And now that the car has been returned to the rental company more or less in one piece, a few thoughts about driving in the UK. I loved it! It was constant shifting with constant steering (driving the Brunkild bend won't be the same) with constant awareness of parked cars and roundabouts and cyclists and roaming animals and oncoming farm vehicles and tour buses, etc. There are no straight country lanes and every highway other than the motorways went right through the heart of each town (spaced about two kilometres apart it seemed) with endless roundabouts. There were numerous times when I drove into a small village and realized that I had to back out. I've mentioned the narrow streets and roads with endless oncoming traffic (bus drivers here are in a league of their own) but we did stop wincing every time we had to maneuver our way past another vehicle. But never take a roadside grazing sheep for granted. They couldn't care less that you are inches away from taking them out. That's why people here refer to them as 'suicide sheep'.
We put on four thousand miles in just over three weeks and figured that over three thousand of those miles were narrow country roads. Elaine just got used to hanging on to the overhead handle as we wove our way through every kind of terrain. A number of times I ended up stopped on a steep hill with a bus beside me going the other way as we talked each other through how not to scratch each other in the narrow single lane we shared.
There are no shoulders and the sides of the roads are often twelve foot hedges that are trimmed so you are driving in a tunnel. That means that people taking their dogs for a walk or their kid into town are on the road with nowhere to go.
And cyclists are either very brave or very crazy because there is no room for error as you pass them with oncoming traffic. I can't believe it is remotely relaxing to go for a pedal in the country when there are constantly vehicles scraping by you.
Finding a parking spot was always 'fun' especially on steep hills and sidewalks. There is next to no space for parking vehicles anywhere and we found that most people can't even fit their cars into their garage if they have one.
And I can't say enough about our helpful friend Fiona (our Sat Nav). When we were diving down crazy little country lanes, we always knew that Fiona would rescue us if we got too bamboozled. Driving without her would have been way more stressful and she helped save our marriage numerous times.
Anyway, it was a blast (my co-pilot got really tired of saying 'left lane' and 'there isn't enough room') and I would love to drive around the UK again some time but, for now, handing in the keys felt good!
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