The Roads to Hell

Well, it's been a busy few days since my birthday. Now, if England had won in the Rugby World Cup final I would be doing a post on that. I'm not really a rugby fan so I guess I would have learnt something in the research. Bad luck guys, narrowly losing out to South Africa. They weren't even expected to get to the final and no team had retained the title so it was a long shot, but still, they did well.

I didn't get to see the game because Sally had managed to get tickets to see The Police again, this time their final date of their European leg, at Wembley Arena. It looked like it could be cancelled because Sting has had a bad throat but luckily it went ahead. It was brilliant, though not as good as the Twickenham date. The venue didn't have as much atmosphere (strange, cos it's smaller and inside) and I think Sting didn't go for some of the previous vocal gymnastics (though his voice was still amazing, you could see he was holding back on some of it - and he did repeat a verse in Synchronicity II). The venue was big enough for all the screens and lighting set up either. and still amazed. He's astounding, the way he under-inned everything in Roxanne was superb. All in all a great night but I think the fact I was SO excited for the Twickenham gig, we were a bit spoilt before.

Wembley was only an hour and a half's drive away too so we must go more often. The GPS system we got for each other for our anniversary (to stop arguments giving directions when we go anywhere!) was a big help. Which leads me on to today's list.

Sat-nav company Garmin has released a poll to find out Britain's best and worst roads (story here on Yahoo) and these are the results:

Britain 10 worst roads:

1. M25
2. M6
3. Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham
4. North Circular in London
5. Oxford Circus in London
6. M1
7. Hanger Lane Gyratory in west London
8. South Circular in London
9. M62
10. M5

Britain's 10 best roads:

1. A591 between Keswick and Lake Windermere in the Lake District
2. A82 Glasgow to Fort William in Scotland
3. A38 from Exeter to Plymouth
4. M48 across the Severn Bridge
5. A696 from Newcastle upon Tyne to the Scottish Borders
6. A3 overlooking the Devils Punchbowl in Surrey
7. A1 or A167 when you see the Angel of the North
8. A537 out of Macclesfield
9. A25 from Dorking to Guildford in Surrey
10. Oxford Street in London

Now, it's not normally the actual roads I love but the views from them or the final destination For example, my favourite bit of travelling is along the back lanes approaching Glastonbury Festival, they're so familiar and preclude a fantastic weekend ahead. But I'll give you my worst and best too:

My worst:

• The M5 between the Birmingham turn off and Bristol, a long, dull stretch of road, without it it would be so much nicer visiting my parents!

My best:

• (see above) and the A35 between Bridport and Chideock in Dorset. A beautiful road over the rolling hills along the Jurassic coast. I never have to travel this way now though.

Thanks to my mate Keef for bringing this to my attention.