Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

Quite hard going this week, and also very tricky as the author has cunningly thrown in some nacht und nebel with the Bottesford/Langar dilemma. Near as I can figure it, the most likely answers are

Q1. The Stanton Tunnel

Q2. Margidunum

(NB for question 2, I'm not  totally certain about this one, there were roman settlements all along the A46 . There is some confusion as to whether the author is referring to Bottesford or Langar as the position from which to determine where the roman settlement was located, 207 squadron were in Bottesford in 1941, but in Langar from September 1942, Langar airfield was constructed in 1941 and the writer he refers to (Samuel Butler) was born in Langar. The Eastender Himself is opting for Langar to measure the distance and use the bearings from, which puts the site of the Roman settlement near East Bridgford on the Fosse way, Margidunum)

From the initial clues given, the author is most likely between the settlements of Quorndon (sometimes called quorn) and Queninborough, just north of Leicester. There is a railway test track around there called 'Old Dalby' test track which starts at Melton Mowbray and terminates at Edwalton, which is around three miles from Nottingham city centre. Old Dalby test track is reported to be 13.5 miles long in some references, not 18 miles as stated in the clues, however, it does pass through the Stanton tunnel which is 1332 yards long, was opened in 1879 and is very close to the A46 Roman road which used to form the western frontier of the Roman empire.

The village of Keyworth lies to the west of the Stanton tunnel and this is where part of the British Geological Survey (founded 1835) is located (a rocking organisation). A canal which is around three miles north east of the author's position, is the Grantham canal, which is 33 miles long and was closed to traffic in 1929.

RAF Bottesford was home to 207 squadron in 1941. The writer refered to in the clues, is most likely Samuel Butler, his bio says he was born in Langar, near Bingham but he did write a piece called Erewhon, which is an anagram of nowhere. This is where the puzzle becomes very tricky, is the author referring to Bottesford or  Langar as the location from which to use the bearings and distance information? I opted for Langar as the location to use, because 207 squadron were based in Langar from 1942 but the airstrip itself was constructed in 1941, the location of the writer's birthplace and the nowhere clue also back this up. The airfield in Bottesford is recorded in some sources as being built in 1940, which again excludes Bottesford as the location of the second village.