Is this actually a road?

Just about. This is one narrow, bumpy, almost-unmade back road that we used today to escape the queues of standing traffic on the A66.

And this will happen again and again over the next two weeks, as holiday traffic heading for the Lakes meets local delivery vans, tractors and streams of commercial trucks of all kinds. No wonder we local people often choose to use the back roads, which is not good for anyone.

And here we are waiting for the A66, the vital route through the Pennines, to be upgraded, or should I say the upgrade that took place many years ago to be completed. The dualling of the single carriageway stretches, which would reduce congestion, boost the economy and save lives, has been planned in detail over years and years. It got so close just before the election, but no one could be bothered to sign it off. Now the current government is ‘considering it’. There is massive, extensive work going on to move a huge gas pipe from one side of the road to the other in preparation. But we still have no decision. Tim Farron is fighting for it, we have completed several petitions . . . but we still wait.