A39 road
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The A39 is a major road in south west England.
It runs south-west from Bath in Somerset through Wells, Glastonbury, Street and Bridgwater. It then follows the north coast of Somerset and Devon through Williton, Minehead, Porlock, Lynmouth, Barnstaple, Bideford, Stratton, Camelford, Wadebridge and St Columb Major. It then joins the route of the A30 road for around five miles, re-emerging near Zelah to head for the south Cornish coast via Truro and Falmouth.
In Cornwall and North Devon (until the junction with the A361 "North Devon Link Road"), the road is known as the "Atlantic Highway", and was classified as a trunk road until 2002.
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[edit] Porlock Hill
Porlock Hill is a section of the A39 from the village of Porlock the road climbs approximately 400 metres in under 2 miles up onto Exmoor, producing a very steep hill with a gradient of 1 in 4 and hairpin bends. The hill must be driven slowly and with great care. At the bottom of the hill there have been numerous accidents when coaches have crashed into walls as their brakes fail.
There is a less steep toll road that small vehicles can take as an alternative route.
[edit] Woody Bay
At Martinhoe Cross in Devon — about five miles west of Lynton and two miles east of Parracombe — on the north side of the A39 lies a once disused but, in 2004, restored and reopened railway station. Woody Bay was once an intermediate stop on, and is now the main operating centre of, the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway a narrow-gauge line built in 1898, which closed in 1935. Over- and under-bridges and other traces of the line can be seen at various locations along this stretch of the road.
