The Peter Simpson COLUMN

► One aspect of this job which may come as a slight surprise to some but not to others is that, in over 35 years spent writing on national magazines, I’ve gained a pretty good knowledge of the British road network. What’s more, because I tend to visit routes relatively infrequently, I also tend to notice changes.

Some routes, it seems, are different every time I use them. Take the A465 Heads of Valleys road from Abergavenny to Neath in South Wales,