The road winds upwards, offering drivers a progressively better view over great swathes of brown, green and mustard-yellow moorland. At the crest of the hill the land immediately to the west falls away into a spectacular amphitheatre metres deep and a kilometre wide, known as "The Hole of Horcum".
Local legend has it that the hole was made by the giant Wade, who picked up a clod of earth and threw it at his wife, making both the hole and nearby Blakey Topping, where it landed.
Cars park along the top where people take in the view and the vehicles dispense walkers in bright coloured anoraks. The road then descends, tracing a delightful sweeping curve before meandering back up to the top of Snod Hill where the radar base, RAF Fylingdales, is perched to provide early warning of ballistic nuclear missiles. Set back to the west, the white pyramid-shaped tracking centre replaced the famous "golf balls" back in This stretch is largely uncrowded, but the snaking curves of the largely empty road prove too tempting for some drivers and motorcyclists, who tend to use it as a race track.
Plumes of smoke curl up between the thick trees to the east; a romantic reminder of the steam trains still chugging along the North York Moors Railway. The line runs parallel to the A for nearly 15 miles, from Pickering to the village of Grosmont, and is so reminiscent of The Railway Children that one half expects to see a girl waving a red petticoat.
This feeling of having driven back in time is complete when, 12 miles from Pickering, the road drifts past Goathland where they filmed the TV series Heartbeat, which is set in the s. As the road creeps up on to Blue Bank just six miles from Whitby, a panoramic view of the coastal town fills the windscreen, taking in everything from the 13thcentury abbey on the cliffs to the famous sailors' church of St Mary, and the sea stretching ahead.
Just a moment later, the road drops from the moors in a satisfying long, steep descent into the village of Sleights. As Britain's A-roads are numbered in order of importance - the lower the number, the more significant the road - the A clearly isn't a vital part of the country's transport network. But as a unique window into Yorkshire culture - taking in everything from the county's stunning moorland, to its characterful villages and coastline - it is unrivalled.
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