The A361 is a major road in England. It runs south from Ilfracombe on the north Devon coast to Barnstaple, turning south-east to Tiverton then, after a break (the M5 connects the two sections), north east from Taunton in Somerset through Street and Glastonbury, past Frome and then into Wiltshire through Trowbridge, Devizes, Avebury and Swindon. It then runs through the eastern Cotswolds, via Lechlade, Burford and Chipping Norton and on through Banbury and Daventry before terminating at its junction with the A5 road at the village of Kilsby on the Northamptonshire_Warwickshire border near Rugby.

The section from Barnstaple to the M5 near Tiverton has been designated the North Devon Link Road, and enables relatively fast access to north Devon and Bude, Cornwall, relieving pressure on the A39 and A358. This section is a modern, wide single-carriageway trunk road, apart from the 5-mile stretch between Tiverton and the M5, which is dual-carriageway. The rest of the road, from Taunton to Rugby, is largely county-road class; the quality of the road surface, width and verges can sometimes be barely better than a B-road.

Interestingly, the road has been re-numbered as the A4361 from its junction with the A4 immediately south of Avebury northwards, becoming the A361 again at the junction with the A419 which passes north-east of Swindon. This was probably done to discourage use of the A361 as a through-route through Avebury and Swindon.

External Links

From Watford Gap to Camelot (http://www.strum.co.uk/watcam.htm) – A travelog following a section of the A361