Britain by Mouse, continued

The second disadvantage is, of course, driving the roads on the left instead of the right.  But that proved not to hamper us very much. Our last two trips we were in our own American vehicle, with the steering wheel on the left.  Ron had no trouble remembering to drive on the left and to enter roundabouts (rotaries) going left instead of right.  He occasionally forgot himself when leaving a parking lot, but not very many times.  And as long as he was in his own vehicle he could judge what space he needed to be able to drive through.  This was not the case when, on a previous trip, we rented a car and he could not judge the car boundry on the left because the steering wheel was on the right.  We had three minor accidents within the first hour on that trip, all involving unmoveable objects on the left side.

 

One thing that is somewhat disappointing is the food, which, deservedly, we think, does not have a great reputation.  In France and Italy we looked forward expectantly to lunch.  In Britain, lunch generally is not a thrilling prospect.  One of the indigenous fast food "treats" is the meat pie in various forms--Cornish pasties, and sausage rolls, for example.  These generally are greasy and do not have much taste.  Sandwiches, too, are not very tasty.  And everywhere, food in restaurants is pretty expensive by Continental and US standards. In Winchester Ron had ham sandwich consisting of two slices of tasteless white bread, one thin slice of ham and a similar slice of cheese---for four pounds, almost eight dollars. 

 

But there plenty of positives that more than compensate. For example, the whole look of the place.  Great Britain is beautiful and clean.  In England there is a characteristic look in country areas.  The rolling countryside displays odd sized and shaped fields outlined by green hedge borders.  In the Yorkshire area there are moors and large open spaces called dales. There are almost no billboards on the roads and highways.  We almost never saw litter.  (A road from Brighton to London was the only exception to this.  There was much litter over about a 5 mile section.)  Wherever you drive you encounter small inviting villages with strange names, like Unthank, Bury St Edmunds, and Pityme. (You can search for amusing names of towns in Britain here.) The roads are very good.  The motorways are well designed and signed.  On entering a roundabout one sees the routes of the different exits in large white lettering in each lane so you can get into the one that will lead you out onto the correct road.  Most of the secondaries are wide enough two-lane roads on a par with similar roads on the Continent, and in the US, although there are some in Wales and in Cornwall that are quite narrow, one-lane roads.  We have driven some that made us wonder what would happen if we encountered an oncoming car.  Somehow this never happened.

 

Scotland's countryside also has characteristic looks:  Heathered moors with lots of grouse in some areas, very tall hills and deep valleys in the highlands.  Fairly common sights are shaggy long-horn cattle, and sheep looking like white cotton balls on the green hillsides.  One also sees occasional small Roe deer as one drives along.

 

Wales countryside look consists of craggy, steep wooded hills, with black abandoned slate quarries in the Snowdon area.

 

And, of course, whereever one goes on the British Isles one is never far from the sea.

 

Another large positive, at least for us, and one that compensates somewhat for the high prices, is that the national museums all are free.  No tickets to buy, no suggested contribution.  And the Brits really have great museums.  We will describe the ones we know and point you to others we have found on the internet.