws-y-Coed. _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

2. Lichfield Cathedral 32

3. Shrewsbury House, Chester 65

4. Swallow Falls, near Bettws-y-Coed 72

5. Conway from Benarth 89

6. Conway Valley 96

7. Distant View of Penmaenmawr 113

8. Snowdon from Traeth Mawr 120

9. Hereford Cathedral from the Banks of the Wye 176

10. The Wye, Symond's Yat, near Monmouth, Herefordshire 185

11. Coming Night, near Beddgelert 201

12. Tintern Abbey 208

13. Church Porch at Northleach 281

14. Stratford-on-Avon 288

15. Ford's Hospital, Coventry 297

16. Magdalen Tower and Bridge, Oxford 304

_Map showing the whole of the routes at the end of volume._

LIST OF PLANS

PAGE

1. St. Albans 7

2. Dunstable 16

3. Shrewsbury 77

4. Chester 44

5. Conway 91

6. Carnarvon 106

7. Hereford 177

8. Worcester 237

9. Gloucester 212

10. Tewkesbury 265

11. Cheltenham 271

12. Oxford 307

13. Warwick 291

14. Leamington 294

15. Coventry 299

16. Bath 251

Chester Cathedral 46

Valle Crucis Abbey 72

Carnarvon Castle 107

St. David's Cathedral 159

Gloucester Cathedral 215

THE

MOTOR ROUTES OF ENGLAND

WESTERN SECTION