Home Truths reporter, Sue Elliott-Nichols, looks into the fascination that certain sections of roads and motorways seem to have for otherwise perfectly sane members of the public...

Sue and her husband Tony's favourite road is the A470. That little collection of letters and numbers hides a multitude of scenery, "It is the most beautiful road," raves Sue, "It leads from Cardiff to Betws-y-Coed in Snowdonia. The first time we went there was when we were first in love!" Tony reels off a number of towns, villages and beauty spots along the route, and Sue waxes lyrical, "As you enter Snowdonia National Park it's so exciting - the rolling landscape suddenly become so bleak!" As Sue and Tony drive through one of the forests on the A470, the ice and snow thickly covering the trees bring the lyrical Welshman out in Tony, "It's very magical, very snow-fairyish!"

The Ewell Bypass or to be exact, the busy section leading to Kingston via Tolworth, brings an emotive response from listener, Margaret Atwood, "I was brought up in the country where roads were soft grey things that wound through green hedges and fields and trees. When I first came to London, I just couldn't believe this road! It was wide, full of cars, with the houses right by the road. And then there were messages all over it, telling you what to do; stop here, turn right, and traffic lights, and things to read on long poles! I worked in this area for thirty years, and each time I drove along this road, I felt a longing to be back in the country. Then I felt a strange sort of guilt - people lived here, and I felt my hatred was doing them a disservice. From the guilt grew the feeling that if I'm ever punished this is where I'd have to live. Now I live in Dorset again, I feel a strange sort of pleasure - I only go along it for nice reasons - to visit friends."

For Robin Smith, it's the M25 which is a bit of a turn on, "I don't know if I'm sad or just appreciating the workmanship that goes into building the infrastructure." Approaching junction 21A, the turn off for the M1, brings poetic language to Robin's lips, "I get a feeling of calm as I go over it, and look down seeing the traffic from four different ways, all underneath and around you. Look down to the right and left," he tells Sue. As she sees the twenty-four lanes of traffic, Sue makes an appreciative noise, as if someone has pinched her bottom, "Oh! I say! Countless amounts of motorways and slip roads!" "There's about twenty-four lanes," says Robin, "someone has worked out the traffic forecast, drawn it, built it and we just use it and ignore it! You can feel passionate about anything - even roads." Asked if he likes Spaghetti Junction, Robin is dismissive, "I think that's really over-rated!"