Last August Bank Holiday, while I was in Brighton, I deviated off my planned route to follow the A2023. That'll be useful next year, I thought, I can write about it when it's "the road of the year". I took photos, I made notes and I stashed them away ready to use in January.
But I didn't actually walk the whole thing, I skipped the last three quarters of a mile because it didn't fit in with where I was going next. So when I came to write it up on 1st January I was able to tell you lots about the Hove seafront, the gastropub Zoe Ball frequents, the Aldrington railway bridge and the Goldstone Ground but not the top bit beyond Old Shoreham Road, and I glossed over that.
Most importantly I never found a road sign with A2023 written on it, because that's the holy grail when it comes to blogging about an A road. Ah but there is one, said reader James who lives nearby, "it's about 200m from the northern end of the road on King George VI Avenue heading southbound". So this August Bank Holiday, while I was in Brighton, I deviated off my planned route to follow the top end of the A2023 and hurrah, there it is.
It's an odd sign, partly because capital letters are normally a no-no, but mainly because it's wrong. The A2023 has never gone straight on towards West Hove and Portslade, that's always been the A2038, ever since the original Brighton bypass was built and all the roads round here were renumbered. The A2023 does head left towards Central Hove and Seafront, indeed this is where it starts, not far from the windmilled heart of West Blatchington.
This upper end of the A2023 begins with a suspicious number of parked-up caravans and motorhomes, then goes all postwar residential. The local pub is a large brick number, and I marked them down one point for looking blandly uninviting, then added a point back on for having the honesty to say they have a Hidden Garden, not a secret one. This being Brighton and Hove several of the sideroads career downwards into a mini suburban valley, but the A2023's descent is fairly gentle in comparison.
On the first big bend a square chimney is clearly visible, this part of the amazing Goldstone Pumping Station, which in 1976 became a repository of steam engines and oily things known as the Brighton Engineerium. In my previous post we learned in the comments that Sarah's dad once worked there, that one of you once spoke to the bloke who ran it and that it was right up my readership's collective alley. Alas it closed in 2006 and last year was bought by a pier boss who wanted to make it into a wellness centre. I see they auctioned off one of the big steam engines in February and hosted a 'Building Happier Communities' workshopday in March, and this may not be the ideal direction of travel.
The next large building on the A2023 is a Waitrose which looks like a cross between a church and a prison, then Brighton and Hove greyhound stadium which has been carefully shielded to ensure no passer-by sees any of the action. Both have large car parks. Then it's more biggish houses, a vehicle repair shop and hey presto we've reached the bit of the road I actually blogged about in January. My A2023 reportage now feels properly complete.
Hurrah, that's another egregious omission plugged.
Also in January one of you commented that the B2023 was in Tunbridge Wells but it probably wasn't worth a special trip. Well, I just happened to be in Tunbridge Wells a couple of weeks ago with 10 minutes to wait before my bus arrived so I filled the time with a quick walk down the High Street... and it turns out the High Street is part of the B2023! I didn't take any photos because I didn't realise at the time but I did think "blimey this is posh for a high street" and "do they really need this many clothes shops and smart eateries?" I won't subject you to a post about it, mainly because I didn't take proper notes, but I'm chuffed to have been to both the A2023 and B2023 this year. Expect just the one next year, sorry.
