One other trip option which I meant to mention but forgot - I know it's too late for you guys but maybe for anyone else who reads this thread -
Take the time to take a rail trip on the Settle to Carlisle railway line. There's nothing special about the trains themselves (just bog standard Northern Rail commuter stock,) but you go through some of the most beautiful scenery England has to offer; if you don't want to get out at practically every station just to take photos there's something wrong with you ;-). (Northern Rail offer a Day Ranger ticket which allows you to do just that.)
(Tedious Fact: Dent station about a third of the way along the line is the highest mainline station in England, being near the summit of Ais Gill.)
__________________ Another day goes under; a little bourbon will take the strain...
Bath, again a popular stop for our colonial cousins. Take time to find Cheddar Gorge, about an hour away. Avoid bank holidays because it gridlocks. Best appreciated on the back of a motorbike! http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl...=11&iwloc=addr
Wales, anywhere you like North to south, though if you want to travel north to south or vice versa, you're better advised for speed to nip back to england, and use the M5 motorway then make your way back in when needed. 2 hours on the motorway, nearly a day on Welsh A roads.
Lots of mountains and scenery.
I can recommend Devils Bridge http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl...=12&iwloc=addr
And Mount Snowdon if you're feeling fit
(Or take the train up if you don't)
Great Scenery, but don't be disappointed if you can't see anything from the summit It gets cloudy. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl...7&z=12&iwloc=A
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DONT KNOCK ON DEATHS DOOR..........
RING THE DOORBELL AND RUN,
HE HATES THAT.
Got back yesterday from the UK. Some things I'd like to mention: (random order)
- Thanks for all you input!
- GPS (sat. nav.) is the WAY TO GO. Only got mildly lost a couple of times - my error, usually second guessing the GPS and being wrong. Though a couple of times it called for an upcoming roundabout that didn't exist.
- Roundabouts (likely a topic worth of much debate - I did get used to them...)
- A huge variety of roads and scenery and the ability to see scenery from roads. (not possible in Devon where they are "known" for their hedgerow surrounded roads. The bushes were easily 12' high separated by the width of the lastest wide vehicle to pass by. Very interesting until you meet a local coming the other way at what seems a very incautious velocity.) A single lane (with pullouts) track across an undulating, treeless, very green, upland area chock full of sheep in Scotland is one I'll remember fondly.
- Motorways. Carlisle to Heathrow on various "M" roads, average speed 63 mph, 310 miles in six hours.
- Motorway service areas - what a great idea. We stopped at one on Saturday June 14 outside London that was like a North American shopping mall at Christmas time - almost no place to park and a sea of people (and it was sunny).
- More courteous drivers than I've encountered in other countries. I guess it has something to do with the huge numbers of very skinny roads and not so skinny vehicles. A Darwin thing.
- Great pubs, great pub food (I didn't know Indian cuisine came with "chips", but then again, everything seemed to. My wife noticed a distinct lack of "vegetables", but maybe we just picked the wrong places to eat.)
- Great people, city and town. The least puzzled look on either my face or that of my wife usually attracted polite inquiries as to whether we needed directions or other assistance from random passers-by. Though I've experienced this in other countries on other occasions, it seemed more likely to happen in the UK...or maybe we just looked more lost, more often.
-The "ruins" and "not so ruined" attractions we saw were all worthy of additional visits. If I get the opportunity to get back again some day, the 4x5 will NOT be left behind. (OK, I live in an area where the only things still surviving older than about 100 years or so, are some of the trees - I guess I'm a sucker for still-standing piles of stones.)
-British Heritage Pass. WHAT A DEAL!! We saved a lot of money on attractions. Payed for the pass several times over. Secondarily, the FREE admittance to the big museums in London. World class stuff to see for free - gotta love that! (OK, I'm big on some museums)
- Great beer. I didn't sample most of them, but I didn't have any bad ones. Likely worthy of a trip all on it's own.
- Cleanest public toilets I've run across, bar none, in my travels.
- One day of rain in the 17 days we were there - In Bath(!), a place we had visited before. Many days with mixed clouds/sun, perfect temperatures for "site seeing".
- early June - wonderful timing. Everywhere we visited was lush and green and inviting.
- A great time was had by all (or at leas the two of us). Hope to get back some day for a longer visit.
- Oh, yeah, took photos too. (35mm, some colour, some Acros, mostly used my 28 PC (Nikkor) lens. I thought my 25-50mm Nikkor would be the one I used most, but I barely used it at all.) (I also admit to borrowing my wife's DP&S for a few grab shots too.)
Rob, we visited a number of places, covering a fair bit of England and southern Scotland (putting just under 2000 miles on the car) . At the risk of boring folks, here is a quick itinerary. (Just the places, not all the "sights")
Vancouver to Heathrow then train to London. Based in a little hotel in across from the Kingscross/St. Pancras station. We "Tubed" around London for a few days before collecting the car near Heathrow and heading to Bath.
We had the only real rain of the trip there (but we'd been there once before so didn't feel too bad about the rain - it didn't interfere significantly). Then down to Penzance (Wells Cathedral was definitely 4x5 worthy) and a tootle about the Cornwall countryside (Sennen Beach and Tintagel were highlights for us) before heading to a farm B&B for a night's stay in Devon. (The Five Bells pub in Clyst Hydon is recommended by me! But watch those maze-like, hedged roads.).
Motored up to York to see the trains (and a bunch of other sights/sites). We had a B&B just outside Monk Bar so were able to walk to all the sites we wanted to see in York. We did get a bit off course heading for the National Rail Museum, but hey, I’d walk twice the distance to see those trains. (There is just something about the Mallard…)
Up through the Borders region (Jedburgh for a night - Jed-Berg? Jed-Burro? Jed-Boro? I never did hear a local say it, so we kept guessing.) Thence to Edinburgh for a few days - a very nice B&B, just off the beach, in Portobello. Toured the sites, walked the Royal Mile (The tacky tourist souvenir shops seemed somehow out of place. Did like the plaque on the building noting the date of the last public execution though - we don't have things like that around here...) We visited the fort on the Duke of Edinburgh's birthday, leaving just before the 21-gun salute. Heard them as we were strolling the Royal Mile. (What's with that Scottish Parliament building???)
Off to Ayr then. Sidetracked to the Falkirk Wheel (Coolest piece of civil engineering I’ve seen in a while. Noticed the “Falkirk” sign on the road and finally remembered why the name rang a bell. I’d seen documentary about the Wheel a few years ago on the Discovery Channel. My wife thought it was a worthwhile stop too. (I had to get the “squished penny” for it too.) Got lost in Greenock trying to get up to the Lyle Hill viewpoint (GPS missed an odd sort of intersection where lane choice was crucial). Fine view with the sun/cloud interplay across the far side of the water. Was nice in Ayr, again, a fine B&B just up from the beach. VERY WINDY. Dinner in a pub located in a converted old church – I’ll bet there were two sides to that debate during planning. (chips with my Indian dinner, but I guess it was a pub after all.)
Carlisle came next for a night and then the blast down the Motorways to Heathrow on Saturday to catch a plane on Sunday June 15. Missed big Trooping the Colour, HM’s birthday bash that day, but caught the highlights on the tube that evening. (actually, didn’t know anything about it, but according to Prince Charles (Prince of Wales – his Guards had a big role this year apparently), it’s something the British do better than anybody else in the world.
As usual we tried to see too much again. Some days the pedometer recorded over 15 km walked in addition to any driving involved. (My wife got hooked on her pedometer during a “challenge” they had at her workplace.) All in all, would do it again in a minute!
Unfortunately in some of the counties we saw only what could be seen from the road. (Motorway, A, and B roads depending on where we were heading at the time.)
I’m also still waiting to see if the rental car company will be billing me for “speed camera” related infractions. I did hear the Top Gear host claim the Motorway “variable” speed limits/congestion issue was just done to “turn on” the speed cameras to bolster coffers…(we wondered what the deal was, the traffic was flowing just fine as we motored along down the M42 throttled back to 50 mph on a bright sunny, uncongested - road, I picked up a cold about a week in and my allergies kicked up too with the anthesis of the "hay" grasses - day.)
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I’m also still waiting to see if the rental car company will be billing me for “speed camera” related infractions. I did hear the Top Gear host claim the Motorway “variable” speed limits/congestion issue was just done to “turn on” the speed cameras to bolster coffers…(we wondered what the deal was, the traffic was flowing just fine as we motored along down the M42 throttled back to 50 mph on a bright sunny, uncongested - road
As mentioned above, that's the point of variable speed limits :-). The idea is that during peak traffic periods if everyone slows down a little and keeps a constant speed you actually get more traffic through more quickly than if everyone is stuck in a constant cycle of acceleration followed by braking at the sight of congestion - the traffic then bunches up and is less efficient.
Anyway, mainly wanted to say I'm delighted you had a good time! When you live here it's easy to get jaded about the place and only see the bad things - it's genuinely gratifying to hear a positive report .
__________________ Another day goes under; a little bourbon will take the strain...
As you discovered the M42 (My local) has the variable speed limits like the M25. The buggers also take pictures. Digital I believe, (Our local Plod have no class)
On the plus(?) side, when it gets really busy, the hard shoulder is opened to give 4 lanes rather than 3.
Chips and Curry? Pah!
The true enthusiast has curry half and half (Half chips Half Rice). Popular in Wales, and along the M4 Corridor where a lot of Welsh expats have settled.
For the best curry experience I would recommend the areas around central Birmingham, and Wolverhampton.
If you get the chance, a proper Balti is recommended
__________________
DONT KNOCK ON DEATHS DOOR..........
RING THE DOORBELL AND RUN,
HE HATES THAT.
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