May

I am quite keen on spending about a week in the Yorkshire dales, with Richmond as a base. I have travelled around England before but always on public transport. This time, I thought of hiring a car. Will that be wise? I am a woman travelling alone. What's the traffic like in summer and can I pick up a car in Richmond to avoid driving all the way from London?

Marcia

You need someone to post here with far more Yorkshire experience than I have. My impression from our trip to York was that to do a good job in the surrounding countryside required a car - or real perseverance on public transport. <BR> <BR>Our experience with a car this summer outside of London (Gatwick-Stratford-Bath-Salisbury-Winchester-Gatwick and a bunch of tiny places in between) was that it is OK - but I think you need to consider your risk aversion level. Without a second person to begin the process of mutter/yelling stay left and helping with the navigation, any one of the 3 of us alone would have spent a lot of time going very very very slowly, being run off the road and being very lost. however, I think we would have been OK. Just need to allow plenty of time - and be sure you have excellent maps (readily available in England) of no smaller than 3-4 miles to the inch. And once we got the hang of it, it was pretty ok. The navigator part is nice - but if you're alone, you just plan to move over to the shoulder frequently to do map checks in the vicinity of roundabouts - which despite their oddness to American travelers, are actually quite OK, and not too scary out in the countryside. Just plan on circling more than once, once in awhile, and you'll be all right. Also, don't panic about driving off the map, as I call it. If you are going generally in the right direction (south, south east, North..etc.) then you're OK. Or be flexible and ready to backtrack to the last marked intersection. All but the tiniest tracks have numbers. <BR> Have a great adventure.

May

Thanks Marcia for the reply and the tips. I forgot to mention that I am from Malaysia where we also drive on the left and have plenty of roundabouts! These won't be problems but I guess as you mentioned, navigation might be cumbersome as I would need to read maps while driving. Are the roads generally well signposted? I would love to hear the experience of anyone who has driven in the Dales.

Ann

May, <BR>Try to locate a copy of a guidebook titled Yorkshire Dales published by AA Publishing (that's the Automobile Association of the UK). We bought a copy while driving a circle tour right there, but had we had it before our trip it would have been far more usefull. The cover says it all...Places to see, things to do, drives, cycle rides, road map plus 10 walks with ordnance survey mapping. Price: 7.99 pounds, and the ISBN is 0-7495-1200-8. I hope you can find a copy locally or over the internet. It will really prepare you for your trip. <BR>Have a great time.

Colby Smith

Message: I spent a week driving all through-out the dales and had no troubles at all. Do take a compass <BR>with you as some of the back roads <BR>are not posted. Very little traffic <BR>to contend with. Have a great trip.

sgorces

As above, no problem driving in the dales. Narrow roads, some caution required. I suggest you take a fast train to Leeds and hires your car there. Much bigger city than Richmond and a simple matter to drive out of there into the Dales. You could also jump off from York. Richmond is a small town and car hires are bound to be pricey. I also would not hesitate to hire a car at Heathrow or Gatwick as long as you do not attempt to drive into London (very ill-advised). However, driving out of the airports is as easy as anywhere in the states. You get on the ramp onto the correct side of the motorway and you are on your way up country without a hitch. It is much easier to get used to your backwards car on the motorway because you have not oncoming traffic (assuming you're on the correct side!) Don't worry, after the first hour you will fell quite normal again driving.