We picked up the car in Brighton around midday after
checking out of Kipps Hostel (and using their internet to download the GPS Free
app on my iPhone). We made sure we got a car with USB input to the stereo and
to keep the phone charged so we could use it as a GPS. This app turned out to
be excellent and seemed a lot more reliable than any of the GPS units I have
used over the past few years… and it was free!
Our first stop was the Brighton Marina which we had seen
from the end of the pier previously and we fund here a large ASDA store where
we stocked up on food for the next few days. We ended up with a heap of
blueberries, raspberries and strawberries and a few snacks for the driving. At
this stage we had no idea where we were going to go next, so we spend half an
hour in the carpark deciding on where to drive! In the end we picked the name
of a random town in the south-west which was the general direction we wanted to
go and started driving! We passed through a number of towns with Bec searching
Agoda and Hostelworld during the drive to see if there was anywhere to stay,
and ended up in Bournemouth (which neither of us had heard of before) and
checked into a hotel called the Britannica Roundhouse which cost us around $40
for the night… cheaper than many of the hostels in the UK. We found that the
hotels were a lot cheaper around the countryside away from the popular tourist
destinations which we would have been staying at if we had have taken trains
rather than hiring a car.
The hotel we stayed in was large and had fairly good
facilities despite its age. We once again managed to find a Whetherspoons Pub
for dinner and had the $6.50 chicken burger with a pint of Thatchers cider, a
meal that I would have at Whetherspoons a total of 6 times in 2 weeks in the
UK!
From Bournemouth we headed relatively north which took us
past the Stone Henge which was ideal as it is out in the middle of nowhere at
the intersection of two highways! Not a very easy place to get to unless you
have a car. It was during this day that we discovered the meaning of some of
the road signs in the UK (should have probably done this earlier…) We
discovered that a white sign with a black cross means the last speed limit no
longer applies and you have to work out the speed limit based on what the road
is (ie; separated dual carriage way = 70mph, joined single lanes = 50mph etc).
Not too sure why they can’t say what the speed it!
The Stone Henge was impressive (but actually a bit expensive
at around ($25) just to look at the stones from a distance, but we paid and
it’s definitely a must to when in the UK! They do provide you with an
audioguide that tells you the history of the site which makes it a little
better, but they must make a killing off the amount of tourists that go through
there in a day! It is a little surprising how it is basically at the top of a
hilly area and there is nothing but fields in every direction around it!
After visiting Stone Henge we resumed out trip north and
headed north to a city called Bath. We arrived here about lunch time and took a
picnic down into one of the city parks. We were surprised that we had to pay
about $2 each to get into the “public park” but it was worth it was a sunny day
and the ark was beside the river, had comfortable deck chairs and was full of
birds! From here we drove further north through the little windy roads towards
a town called Western-Super-Mare… lame name I know! We basically only went
there because it had a weird name and it was in the right sort of direction,
but it ended up being a really nice beach side town with some big piers and
great buildings. Unfortunately the tide was well out while we were there but we
watched it tart to come racing back in over the massive sand flats. We thought
about staying in this town but decided to keep heading north to stay the night
in Cardiff which was perhaps another hour north over a massive toll bridge over
the bar (expensive toll as well! Was about $12)
We spent one night in Cardiff and had a bit of a look around
the town area but did not do much sight-seeing as it seemed like just another
big city! The hostel we stayed at was cheap and fairly comfortable with a big
kitchen and bar but not the sort of place that we would stay for more than one
night! It was so not memorable that neither of us can even remember the name of
it!
Our next stop after Cardiff was Liverpool. We spend the
better part of the day driving up here but it was a relatively easy drive. I
had been warned but a few people that driving in the UK is crazy but I found it
relatively easy (easier than driving in Sydney at least!) The only annoying
part is the fact that next to no one in the UK used their indicators! It’s
crazy! Left turns, right turns, intersections, round-abouts…. And nothing!!
We enjoyed our short time in Liverpool and spent the first
afternoon and the following day in the city centre having a look around the
shops, visiting the Beatles Street (where the club the Beatles first played
was) and even managed to see the Dark Knight Rises at the cinema. All up a good
day and a great break from a few days of driving! Late in the afternoon we
drove the hour trip across to Manchester to stay with Bec’s friend Kim and her
family.
At Kim’s we stayed in their spare room and had some great
pizza for dinner. The supermarkets over there (ASDA and Tesco) have pre-made
pizzas that you can buy, just like Coles etc. back home, but they also have a
section where you can tell a worker what you want on your pizza and they make
it up for you then and there! Perhaps this will be something we can look
forward to seeing in the next few years in Australia!
We stayed most of the next day in Manchester and went
walking around a big lake in the sunshine with Kim, Simon and their 18 month
old daughter Lexi. It was good to get out and not have to drive anywhere for a
while and it was an exceptionally nice day!
In the afternoon we started the drive back south and decided
to stay one night in Coventry in order to make it back to London by lunch time
the next day to return the car. We stayed once again in a Brittania chain hotel
for about $45 and once again were extremely happy with it. Not only was the
room great, but we purchased a voucher for dinner and breakfast. Dinner was
amazing with three courses including roast pork and veges and a heap of
deserts. We essentially stuffed ourselves and followed it up again the next
morning with a buffet breakfast of bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, mushrooms etc.
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