Friday, April 1, 2011

Driving in England

Yesterday, Greg and I started our adventures in the English countryside, specifically the birthplace of Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon.  The adventure started with renting a car.  When we started planning for our trip, we decided we were not going to rent a car, but take trains and public transit everywhere.  We were especially not going to rent a car in England, because neither of us wanted to deal with driving on the left hand side of the road. We changed our minds when we decided to spend two nights in Stratford. We are leaving tomorrow for Paris, and we did not want to miss our connection to Paris.  With all the predicted delays caused by work on the train lines on the weekends, we decided it would be easier to rent a car. Renting a car has the added bonus of giving us the freedom of the countryside, allowing us to explore a bit more around Stratford.

Automatic transmission cars are much more expensive to rent here than manual transmission cars, so a manual transmission was what I got.  I love driving manual transmissions, but I don't do it very often anymore.  To add to the complexity of driving on the left side of the road, the stick shift is on the left, rather than the right. Fortunately, the clutch, brake, and gas are all the same, and the shifting goes from left to right just like I am used to, so I only had to get used to shifting with my left hand. YES! Finally my left-handedness is an advantage!

We chose a cute little Peugeot for our ride. I wanted the VW, but I got overruled.  Starting off wasn't too bad.  After the first roundabout (clockwise, rather than counter-clockwise), and a few bumps on the curb on the left side of the car, we merged on to the freeway. I am not sure what they call freeways here, but that is what it was. Freeway driving is easy on the wrong side of the road. It is just like driving on any metro freeway in America.  I find that I tend to drift to the left side of the lane, which is why I kept bumping the curbs in the roundabout.  I have to focus on staying on the right side of the lane, but yet keep on the left side of the road.

The first real challenge came at our first exit, and the first two lane road. It was much more disconcerting driving on the left in two way traffic than I thought it would be.  We exited at a WelcomeBreak, a sort of rest area with petrol station, food court, and small grocery. We were both hungry, and I wanted to pick up a map. After some fish and chips and a pot of tea, we were ready to continue on.

Exiting the freeway for Stratford, I had my first close call.  We had gone through two roundabouts with lights, and I got in the habit of following the truck in front of me and I wasn't paying attention at the next roundabout which had no lights, and I nearly forgot to yield (or Give Way as the signs say here).  I stopped in time, no harm no foul, but it certainly woke me up.  After that I was a bit frazzled, especially when I took the wrong exit at the next roundabout, and Greg's iPhone GPS app kept telling me repeatedly in her annoyingly calm English accent to "Make a U-turn".  Heck, even taking a U-turn required mental gymnastics as I had to figure out which way to turn. Driving backwards from everything you have made second nature is disconcerting!

We arrived at last at the Victoria Spa Lodge in Stratford.  I decided we should walk into town rather than drive and park. I had had enough English driving for one day.

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