THE ROAD I KEEP COMING BACK TO

There are more glamorous drives in Britain than the A5. It won’t win any awards for sweeping coastlines or breathtaking mountain passes. On a normal day it’s a collection of roundabouts, brake lights, distribution centres and lorries. Lots of lorries.

But I have a soft spot for it. From Staffordshire, past Cannock and Tamworth, through the Atherstone and Hinckley stretch, and onwards towards Rugby and Northamptonshire, it is a road I know in the way you only know a road when you’ve spent years behind a steering wheel.

I’ve driven enough miles in an HGV to appreciate that a road doesn’t need to be pretty to have character. The A5 has character by the trailer-load.

THE ROMANS WERE HERE FIRST

Much of this stretch follows Watling Street, the ancient route that helped connect Roman Britain. The broad line of the road was established nearly two thousand years ago. Imagine the people who have passed this way: Roman soldiers, traders, coaches, wagon drivers and, eventually, the modern fleet of articulated lorries.

The vehicles have changed beyond recognition. The job of the road hasn't. It still moves people, goods and ambitions across the country. I rather like that continuity.

A ROAD BUILT FOR WORK — AND ASKED TO DO TOO MUCH

Around Tamworth, Atherstone and Hinckley, the A5 tells the story of the Midlands better than any brochure. Warehouses, industrial estates and logistics sites sit alongside older communities and stretches of open countryside. Britain's goods don’t move by magic. Someone has to drive them.

From an HGV cab, you notice things most drivers never think about: how a roundabout flows, where traffic bunches up, whether there's a sensible gap to pull out, and just how quickly one hold-up can spoil the rest of a shift.

The road can be frustrating. One moment you’re moving nicely; the next, you’re negotiating another queue. Yet it remains one of the Midlands’ important freight links, joining up the motorway network and the places where people work.

A DIFFERENT VIEW FROM VANILLA

In my VW campervan, Vanilla, the same road feels different. I'm not watching a delivery slot or working through a shift. I can put some music on, settle into the drive and watch the landscape change from Staffordshire industry to the flatter fields and big skies of Northamptonshire.

It's a reminder that a road is never just tarmac. Your reason for travelling changes the whole experience. What feels like a hard day's work in a lorry can feel like the start of a little adventure in a campervan.

WHY I STILL LIKE IT

The A5 isn’t polished. It’s practical, occasionally infuriating and undeniably British. It has ancient history underneath it, modern commerce running along it and enough roundabouts to keep any driver properly awake.

And perhaps that's the appeal. It's a real working road, not a postcard. Two thousand years on, we're still using much the same corridor to get on with life. I think the Romans would recognise the idea — although the number of trucks might give them a shock.

NIX // ROAD. The journey is part of the story.