Driving in Britain and Trip Report

We have just returned from a wonderful 11 day trip to Britain. We booked three of four plane tickets using frequent flyer points due to my uneasiness about the upcoming NWA/Delta merger. The tickets were obtained four weeks before we left. I was amazed at my options. Here are some overall observations and I apologize if it is a bit long:
• Driving in Britain is EASY. I was worried, but it was not a problem. Sure, I hit the curb on the left many times and I had to drive around more than one roundabout a second time before we found our destination, but it was no problem. My wife was banished to the backseat after the first drive to our hotel outside London due to her frequent gasping and constant tenseness. My 19 year old daughter assumed her seat and navigation responsibilities and she did a great job.
• It is crucial to have a good navigator with a good map. We used the 2009 AA Road Atlas purchased at a gas station for 6.99 pounds. I later saw it for as cheap as 1.99 pounds, but we needed it asap, so it was worth it to pay full price.
• There are roundabouts everywhere. We have a few in Michigan, so I am comfortable driving in them, but in Britain, they are much faster with more exits. Almost always, there were signs before entering the roundabout which detailed the exits. I would count the number of exits before I entered the roundabout and then take the correct one (which was generally marked).
• Occasionally, especially in Scotland, roads were poorly marked and that made things a bit dicey.
• If you get lost, stop and ask for directions. Twice, local motorists offered to lead us to the highway or our destination.
• The Brits drive very fast. On the major divided highways (M roads or major A roads), when the speed limit was 70 mph, my 80 mph was defiantly slow lane driving. They passed me like I was standing still. Also, they do a great job of using the right lane for passing and then returning to the left lane for driving.
• We rented our car from the US using Auto Europe. They booked the deal with National Car Rental. We got a Vauxhall Zafira and it was a wonderful car – plenty of room for four adults and 5 suitcases.
• We purchased plastic bags that you put your clothes in and then squeeze out all of the air. They worked very well and allowed us to pack all of our clothes in few suitcases. We took extra bags and used them for the woolen blankets and scarves that we purchased on the trip.
• Outside of London and Edinburgh, everything closes early. Most shops and attractions close at 5:00 and restaurants/pubs stop serving food around 9:00 pm.
• Food is expensive. The prices looked reasonable if they were USD, but when you doubled them for the exchange rate – WOW! We spent a week in London in 2003 and with the lower exchange rate, I thought the food was reasonable. It is not any more.
• Britain is having a cool summer. We had one day in the low 70’s, otherwise, it was in the 50’s and 60’s – during July!
• The Great British Heritage Pass was well worth the cost. We bought a 15 day pass because we needed 8 days. It still saved us a lot of money. There was no discount for students, so I paid full price for my 2 teenagers. I wish I could have purchased the pass from the US, because it comes with a wonderful book and map and our planning could have been easier. Since I did all of the planning in a few weeks, it was too late to send the pass to me without paying a high shipping cost.

Here are some highlights of our journey:

Day 1 - Leave for Britain!!!

Day 2 - We arrived in Gatwick at about 7:00 am on the second day and picked up our car at 7:30 am. The first drive was a bit scary, but we found our hotel in Bexleyheath with no problems. After a quick shower, we walked to the train station to head into London.

Since we had been to London in 2003, we spent the day visiting sights we had seen before. We also purchased the Great British Heritage Pass and we used it for St. Paul’s later that day.

Day 3 – We drove to Dover to see the cliffs. Then, we drove to Canterbury to see the cathedral and then on to Maidstone to see Leeds Castle. All were beautiful and worthwhile. We drove from the castle to our hotel in Swindon. While the drive shouldn’t have been too bad, there were two accidents on M 25 and we got lost in Swindon, so we didn’t get to the hotel until after 9:30. Since every restaurant (except our hotel restaurant) was closed, we ordered delivery from Domino’s Pizza.

Day 4 – Off to Salisbury to see the cathedral and the Magna Carta. Then we went to Stonehenge on our way to Glastonbury. We toured the Glastonbury Abbey and climbed the Glastonbury Tor. The Abbey was pretty (but we saw many others) and the Tor provided a good view, but overall Glastonbury was a disappointment. From Glatonbury, we headed to Wales to see Tintern Abbey, but it was closed. Still, it was beautiful from the outside and we were in Wales!! We then drove through the Cotswald towns of Stow-on-the-Wold, Upper Slaughter, and Lower Slaughter (among others). They were beautiful. I decided to tour these towns in the evening because I didn’t plan to enter any shops and it didn’t matter if everything was closed.

Day 5 – We drove to Oxford to see some Harry Potter sights at Christ Church. Oxford is a really cool city and I really wish we had more time to spend there. I will defiantly return. Next, we drove to Stratford-Upon-Avon to see some Shakespeare sights. We toured Ann Hathaway’s Cottage and we walked around the town. Our next stop was Warwick Castle. Warwick is a typical medieval castle and it has some connection to my last name, so we really enjoyed the castle. Our hotel was in Leicester.

Day 6 – We drove to York. Once again, there was an accident on the M1 and we took a detour through the Sherwood Forest and saw some exhibits on Robin Hood. We spend the afternoon in York. The Minster was beautiful and we enjoyed walking around the wall and the Shambles. I was surprised that everything closed at 5:00 again, so we had a slow night at our hotel.

Day 7 – Off to Scotland!! We started by visiting Fountains Abbey and then veered off to see a nice section of Hadrian’s Wall. Next were the border abbeys. First was Jedburgh and then Melrose. Both were very beautiful, but we couldn’t find Dryburgh. We asked a Melrose, telling them that we came from Jedburgh (hard G) but couldn’t find Dryburgh (another hard G). They told us how we could have found Dryburgh (bura) from Jedburgh (bura). My daughter and I left the room and laughed an embarrassed, nervous laugh. How could we have pronounced the names for wrong when we should have realized that, being so close to Edinburgh (bura) that they would be pronounced the same way. Oh well, I guess they knew we were Americans.

The Abbeys were beautiful and in varying levels of ruin. We continued to our hotel in Stirling.

Day 8 – This day was our day to see the Highlands. We drove through the Trossachs, to Fort William, Loch Ness, Inverness, Perth and back to Stirling. I know it was beautiful, but it was misty and raining, so all we saw were the foothills. Occasionally, we saw the second layer of hill through the mist. I regret having no other day to take this drive, because we were locked in to visiting Edinburgh the next day and this was our only day. However, it rained in Scotland almost our entire 10 days in Britain, so it is likely that the days on either side of our journey would have been less than optimal, too. I’m glad we did the drive and we still saw some beautiful sights, but we can’t help but wonder what we could have seen on a clearer day.

Day 9 – We toured Stirling Castle and then drove into Edinburgh. Our hotel was a few blocks off the Royal Mile, so it was nice to be able to return to the hotel to drop off purchases. We had time to tour the Palace of Holyroodhouse and The Queen’s Gallery. The Providers were performing at the Edinburgh Castle that night, so we were entertained as we strolled around the city.

Day 10 – We toured Edinburgh Castle, strolled on Princes Street, and visited Calton Hill for amazing views of the city and the Firth of Fourth. My daughters and I did a Mercat walking tour through the vaults at night. It was cheesy, but entertaining and we had fun. We wanted to go to the Mary Kings Close, but it was booked in advance.

Day 11 – We flew home with extra full suitcases and memories of a wonderful vacation.