Get Your Kicks in England Trivia Quiz

Workington is at the western end of the A66. It is a town which developed on the west coast around the mouth of the River Derwent. Although most of the town lies south of the river, the old port is on the north side. The first settlement grew up in Anglo-Saxon times. The era of the industrial revolution promoted the growth of the town, since iron ore and coal were nearby.

Heading east from Workington, the countryside is fairly flat as the road runs through the valley of the River Derwent towards Cockermouth.

Cockermouth is a town at the confluence of the River Derwent and the smaller River Cocker, hence its name. The town was built by the Normans on the site of an old Roman fort, and markets have been held there since the thirteenth century. Substantial development took place in both Georgian and Victorian times, but the medieval centre remained. The poet, William Wordsworth, and his sister, Dorothy, were born in Cockermouth, and their home retains its Georgian features, and is kept as a museum.

The A66 skirts the town of Cockermouth to the south, but carries on up the river valley towards Bassenthwaite Lake, the only lake in the Lake District to be called a lake. Approaching the lake, the hills for which the area is famed come into view. The route of the road is determined by the topography, and it runs south along the west side of the Lake towards Keswick.

Keswick lies a few miles south of Bassenthwaite Lake, just north of the point where the River Derwent flows out of Derwentwater, and near its confluence with the River Greta. Although there is evidence of prehistoric settlements in the area, the town dates back to the thirteenth century when Edward I granted a charter for a market there. It is thought that the town's name comes from Old English, and means a place where cheese is made.

Approaching Keswick, the A66 takes a turn to the north-east and then east to pass the town on the north side. Carrying on in an easterly direction towards Penrith, both Skiddaw and Blencathra are visible on the north side of the road. On the south side is the prehistoric stone circle at Castlerigg, but you would need to take a turn off the road to go and see the forty or so stones which make the circle.

Penrith is a settlement which pre-dates the Romans. It was a major crossing point for routes running east to west across the Pennines and north to south from the present Scottish border to Manchester and beyond. By the twenty-first century, those roads were numbered M6 for the north-south route, and the A66 which runs east-west. They have been supplemented by a north-south rail route, too. The good communication routes have ensured that Penrith is the biggest town in the area , with shops and leisure facilities used by the people from the surrounding villages as well as the town's residents.

The A66 bypasses Penrith to the south, but Beacon Hill on the east side of the town is clearly visible to the north of the road. On the south side the ruins of Brougham Castle sit on the banks of the River Eamont. Travelling east towards Appleby, the long range of the Pennine Hills comes into view. If the cloud isn't too low, Cross Fell, the highest point of the chain, can be seen on the north side of the road.

Appleby, sometimes given the name Appleby-in-Westmorland, is a small town on the River Eden. It is the home, every June, of the New Fair, where travellers come to buy and sell horses, and related goods. Visitors come to see the horses being washed in the river, and trotting along the local roads. The fair has taken place almost every year since 1775; the designation 'New' is relative; nearby Brough has had a similar, but now very much smaller, fair in September since the fourteenth century.

The A66 takes a route to the north of Appleby, and runs south-east, passing the Army camp and firing ranges at Warcop before reaching Brough.

Brough was formerly a major stopping point on the trans-Pennine route, having a number of coaching inns. By the beginning of the twenty-first century there was a newer and wider road which by-passed the old settlement, and separated Market Brough in the north, with its few remaining shops and pubs, from Church Brough in the south, where the old church and the remains of the Norman castle can be found.

Reaching Brough, the A66 starts to rise towards the summit on Stainmore. In winter, the road can be impassible over the moors. There are snow poles by the side of the road to mark the route. However, the snow gates are usually closed if the forecast is bad, and no traffic is allowed across until the weather has cleared. Leaving the heights of Stainmore, and passing the other sets of snow gates, the road passes through flatter country, with Barnard Castle to the north and Richmond to the south; it runs east and then south-east towards Scotch Corner.

Scotch Corner is a major road junction. Today it is where the A66 meets the A1(M). Traffic coming from the south on the A1 can either carry straight on to Teesside, Tyneside and the eastern side of Scotland, or it can turn off across the Pennines before going past Carlisle to the western side of Scotland. But there has been a settlement at Scotch Corner since Roman times; it was on Dere Street, the main road north from Eboracum (present-day York), at the junction with the road which went west to the fort of Verterae (present-day Brough). With the increase in motor traffic, a sixteenth century inn was replaced with a larger hotel in the first half of the twentieth century. By the twenty-first century a utilitarian service area, with a cafeteria, a filling station, and a motel, had been built for the convenience of passing motorists.

At this point on the route, the A66 joins the A1(M), and runs north before turning east towards Darlington, as the A66(M), a few miles later.

There was a settlement at Darlington in the Anglo-Saxon era. The town expanded during Norman times with the building of churches and the establishment of an open air market. The town was known to be a good place for bleaching linen in the eighteenth century, according to Daniel Defoe. Further expansion took place with the advent of the railways in the nineteenth century. Several businesses were established to build rolling stock, perhaps the best-known being that started by Robert Stephenson, and known locally as 'Stivvies'. As the population increased, there was a need for more services, and a large covered market was opened in 1863.

As the A66(M) reaches the south of Darlington, it loses its motorway status and carries on bypassing the town on the south and east sides. After passing a full sized brick sculpture of a steam locomotive emerging from a green tunnel, the road turns east towards Stockton and Teesside.

Stockton-on-Tees, to give the town its full name, lies on the north bank of the Tees. The settlement dates back to the Anglo-Saxons, with development taking place during Norman times. The market was established in 1310. The small town developed slowly as a trading centre and port, being the main point of export for rope and agricultural produce from the dales of Yorkshire. Further expansion started when Stephenson's railway line from Darlington was built in the early nineteenth century. Iron ore was discovered in nearby hills, so many blast furnaces were built in the area.

As the A66 passes south of Stockton it's only a short distance to Middlesbrough. After crossing the River Tees, the road runs parallel to the river, with the railway between them to pass north of Middlesbrough.

The area where the town of Middlesbrough now stands, on the south bank of the River Tees, was agricultural until the beginning of the nineteenth century and the start of the Industrial Revolution. However a port was developed on the banks of the river to export coal from around Durham. Then iron works were built, which resulted in the development of ship-building in the region. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, most of the heavy industry had gone, but there was still a port slightly further downstream, to allow for larger ships to use it.

From Middlesbrough, the A66 carries on in an easterly direction towards Redcar and the North Sea coast. However it doesn't go as far as that; it stops at a roundabout junction with the A1053 and the A1085. It is the latter of those roads which takes traffic to Redcar.