I have a possible trip to England next September, with travel to various manor houses in the countryside. This would mean driving place to place. When all is said and done about driving on the "wrong" side of the road I am wondering if anyone would know of a driving short course I would be able to take before heading out on my adventure.
thank you,
Lynette
I am surprised no one has come up with an app for practicing this---it wouldn't have the left-hand shiter of course, but one could view the screen and practice turns into the correct lane and staying left. Or maybe a video game?
Speaking as somebody who learnt to drive on the correct side of the road (left) and now lives in a country that drives on the "wrong" side (right):
I would think a course would be difficult before you get to the UK, as it really needs to be on-road training with other traffic, which would imply the first day after you land, before you pick up you car you go to a driving school in the UK and ask for a one hour lesson.
You need to go back to what you were taught when you learned to drive how to align the car. You learnt this, now you do it subconsciously. You need to go back to doing it consciously.
And, of course learn the road signs and laws before you leave home.
Although it's not a moving map, the street view feature on Google maps might be of use to you. Can at least view the sight picture from the LH side of the road, along with signage, roundabouts, etc.
And see if you can book an automatic.
Great advice Chris.
In 2013 after a cruise, we rented a car from Harwich in East Anglia (East Coast) and had three days of driving in England. What made driving fairly easy was having an automatic transmission and a navigation system. Also, my wife kept reminding me "stay on the left."
I adjusted well, but didn't try to get into a hurry, and concentrated on driving, not drinking or eating while driving.
The double roundabouts were the biggest issues. We have roundabouts here in Georgia, but no double ones.
One big mistake that we made was driving on a Friday afternoon on the M25, orbital around London. It was awful, a real parking lot.
We did visit Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Salisbury and Stone Circle during our drive, which went very well, since we were on the West side of the M25.
We are planning a four week driving tour of England and Wales next October and going to visit a lot of wonderful places (skipping London and the SE of England this time). The British countryside is amazing. Can't wait for our trip.
Driving on the left is not as hard as it might seem (I have done it twice in Ireland, twice in England). You definitely need to do consciously what you have learned to do unconsciously while driving on the right. I have driven into cities as big as Bath, Brighton, and Salisbury without any trouble. Definitely get an automatic and only get a GPS if you are already used to using one.
Lynette,
Driving on "the other side of the road" does present some challenges. Some people have no trouble at all with that, while others have difficulty. Having driven in the U.K. a number of times, a few thoughts on the subject.....
A few websites that may help.....
Whatever you do, don't do this.....
I have just had to learn the art of driving in England and offer these points
stay away from the rush hour
take it easy. If you find yourself in the wrong lane for your turn, stay in lane and make a U-turn when it is convenient (read: safe)
don't be shy about taking an extra turn in a round-about - better than cutting across an other car
"Whatever you do, don't do this....."
OR THIS.......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gngODTnc7Ec (Caution, language).
Useful links:
http://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/uploads/3/2/9/2/3292309/the-official-highway-code-with-annexes-uk-en-12-04.pdf (Downloadable PDF file).
to answer the OP's question there are numerous driving schools in the UK who would be happy to take you out for a lesson.
We've found that rural England, for example, the Lake District and elsewhere in the north, has quite a lot of bi-directional local roads that are less than two lanes wide, and unstriped. This is tricky, and disconcerting, especially when both sides are hedged or walled in!
That is also one reason to be wary of using such things as google maps to plan routes - they just don't differentiate finely enough between the standards of roads. In rural areas could easily be diverted down a promising cut-through that dwindles to an old cart track.
To add to my previous comments.....
"That is also one reason to be wary of using such things as google maps to plan routes"
Absolutely! Even the best planning app's will only provide a rough estimate. I've found that driving in the U.K. ALWAYS takes longer than even the best laid plans.
Also, if you're using a GPS don't trust it implicitly. I've found that the stupid machine sometimes provides the most bizarre directions, so you've also got to be "situationally aware" and if the directions don't seem right, pull over and check the map (or some other source such as road signs or ask the locals). In one case while driving in the Cotswolds, the GPS was instructing me to turn through a farmers field to reach the town I was heading for. The road sign stated "One Mile ahead", so I ignored the stupid machine. However there have been one or two occasions when the GPS really helped.
I wish I'd read Chris' post above (or he'd written it) before my English road trip a few years ago, where I dinged the left-side door and, another time, blew out the left front tire (tyre) because I couldn't stay close enough to the center line. Not to mention repeatedly panicking my long-suffering wife and navigator. I like driving at home but had a much harder time than I'd expected in the UK. After awhile I got into the right habits, as Chris describes, with my head and eyes and where the mirrors are and such. Auto transmission helped too, one less thing to think about doing with the opposite hand.
A quick lesson from an English driving school probably would have helped, but it isn't about the motor skills so much as the mindset. Chris is just right -- you have to think about all those movements and orientations that you consciously learned years ago and now handle unconsciously. We took a van tour this fall with an English driver who lives in Spain, so was constantly adapting to one side or the other. Many Europeans (counting the Brits as European for this purpose) do this readily. So could we Yankees if we got more practice, I hope! So can you, but be careful. And get the full coverage if you can.
I’ll show you why you cannot trust Satnavs or Google Maps (or similar) for giving you routes.
Click the link that follows - you should see a map of south Wales.
Click the white arrow symbol in the blue box - up will come a side menu. Now put in for FROM Cardiff Airport TO Swansea.
Now look at the suggested blue route. It starts off leaving the airport heading west on a decent road - which you should have stayed on. However, Google tell you to leave this road and go for miles on country lanes across the Vale of Glamorgan to reach the M4 (freeway) at Junction 34. Now, click and drag the little yellow man down onto this route - say just south of Llancarfan or west of Bonvilston - and you will see the kind of roads that you would be on = very narrow country lanes. Google have not researched these routes. All they have done is set up a computerised system to link places. (The 2 grey routes are also bonkers for such a journey).
BE SURE TO GET A PROPER ROAD ATLAS - WHICH YOU CAN BUY IN SUPERMARKETS FOR ABOUT £4.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4691413,-3.4962995,12z
Here's a more recent example of being led astray by a GPS / SatNav.....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/family-spends-freezing-night-car-gps-directions-leave/story?id=44137192
As I mentioned earlier, they can be a fantastic travel accessory, but don't trust them implicitly. It's always necessary to leave the brain "switched on".
Here is a good one about Americans who won’t leave their cars - even when the destination is an island 2 miles out at sea!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2968272/American-tourists-hire-car-left-stranded-beach-followed-sat-nav-directions-Welsh-island-reached-ferry.html
Hahaha - Lola - you may want to proofread your response - left handed what now?!! ;)
We are planning a four week drive tour of England and Wales next October. It appears that renting a car with a navigation system will cost about $175 more for four weeks. I have researched purchasing a GPS, either Tom Tom or Garmin instead of a system built into the car. Unfortunately, the new systems with the UK maps seem to run about the same cost as the internal GPS.
While driving in the USA, I have always managed very well with maps. Still, I have found that a GPS would have assisted me greatly while driving a rental car in the Boston area, which doesn't do very well posting highway signs.
I know that I want a nav system, and buying a used GPS is an option, but the used ones are for sale on UK websites. Also, I don't know how reliable a used GPS would be.
Well, Nicole, we had some exciting moments driving in England. Lola's observation seems apt to me. I might expand it to include the right hand...passenger...as well.
I haven't driven on the left, but I have a question for those that have changed sides of the road. It seems to me that just being in a car with the driver on the right would be a great aid in making the transition. I once borrowed a car with the wheel on the right and it made driving on the right very uncomfortable and foreign. And it makes me think the folks in real danger would be Frenchmen, or Brits who ferry their cars across the channel.
So how helpful is just being on the "wrong" side of the car?
My experience (as a passenger when friends rented a car a couple of years ago) was similar to that described by Dick from Olympia.
I am well aware that you have asked specifically about driving. But....
Are you aware that many, many country houses in England can be reached by a simple train journey, plus either a very short walk or short taxi ride?
Likewise, there are many tour companies that do tours to either one country house, or several in one day.
The London Walks Company has several day trips, with a guide, out to country houses. For example, this trip out to Blenheim:
http://www.walks.com/our-walks/oxford-blenheim-palace
Take a look at their website for more trips out to country houses.
There are many companies that do trips (out of London) to multiple country houses in one day.
Here is a bus tour (leaving from London) that goes to Highclere Castle.
https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/downton-abbey.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiA1b7CBRDjmIPL4u-Zy6gBEiQAsJhTMPNBGcc-wduXO6dWOkVhymxAYvFE2Fk8EMfvvTvCtQMaAvjx8P8HAQ
Here is a company that does an 8-day tour to country houses.
http://numberonelondontours.com/tours/the-country-house-tour/
There is also a limousine company near London that specializes in driving you to several country houses and/or castles of your choosing in one day, and back to London.
Driving in England would be a last resort for me, but I am expressing my personal preference here.
Regarding buying a GPS--why not just use Google maps on your smartphone instead. If you have a Google account, you can download the maps ahead of time, and they you can use them OFFLINE while you are in the UK. I've done it and it works--even if you take the wrong turn, it recalibrates and sends you in the right direction while you are offline. Just be sure to take a phone mount and a car charger if you plan to do this. It's also a good idea to try it out at home first, just to make sure you know how it works.
Otherwise, everyone has good points about driving in the UK. I found that staying centered in the lane was one of my biggest problems. I looked online for driving tips on staying inside your lane, and that helped once I started driving on the left.
In my view, the freedom of having a car is worth the hassle.
I already alluded to the deficiencies of google maps in understanding the British road system above. All satnavs and journey planners have this issue to some degree, but google is especially lacking in local nous.
I learned how to drive in England many years ago. I have returned to England and rented a car quite a few times over the years. So I have a fair amount of LHS of the road experience. But nothing prepared me for the Cotswolds and Lake District on my trip two years ago in June/July. The roads seemed much narrower than they had been on past trips. I know I am getting older but I really think that the roads are the same width but the traffic is so much heavier. On that same trip we drove for a week in Kent. Here the roads are generally wider and more able to accommodate the traffic. I had no difficulty driving in Kent. These are generalizations. You can still find easy to drive roads in the Cotswolds and Lake District and narrow roads in Kent.
So what's my point? Well you have made a good start by traveling in September. Traffic should be lighter than in June/July. But there is still the risk that the shortest/quickest route to the house that you want to visit is a narrow road. See if you can find AA Maps of the areas that interest you. AA does a good job of indicating the width of the roads. Plan your route carefully before you set out each day. It will be a challenge driving on the other side of the road but you should have no problem if you chose the wider roads.
Take care with both GPS and online route planners that still have a habit of sending you down narrow roads little better than cart tracks to save half a mile. Of course there may be occasions when such roads are the only access.
I looked for the same thing- it doesn't seem to exist anywhere. All I can say is its not really too hard, its a bit awkward at first, but British drivers seemed to be far more polite than ones in the USA. I'm used to driving around Los Angeles, so roads in the UK were far more relaxing and less stressful, even with the roundabouts and wrong side feelings. After a while they go away. I think you'll do fine in the UK, just take it slow, always signal, and if you are really worried put a "student driver" sign up on your back window. The odd thing there are the traffic signals aren't located where ours are, they are at the corners of intersections for the most part, and the street signs are well- unusual (at least in Edinburgh). Having a GPS is crucial (as other posters have said)-- but always zoom out to make sure its taking you in the right direction, as some place names are very common in the UK -- like "Swindon," or "Chester." The only scary thing I encountered while driving there last time (for around 13 days in a row) was Wales....there was a lot of narrow rows with rocky hedges and the crosswalks also indicated to "stop" with some different painting strokes, which I didn't realize till I ran one and got honked at (and rightfully so).... oops...
A thing to remember with a gps, you have a choice of programming it for "fastest" or "shortest" route. Shortest will take you off the beaten path. In Ireland last summer we found that happening. Someone told us there are no private roads, thus the "shortcut" across a farmer's field on a wagon path.
Another thing to learn is the custom for when you meet an oncoming vehicle on a one lane road. Somebody may have to back up and/or pull off. The locals know who that is.
In learning to drive on the right the toughest thing was the roundabout. The Irish were so friendly. Every time I went through a roundabout the other drivers were all waving at me and shouting something.
".....some place names are very common in the UK -- like "Swindon," or "Chester."......"
Not sure where this information came from but there's only one Swindon (thankfully) in the UK likewise Chester.
There are a couple of small places called Swindon in addition, but they really shouldn't cause trouble as they aren't in the same county (yes there are examples of this, mainly as a result of boundaries being redrawn). The only thing close in name to Chester than comes to mind though is Chester-le-Street.
Though lots of places including "chester". Manchester, Chichester, Dorchester, Chesterfield, Godmanchester, Winchester etc. Plus "caster" or "cester" and other spellings.
Useless fact of the day: all these come from "Castra" which is Latin for fort and signify the location for a former Roman or pre-Roman fort.
