I survived driving in England. We've been in England a bunch of times, as my wife has done research on English medieval art, but until this trip, we haven't needed to drive and we've always depended on Britrail passes to get us where we wanted to go.
But this trip was different. She wanted to see obscure parish churches in remote areas, which entailed renting a car (or else paying a fortune to a cab driver). Since I was told that most rentals in the U.K. are stick shifts, and since I can drive one and my wife can't, it seems I would be stuck doing the driving. I spent quite a bit of time looking at YouTube videos of Americans driving in England; they were very helpful.
We reserved a car to be picked up yesterday, only to be thwarted. The office was closed, and a phone number listed on the door went unanswered. Today, we tried again with a different outfit and were able to rent something. Oddly enough, it was an automatic, but at times it really acted like it was a stick shift. It was a Peugeot, and maybe the French just don't know how to do automatics. Anyway, during the course of about three hours, I drove on freeways, city streets (in Ipswich, which isn't much of a city), and on narrow rural roads that were really just one lane wide.
I survived. There were a couple signs I didn't understand, but apparently it didn't matter that I didn't understand them because nothing went wrong.
I'm just glad it's all over.
Roundabouts always seem to be a problem, and looking right at an intersection. You're right about the narrow roads (or C roads). Does Ipswich still have the synthetic ski slope just east of the road leading into town from main road to the south? I hope you enjoy your stay...
Posted by: Aviewfrombehindthecurtain.blogspot.com | 09/29/2012 at 07:52 AM
Actually, it was looking left into the rear-view mirror that I wasn't anticipating!
I don't know about the synthetic ski slope. I was too busy just looking at the road and trying not to hit any other cars.
Posted by: John Pepple | 09/30/2012 at 12:54 PM