Keep left!

Thoughts on driving in Great Britain

We have now logged several hundred miles in England and Scotland and have a few insights/warnings to share.

They drive on the left.  Turns out this is the least troublesome aspect of driving here, though entering and exiting the roundabouts can be exciting.

The English drive fast on the motorways.  I really don't know if there is a speed limit because I never saw one posted.  Neither, by the way, did I ever see a police vehicle on the motorway.  We drove 75-80 miles an hour in the middle lane of a 3-lane motorway and were routinely being passed on the right.

The roads in the cities are narrow and people routinely block 1/3 of the road by parking, legally or otherwise.  Driving in some of the Cornish towns reminded me of a combination of chicken and a bi-directional slalom race.  We have driven, as you know, several Priuses since 2014.  Our first car, in England, was a Prius and it seemed so wide!

So you're driving down a narrow road, with an 8-foot hedge (or worse, a stone wall) on your left and oncoming traffic on your right.  There is, if you're lucky, a foot to spare on each side.  Then you see this:
That's right...the road is getting narrower!  Breathe, Jim, breathe.  That's what I keep telling myself.

The ultimate in narrow roadways is the single-track road.  As you might guess, this means that there is only one paved lane.  Often there is no shoulder.  To make it possible for two cars to pass each other, they have posted helpful signs:

After a few days on Skye, I thought I had pretty much mastered the single track road.  Go slowly, especially on blind rises, dips, and curves.  Proceed when the oncoming car pulls to the side and flashes its lights.  Do the same for oncoming traffic when the "Passing Place" is on your side.  Nothing, however, had prepared me for the single track roads on Mull.



The scenery was spectacular but I didn't see much of it.

The are other, unexpected road hazards:
1)

2)


What is it, you ask?  It depends.  It might just be a puddle on the road.  On the other hand, it could be a pool of water hiding a 6-inch deep pothole.

3) 

Could I be sent to jail (or gaol, in Scotland)?  Yesterday, as we arrived at Balmoral, the Queen's country estate, a stupid, very fat grouse decided to cross the road right in front of me.  It did not go well for the grouse.  Weren't people hanged in the past for killing the King's game?

Finally, as a test to see if anyone actually reads this far, I have a quiz for you.  Here is the strangest road sign I saw in England.  Leave your guess as to what it means in the comments.

Cats Eyes Removed



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Arcophobia

Image
acrophobia /ˌakrəˈfəʊbɪə/ noun extreme or irrational fear of heights. The Holy Monastery of Great Meteoran (and the 5 other monasteries close by) were the reason we drove all the way from Athens.  The monasteries, and the rock formations on which the monasteries were built, were mind-boggling to behold from a distance.  On close inspection (i.e. actually in the monasteries) I (Jim) got a real jolt of acrophobia.  I cannot remember ever before feeling vertigo and nausea from being so high and on the edge of an abyss. Apparently the memory is unpleasant enough that Jim suggests I (Ralph) take over the writing of this entry, so here goes:  The combination of the buildings and their settings is unique and otherworldly.  No photos were allowed in the churches on top, but both of us were awed by the 14th century chapel of the monastery pictured above - it was serenely beautiful and peaceful.   Photos were allowe...
Read more

Crete

Image
The Palace of Knossos was a bust.  It was mobbed with tourists, including some very pushy tour guides.  The ruins were interesting but all the good stuff has been removed to the museum in Heraklion. One bit of engineering was interesting, though.  The Minoans, who first showed up in Crete about 6000 B.C., built the Palace around 1700 B.C.   By the time they built the Palace they were already experts in water and sanitation engineering.  You can still see the rain culverts that diverted water from the buildings to the edges of the palace grounds.  You can also see the sealed terra cotta pipes that brought drinking water from a source 10 miles away.  The Palace even had a system for flushing the commodes and carrying the waste far away.  Western Europe "discovered" all these things 3000 years later. Heraklion Archeological Museum The city of Heraklion is about 5 miles from the Palace of Knossos.  Most of the artifacts unearthed a...
Read more

Bath and Cornwall

Image
Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its architecture, both current and ancient.  The town is full of Georgian buildings built in developments such as  The Royal Crescent and The Circus The Romans also settled here in ancient times to construct a bath and temple on the site of the hot springs (only hot springs in the British Isles, apparently).  The Brits, as usual, have done an exceptional job with the preservation and museum for these Roman Baths and it was a fascinating tour. One of the highlights of our couple of days in Bath was our visit to the laundrette.  Google suggested one called "Dolly Tubs" - and with a name like that, who could pass it up.  Parking was a bit fraught (as it has been everywhere in Britain) but the laundrette itself was perfect - clean and inexpensive.  The people there - the proprietor and several of the patrons - were capti...
Read more