Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Stoliman on June 26, 2008, 09:06:36 PM
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Mr. and Mrs. Stoliman, along with the two daughters Stoliman, are heading to England for a 10 day vacation in late July - early August. We intend to fly into London, then head to Bath, rent a car and drive a counter-clockwise route around the island. No Ireland, and maybe no Scotland due to time constraints. Do any of you Brits have any recommendations on what to do and not do? Further, we would like to do the B&B thing, any recommendations there?
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Not a Brit, but I loved my trip there. See London, York, Edinburgh and Lake District.
There is sure much more to see, but I just loved the places I've seen. Have to go back some time.
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BTW, Beet1e was kind enough to meet me at the Heathrow airport. Good times.
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Should take in Cambridge, go to Duxford and go to some ex-8th AF bases while you are around that area.
Stonehenge while you are in the south west, also Cornwall/Devon is really nice, London (so much to see and do, will need a few days i think), Dover castle in the south east, lake district in NW. Also, if you wanted you could go over the channel to France for the day, it doesn't take long at all from Dover on the ferry. After being in the vastness of America, i think you will find the difference in culture in the space of 20 miles or so quite incredible :)
When i went round the States, i had a lonely planet guide which helped me a lot - they do one for England too.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/england/
Good choice avoiding the barbarians in Wales and Scotland, although i hear Wales is good for seeing English castles.
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Go see Durham, I was at university there. I think you'll appreciate it - especially the huge cathedral, castle and river. Really picturesque - Bill Bryson is a big fan and is Chancellor of the university.
(http://www.great-britain.co.uk/world-heritage/durham-cathedral-castle/Durham-castle.jpg)
(http://www.freefoto.com/images/1008/06/1008_06_5---Durham-Cathedral_web.jpg?&k=Durham+Cathedral)
Don't go see Doncaster. It's rubbish.
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10 days for driving round the whole of England? - whilst its pretty small by US standards, you need to be aware of the density of the traffic and average speeds, otherwise you will spend most of the time in the car and wont see much. Unless you want to stick to Motorways (boring), the A Roads can get clogged, I'm in the south west and you are lucky to average 40mph due to trucks, caravans, tractors, old biddies in Nissan Micras etc.
I am just saying just dont be too ambitious.
July/August is school holidays here so make sure you book accomodation in good time. A fall back would be the souless Travel Lodges which are about £50 per room per night (no food)
Depends what you are looking for, scenery, culture, old stuff etc. I wouldnt go further north than Birmingham in that time (but dont go to Birmingham)
Scenery - Cotswolds, Cheddar Gorge, Brecon Beacons, North Devon Coast, South Devon/Dorset Coast
Old Stuff - Bath, Wells Cathedral, Warwick Castle, Windsor Castle, Stone Henge, Portsmouth Dockyard (Victory/Mary Rose)
Military - Bovington Tank Museum, Dorset, aircraft museums (http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/museum.php)
Obvioulsy if you are venturing in to London there is loads of stuff to do
Anyway, have a great time, hope it doesnt rain like it did last summer :pray
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Thanks very much for the input!
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Stoli...PM gpwurzel or make contact with him on this thread.
Gary is GREAT PEOPLE and might know some good cost places...of course, give him a wish list of the things you want to accomplish.
10 Flippin days and you dont have time to see Scotland or Ireland? Jeesh! Are you walking the whole time with your luggege duct taped to your back?? Your not swimming there are you? :lol
London is a given, Plymouth is a given, Glasgow/Edinbourough is a given. Depending on how much of a history nut you are dictates the rest. To quote Eddie Izzard..."Europe, because...uhhhmmm...that where all the history is."
You know about trains & car ferries, right? Check the cost/times and see if you can make it.
Their highway system is as good or better than ours, they just drive on the other side of the road is all.
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To quote Eddie Izzard..."Europe, because...uhhhmmm...that where all the history is."
Eddie on American English:
You say "erbs" we says "herbs" ... because there a f*ng "h" in it.
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London, York, Durham, Edinburgh then depending...Scotland or not, if, then past Loch Ness, down to Loch Lomond, past or through Glasgow, ..down the other side Lake district Past or through Liverpool, Wales or not? If so, all the way to Angelsey and theneither south, but Chester is also a nice city, thengo down to Cornwall and along the south coast.
From what I've heard, the Lake district is pretty crowded in the summer.
Just my 5 pence....
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remember when you are driving there are a lot of different speed limits.
Trucks can only go at the most 40mph on a single lane road so if you get behind one on a country road
dont get too stressed.Alot of the towns have 30mph limits.
If you get a chance try the london eye on a great day you get a really good view of london,then of course you got buckingham palace and big ben.Duxford is a nice family friendly place to visit and you can get up close to a few of the planes.There's a nice 8th airforce hall there now.
The lake area is nice if you in to countryside.
You should be lucky with the weather we suppose to be hot and sunny for a while :rock
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Stoliman, if I can be of any help, lemme know fella. London Eye is a definite good thing to do, dont know much about Bath however.
Wurzel
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, rent a car and drive a counterclockwise route around the island.
Driving was my worst experience in UK, i used to work for Princess Cruises , in the Summer of "97, we used to run cruises on Royal Princess ,from Dover as base port to Scandinavia,Baltic Sea,Mediterranean and i rented a car, in Dover: i drove it to the first first intersection and when i seen all traffic HOing, i took it easy back to rental place and got a cab. I did drive some of those bike motorscuter in Bermuda on left side before that, but was different not so much traffic. Be careful driving there, i think it takes time to get used driving on left side of the road.
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London:
IWM
HMS Belfast
British Museum
The Eye
Tower Castle
Buckingham Palace
Arrrghhh, it goes on for ever....Madame Tussaud's, The theaters, Piccadilly and Leicester Square at night, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and Westminster, non-stop.....
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The London Bridge is a must see!
:D
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Hendon.
Imperial War Museum.
Winsor Castle.
All "must sees".
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A "must see" is the BoB Museum at Hendon.
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*sigh* I'm jealous.
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10 days isn't a huge amount of time - I've been here since birth and in 30 years still have not seen all of Britain - never been to Edinburgh, Bath. Only been to London a handful of times. But you should see some of the big stuff.
I think you must see Yorkshire. It's like Texas but the people are tougher, with a stronger sense of independence. :D
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Forgot Hendon....and...PORTSMOUTH
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he can have a pint from wurzel and I. ;)
if your into navy history its the place to go.
Driving around in the summer is pretty dismal took me 4 hours to get from portsmouth to the river Dart (170miles) this week.
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yup, the Royal Navy has been central to UK history for over 500 years and made the British Empire possible so I'd say a visit to see HMS Victory would have to be near the top of the list.
As for royal palaces and stately homes, a trip to Windsor castle will cover it and St George's Chapel at Windsor is just stunning.
Medieval town and cathedral - Ely (Oliver Cromwell's house is also nearby and worth a look) Cambridge is also close and a good opportunity to try punting if the weather's good, great for a picnic too.
Medieval castle - Warwick.
Industrial revolution stuff is spread around but mostly in the midlands, first steam engine, railway, iron bridge, suspension bridge, iron hulled ship etc etc, take your pick.
Stonehenge is pretty cool but access isnt great (and theres a really busy road right next to it which kills the bronze-age vibe a bit) I'd recommend Avebury if you want to get close to really ancient earthworks and standing stones (nice medieval village too and great cream teas :))
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OT I just remembered a BBC interview I saw with some Royal Marines in Um-Qasr (Iraq) just after the invasion:
Reporter: So Geoff Hoon, the Defense secretary, described Um-Qasr as a port much like Southampton, what do you think of that?
Sgt: Well Mr Hoon has obviously never visited Um-Qasr.
Marine: Yeah theres hardly any beer or prostitutes and theres people shooting at us all the time - I'd say its more like Portsmouth.
:lol
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The historic dockyard at Portsmouth is amazing.
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Wow, you all have really come through for us. This is great information. It sounds like we are really going to have to scale back our driving expectations. Your input is much appreciated!
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Re - driving: Its really not that difficult to drive on the other side of the road. You'll be used to it before you know it. Just remember you pass driver to driver. Forget about driving in London though - that would be an expensive waste of time. Get yourselves Oyster cards and use public transport in London.
When renting, remember that unless you specifically ask for an auto, you'll get a manual shift car. Also be careful if the rental car is a diesel (which it may very well be). In the UK, diesel pumps are black while gas is green. That's the complete opposite from here in the US.
Oh and don't mentally calculate the dollar equivalent cost of gas when filling up - you'll ruin your holiday. :D
Be careful with your timing if you do decide to go to Edinburgh. If you get there while the festival is on, accommodation might be hard to come by. On the other hand, the Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle is pretty spectacular if you can get tickets.
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Ok folks, thanks for you input. The bride will have a proposed itinerary shortly, I will run it by you for thoughts!
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Ok, here is a proposed itinerary. Thoughts? Remember this is our first trip with a limited time, so we had to delete things like Scotland (even though the Military Tattoo will be going on while we are in-country).
Day 1, Fri
Arrive at Heathrow 9:30
Rent car at Heathrow, 2 hrs transit, arrive at approx 1:30 PM
Salisbury (cathedral, 1 hr)
Drive to Stonehenge, 20 min transit. ½ hour
Optional: Drive to Stourhead Gardens, 40 min transit, 1 hr.
Drive to Bath, 1 hr from Amesbury; 45 min from Stourhead
Arrive
Day 2, Sat
4-5 hours in Bath
Drive to Avebury, 1 hr. See stone circle, 1 hr
Drive to Turville (Vicar of Dibley) 1 ½ hr transit, 1 hr
Drive to Oxford, 30 min transit, 1 hr
Spend the night in Oxford
Optional route, skipping Oxford:
Drive from Turville through the Cotswolds, via Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Campden, 1 ½ hr transit
Drive to Stratford-on-Avon, 30 min transit
Spend the night in Stratford-on-Avon
Day 3, Sun
2 hrs in Stratford
Drive to Warwick Castle, 30 min transit, 1 ½-2 hrs
Drive to Liverpool, 2 ½ hrs transit
Tour Liverpool, 4 hrs (I am a Beatles fan, but is it worth spending some of our limited time here?)
Spend the night in Liverpool
Day 4, Mon
Drive to Windermere, So. Lake district, 2 hrs transit
Hill Top Farm & Hawkshead (Beatrix Potter) 1 hr
To Keswick, No. Lake District, 30 min
Hike / Cruise Derwentwater Lake 2 hrs
Circle Drive 1 hr
Castlerigg Stone Circle. 45 min
Spend the night in Keswick
Day 5, Tue
Drive to Hadrian’s Wall, 1 ½ hr transit, 1 hr
Drive to Durham, 1 hr transit. Cathedral (HP scene, the daughters are big fans of Harry Potter) 1 hr
To York, 1 ½ hrs transit
York walking tour, Wall Walk, York Minster, Yorkshire Museum, Castle Museum, Cliffords Tower
Spend the night
Day 6, Wed (three days here)
Train to London, 3 hrs transit
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That sounds exhausting - but you'll see a hell of alot of the country. I'll comment on what I know.
I personally love Hadrian's wall, but an hour is not alot of time. The forts at Vindalanda and Housesteads (spelling?) have to be seen to be believed. I find the whole area fascinating and spent 3-4 hours at each fort and much time walking on the wall last year. It really sets the imagination racing to think of the lonely outpost at the end of the Empire, with Assyrian archers manning some windswept posting. You can still see the defenses in the landscape and the amazingly straight service roads leading to the wall. The wax tablets found at Vindolanda are regarded as the most precious and valuable archaeological finds in Britain and maybe in Europe. They tell of the everyday life of Romans living in the fort.
An hour will give you a glimpse of the place. You might even spot the tree and wall section used in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The bit where he saves the boy from the Sheriff of Nottingham's men... practically in Scotland. :)
The Vindolanda wax tablets originals are in the British Museum in London, which is something I would recommend visiting if history and achaeology is your thing. I was there last September to see the First Emperor exhibition of the Terracotta Army which has now ended sadly, but the other exhibits are world class. It is on a par with the Berlin, New York and Cairo museums in terms of importance of Egyptian finds for instance - the Rosetta Stone is there for example.
York and Durham are my favourite cities in England (although there are many places I haven't been). You will love York and I think you have the right balance in terms of time spent there. Durham isn't a big city - an hour will allow you to see the cathedral and castle which is perhaps what you are most interested in.
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I'd skip Liverpool. Your time will be tight and its nothing special even for a Beatles fan.
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Just a thought, you are going to be doing a lot of driving... are you familiar with how roundabouts work? :D Reason i ask, is we have tons of them here and i didn't see one in 3,000 miles driving around the USA. Just give way to the right.
Also, beware of these: -
(http://www.cambs.police.uk/camops/safetycameras/information/images/gatso.jpg)
These robotic machines will gladly drain your money if you go too fast. The all have to be painted yellow by law, so can't miss them.
And these: -
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2007/05/16/cn3i16.jpg)
Who tend to hide behind bushes, wait for you to park illegally, then give you a £60 fine. Also, here we have number plates front and back, so you can reverse park into spaces, also can park facing oncoming traffic if you want.
Also, our roads are really busy compared to the USA so expect a fair bit of traffic, especially around the big cities.
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I agree, I would forget Liverpool and spend more time in the Lake District/Borders etc.
Understandably you are trying to see as much as possible, but the itinery is tight, I think you will find some of the travelling longer than estimated