P3030001.JPG	Heading southbound on the M5, we are half a mile before junction 27. Quite often in the summer months, due to the tourists, traffic wanting the A361 is queuing back up here, and beyond.
P3030002.JPG	Approaching the junction.
P3030003.JPG	Heading up the sliproad.
P3030004.JPG	Better turn right, then!
P3030005.JPG	Past the services...
P3030006.JPG	...and over the motorway.
P3030007.JPG	Off we go onto the oldest section of the link road.
P3030008.JPG	There's two junctions vey closely spaced together here, and they still managed to fit a layby in. Not the smartest idea ever...
P3030009.JPG	The old A373 road to Tiverton can be found by leaving here. The dual carriageway to Tiverton also used to be the A373 when it opened in 1983 - it changed to the A361 in 1988 when the link road to Barnstaple opened.
P3030010.JPG	The slip road leaves us - the final exit for 6 miles.
P3030011.JPG	Note the 'North Devon Link' on the route confirnation sign.
P3030012.JPG	Over the Grand Western Canal.
P3030013.JPG	Then the road turns quite boring...
P3030014.JPG	Just a standard D2. And it was raining.
P3030015.JPG	Traffic nearly always flows freely, though. Not like the single carriageway sections.
P3030016.JPG	Over the brow of the hill.
P3030017.JPG	...and around the bend.
P3030018.JPG	Still raining.
P3030019.JPG	And still boring.
P3030020.JPG	It wasn't quite as dark as the picture makes it appear - things do improve, though...
P3030021.JPG	...but not yet. Raining quite heavily now, and not making good picture taking.
P3030022.JPG	If you can make it out, there's a half mile ADS for the next junction - the A396.
P3030023.JPG	I did well managing to avoid taking pictures of my wipers - until now. Oh, and there's an LDS on the left if you can see it...
P3030024.JPG	Diverge ahead.
P3030025.JPG	About to go under the junction.
P3030026.JPG	The slip road merges in, and I take a photo of my wiper.
P3030027.JPG	Quite a tight bend here. It goes on...
P3030028.JPG	...and on...
P3030029.JPG	...and on. But something's happening ahead.
P3030030.JPG	The end of the dual carriageway ahead.
P3030031.JPG	Choose your tourist attraction - although Tiverton Castle is rubbish...
P3030032.JPG	On the roundabout.
P3030033.JPG	And now crossing the River Exe.
P3030034.JPG	Why the big space between the two signs? It's bvecause there was a 60 sign on there aswell, but they've all been patched over.
P3030035.JPG	See - the weather has improved!
P3030036.JPG	On the first S2+1 stretch, you can clearly see the old markings when downhill traffic was allowed to overtake.
P3030037.JPG	The hill is deceptively steep - I'm only doing about 40 here.
P3030038.JPG	Very quiet today - there's very often queuing traffic going the other way for the roundabout.
P3030039.JPG	Around the bend - again...
P3030040.JPG	An NSL repeater. These are brand new - they conform to the regulations hence why all the 60 signs have been patched over.
P3030041.JPG	Speed camera just visible on the right.
P3030042.JPG	Up another steep hill.
P3030043.JPG	What's that sign ahead on the left?
P3030044.JPG	Ah - we're about to lose our extra lane!
P3030045.JPG	The hatching here used to be another lane, but there's a junction just over the brow of the hill, so closing it off probably wasn't a bad idea.
P3030046.JPG	You can see the different colours of tarmac in the centre - that's where the lane used to end.
P3030047.JPG	The turn-off for Stoodleigh.
P3030048.JPG	Another side road ahead.
P3030049.JPG	And a dead end? Off a new-build road? What you can't see is another road off to the left which it used to connect to.
P3030050.JPG	Although it doesn't look busy, we;re only doing about 45 at this point because of the slowcoaches in front. You rarely stand a chance with overtaking outside of the S2+1 sections because of oncoming traffic, so we have to put up with it.
P3030051.JPG	Stonelands Cross. Despite two side roads and an overbridge, this hasn't been made into a left-in/left-out GSJ, rather stupidly.
P3030052.JPG	The bridge that hasn't been fully utilised.
P3030053.JPG	Another lay-by.
P3030054.JPG	One of the old 60 repeaters.
P3030055.JPG	Now at Two Gates Cross - and another turning for Rackenford.
P3030056.JPG	Still only doing around 40-50 mph. This is the cause of a lot of frustration, and a lot of accidents.
P3030057.JPG	Warning of wild animals - you can tell this is a problem purely by the amount of roadkill you see on the hard shoulder.
P3030058.JPG	Quite a spectacular, sweeping curve.
P3030059.JPG	2 miles until the Knowstone Picnic area.
P3030060.JPG	One of the few remaining SOS phones on the link road.
P3030061.JPG	If you're going the other way, this is the final overtaking section until Tiverton.
P3030062.JPG	At last! A chance to overtake safely.
P3030063.JPG	A clear road ahead of us...for now.
P3030064.JPG	Another former overtaking lane on theleft. Again, a junction at the top of the hill made overtaking here dangerous, hence why it's been closed off.
P3030065.JPG	The junction ahead.
P3030066.JPG	Although no signs indicate it, we have a lane gain here.
P3030067.JPG	The route confirmation sign.
P3030068.JPG	Already at the end of the short S2+1 section.
P3030069.JPG	This is a good overtaking stretch so long as nothing is coming.
P3030070.JPG	Another side road.
P3030071.JPG	We start to descend a 7% hill, which for a lorry on this type of road is really quite steep, so a lower gear is needed to avoid using the brakes as much as possible.
P3030072.JPG	Nothing coming the other way.
P3030073.JPG	Still nothing...
P3030074.JPG	...still nothing...
P3030075.JPG	...until we see a coach. In the far distance, we can see a lorry causing more traffic to bunch up.
P3030076.JPG	And we're starting to bunch up, although the crawler lane ahead should help.
P3030077.JPG	This photo makes the link road look a lot busier.
P3030078.JPG	The Ash Mill viaducts.
P3030079.JPG	The start of our S2+1 section.
P3030080.JPG	And the end of it. In early April 2007, 2 people died at this exact location after a horrific accident. Note how two oncoming S2+1 sections end head on here.
P3030081.JPG	Signs for the GSJ ahead.
P3030082.JPG	This is where the old A361 (now B3227) joins us for a little bit.
P3030083.JPG	A simple side road - B3227 traffic heading the other way uses a different slip road.
P3030084.JPG	More side roads, more traffic bunching, and a petrol station.
P3030085.JPG	This is the only section where both the old and new A361's are on the same line.
P3030086.JPG	The roundabout for South Molton is ahead.
P3030087.JPG	More destinations.
P3030088.JPG	After the roundabout, we can see a really steep hill ahead.
P3030089.JPG	Route confirmation sign.
P3030090.JPG	Lorries come up here at a crawl - they've had no run up die to the roundabout before.
P3030091.JPG	The brow of the hill.
P3030092.JPG	...and about to lose our lane. Again, two S2+1's end head on here.
P3030093.JPG	We now head downhill.
P3030094.JPG	
P3030095.JPG	Another NSL repeater, meaning only one thing.
P3030096.JPG	A speed camera! At the bottom of a steep hill.
P3030097.JPG	Through Bonners Bridge. 
P3030098.JPG	Another S2+1 ahead.
P3030099.JPG	
P3030100.JPG	The road is dead straight here.
P3030101.JPG	Approaching Aller Cross. The A399 (and a bit of traffic heading to the Ilfracombe area) leaves here.
P3030102.JPG	A near-new sign with no Guildford patching.
P3030103.JPG	The roundabout itself.
P3030104.JPG	The S2+1 leaving the roundabout.
P3030105.JPG	More deer, less lanes.
P3030106.JPG	That was our final overtaking lane before Barnstaple.
P3030107.JPG	We're now about to go over an old railway viaduct. From here on. we follow the trackbed of the old Barnstaple to Taunton railway.
P3030108.JPG	A straight bit.
P3030109.JPG	More traffic bunching.
P3030110.JPG	Just one car coming the other way means I can't overtake this Ford and the car in fromt of it. Frustrating...
P3030111.JPG	More straight road.
P3030112.JPG	The turning for East and West Buckland. Pointless trivia time - Jonathan Edwards, the triple jumper, went to school there.
P3030113.JPG	Good visibility - but the car at the front has sped up now. 
P3030114.JPG	Can you tell this road is, erm, slightly boring?
P3030115.JPG	There's some trees...
P3030116.JPG	...and a bend.
P3030117.JPG	Oh look, a bridge!
P3030118.JPG	A mile of dead straight road approaching Landkey - but 99% of the time oncoming cars mean you can't overtake.
P3030119.JPG	You can just see one in this photo - and with a 120mph closing speed, that car very quickly ends up in your car if you overtake.
P3030120.JPG	A highways van.
P3030121.JPG	The end of the straight stretch - and a half mile ADS for the Landkey turning. 
P3030122.JPG	Approaching the junction itself.
P3030123.JPG	A mobile VMS not in use - it was soon in use warning of roadworks related to the new bypass.
P3030124.JPG	Another speed camera.
P3030125.JPG	An LED sign wich warns of queues. Because this is Barnstaple, they are regular.
P3030126.JPG	Coming up to the Portmore roundabout. As of the 23rd of May, The A361 used to go the the right here, but now it follows the A39 and goes along the new bypass.
P3030127.JPG	LDS.
P3030128.JPG	After the roundabout, we are now on the barnstaple Southern bypass.
P3030129.JPG	This stretch is often congested - and that will only get worse when the bypass opens - a problem which has never been mentioned.
P3030130.JPG	An NSl repeate - but we're not approaching any camera. However...
P3030131.JPG	...we are approaching the worst road "safety" feature to appear in this country. Note the 'New Road Layout Ahead' sign on the left.
P3030132.JPG	Yes - it's the Barnstaple bollards!
P3030133.JPG	There used to be an overtaking lane going the other way, but this has been removed and replaced with this.
P3030134.JPG	All because we can now have a dedicated right-turn lane, which only serves an unsigned B-road and a park and ride site. Utterly pointless.
P3030135.JPG	The primary A377 to Crediton and Exeter starts here.
P3030136.JPG	There's a brand new roundabout ahead.
P3030137.JPG	Over the River Taw and the railway line.
P3030138.JPG	The junction with the western bypass - with horribly tight deflections!
P3030139.JPG	Under another bridge.
P3030140.JPG	As can be seen, this is another section which gets congested.
P3030141.JPG	Roundswell services ahead.
P3030142.JPG	Oh, I forgot to say that for th elast mile since the new roundabout, we've been under a 40mph limit. No reason for it to come out this far.
P3030143.JPG	ADs for Roundswell.
P3030144.JPG	This is a very busy roundabout.
P3030145.JPG	After the roundabout, we have advance notice of another S2+1.
P3030146.JPG	More traffic bunching.
P3030147.JPG	Quite a random turning for Brynsworthy - don't know why it wasn't closed off when the road was built like most other side roads.
P3030148.JPG	Another picnic area.
P3030149.JPG	...and the start of the S2+1.
P3030150.JPG	At the top of the hill.
P3030151.JPG	We can see for quite a distance here.
P3030152.JPG	
P3030154.JPG	More hills and more bends.
P3030155.JPG	...and another S2+1 going the other way.
P3030156.JPG	While we're stuck behind slower traffic.
P3030157.JPG	You can see the old markings here - the newer one has nearly worn off.
P3030158.JPG	Back to S2.
P3030159.JPG	Quite an elevated lay-by, there.
P3030160.JPG	Approaching the Westleigh junction.
P3030161.JPG	Another elevated lay-by.
P3030162.JPG	An advisory 40 limit and flashing signs mean a dangerous junction - although a roundabout is by far the best option for here.
P3030163.JPG	The turning - bear in mind that is the primay A386 to Plymouth leaving us...
P3030164.JPG	Over the Torridge Bridge.
P3030165.JPG	About to regain land.
P3030166.JPG	Approaching another roundabout.
P3030167.JPG	This one is for the small resorts of Appledore and Westward Ho!
P3030169.JPG	The road the other side of the roundabout is much quieter.
P3030170.JPG	After replying to a text message, I pull out of the layby.
P3030171.JPG	there's not too much of the new road left now.
P3030172.JPG	This is our final S2+1.
P3030173.JPG	A wide cutting - far wider than it needs to be. Were bigger things planned?
P3030174.JPG	You can easily do 70 to 80 mph along here quite safely.
P3030175.JPG	Adverts for the Big Sheep and Atlantic Village.
P3030176.JPG	Over the hill...
P3030177.JPG	The Abbotsham turning. Note the very steep hill ahead.
P3030178.JPG	Even with a good run up, lorries really struggle up here.
P3030179.JPG	Nearing the top.
P3030180.JPG	The final roundabout on the new-build.
P3030181.JPG	Leave here for the Atlantic Village.
P3030182.JPG	This bit is actually on the old A39.
P3030183.JPG	Straight as an arrow.
P3030184.JPG	The old road beared off to the left here and went through the village of Ford.
P3030185.JPG	And finally, the turning for Ford, and the end of the link road. The A39 from here on is a mixture of wide, open road and narrow, twisty, country lanes.