Colorado Cruiser: England "Guys Trip" Day 4

We called a cab to the hotel for a ride to the Bristol Airport. It was right around rush hour so he said he'd take us on some back roads to avoid Bristol and all of the traffic. The ride was just over 30 minutes and he really did take some back roads. England has allot of small one lane roads that handle 2 way traffic at 30 to 40 mph.

When we got to the Airport we walked over to the car rental agency to pickup a car that Mike had reserved. It was a VW something (not a bug). It has been 26 years since I drove in England, but I did drive here for over a year and had my British driver's license, so I drove. I told Mike "I will never get mad no matter how many times you tell me to stay to the left".

I brought my Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS to use in the car. I had bought the European maps so we put the mount on the windshield, fired it up, and told it to take us to Stonehenge. I drove very conservatively as we exited the airport. We still didn't want to go through Bristol traffic, and the GPS seemed to not want that either. It had us turn South West and away from Bristol.

The first few miles felt ok, but very soon we were into small villages and small roads. Little villages often have choke points where the road narrows to one lane. There is seldom a traffic light controlling the narrow spot. There is usualy just a couple of warning signs and the drivers take turns. But unlike America where once traffic got going in one way, it would just keep going till it ran out, the british seem to have a real sense of fair play. About 4 cars would go, then stop and let some come the other way, then back and forth very courteously.

I was worried about my first big roundabout, and big unmarked roundabouts. Sometimes you can get 2 or 3 roundabouts all chained together. The GPS would tell us to enter the roundabout and take the 3rd exit, but it wasn't always clear just what counted as an exit, and if it wasn't marked, you can get lost quick. We quickly developed a routine where Mike would watch the GPS and figure out roughly what degree to exit at, then figure out in real life which that meant. We still missed one now and then, either having to go around the roundabout again, or U-turn, or even take a different route.

As we got near Stonehenge we wound up on a road out across some farm country. Mike commented that he could see what the GPS was doing, but that we were driving parallel to a major highway only a mile or two away. But the road was fine and the scenery was great. We must have been near a military base because we saw allot of "Tank Crossing" signs and some big military helicopters in the air.

We arrived at Stonehenge without much problem and paid for the audio tour. The grounds are fenced off with a big 9 foot high fence. But many people didn't want to pay to get in so they would cross the road and try to poke a camera through the fence for a picture. We walked through a tunnel under the road and followed the trail in a big circle around the stones. The weather was chilly and a stiff breeze blew, but we had mostly sunshine and only partly cloudy.

Our next stop was the town of Yate where I lived for a few months. It was maybe 30 miles North, so we programmed the GPS and headed off. Again, Mike said we were kind of zig zagging through the countryside rather than taking the big highways. I was kind of glad not to be in heavy traffic so we kept going. We tried to stop for lunch at a cute little Pub in a small town that claimed to have "The best homecooked meals", but it was only 11:15 and didn't open untill 11:30. So we kept going.

Finally at 12:00 we were going through a large town and I was starving so we parked on the side of the road and looked for somewhere to eat. I don't remember having such trouble finding food, but we sure did. A pub we saw didn't serve food, and the classic Fish'n'chips shops didn't seem to be anywhere. We walked into a small shopping district and saw a little cafe called "The Grotto" or something. The inside was decorated somewhat like a cave. I think we got pasty's and chips or something, but it turned out their kitchen consisted mostly of a freezer, can opener, and a microwave. It wasn't good, but it was filling.

We continued to Yate and then to 47 Blaisdon where I used to live. We took a few pictures then headed to a little village called Iron Acton that I used to love. The GPS took us out of town the way that we used to ride our bikes, then around a small road where we had to cross the highway, and down toward Iron Acton. We passed over a bridge that we used to sit on and look at the wildflowers on the hills. We didn't stay in Iron Acton, but just drove slowly through.

Our next destination was Stroud. Mike wanted to visit the Cotswolds area, and Stroud was a town where I lived in that area. The GPS took us on another off the beaten path trip, and down some little one lane roads with hedges to either side. I had forgotton all of those tiny roads, and especially the stone fences with hedges on top. Sometimes your mirrors are brushing hedges on either side, and you're on a 2 way road. I quickly adopted a strategy to slow way down at corners, and if we met another car, I would find a wide spot, pull hard to the left side, then stop and let the british driver pass me. They are much better at it than me, and we did OK with that. One time we met a large delivery truck. I pulled over but was sure there wasn't enough room. He hardly slowed down and zipped right around us without touching anything. There was less than 2 inches between us.

We found the house where I lived in Stroud and took a picture, but it's a big town and I don't remember it being all that pretty so we didn't try to walk around. Instead we headed for a little town that I remember and that the Fodors guide reccomended named Painswick. It is set on a hill with home all of the same stone and very close together. Parking was hard to come by, but we found some near the village Church.

We walked around Painswick for a bit and went into a rock collector shop that was going out of business. The guy had a very odd collection of stuff, but nothing we wanted. On one lawn we saw a rabbit cage on a lawn. The cage had no bottom so the rabbits nibbled at the lawn. That's one way to mow your lawn I guess. I remember visiting an elderly lady in Painswick that lived in a house named AppleGarth. Everyone in these small towns names their homes. I've always loved that. But we found a house named AppleGarth but it doesn't look anything like I remember.

Our next stop was the town of Cirencester. We put it in the GPS and started around some of the little roads through Painswick. As we drove, the GPS announced it as recalculating because we had missed a turn. We looked at each other and wondered "What Turn?", because we saw no other roads. We followed the directions swinging around town and then came back down the same road. This time I went very slow, and at the point where the GPS showed the road going off to the right, all we saw was a small opening in the wall. We stopped and got out to look, and sure enough, it was a road. We looked at each other and shrugged, then got back in and headed through the gap barely fitting.

The road was unpaved, or barely paved, or realy needing repair, but it bumped and thumped us down the hill, across the creek at the bottom, and up the other side. Calling it a one lane road is being generous. Mike took down the GPS and said we better get rid of it before it kills us. He started fiddling through the settings and after a few minutes he sai "Clay you have this thing in Mountain Bike Mode."

It was set to avoid all highway and travel the shortest distance. No wonder we kept getting sent down tiny roads. We stopped to fiddle with in, and take some pictures back toward Painswick, then headed off again. We had about 4 miles on the little road and saw some beautiful scenery. At one point about 2 miles down the road we saw a huge home with lovely grounds and a kids play set. The house looked very new, so someone must have bought the land and built there just for the privacy the road afforded.

Sure enough, as soon as we got near a major road, we turned onto it and never got near a small road again (except when we deliberately set the GPS back into Mountain Bike mode for fun).

We got to Cirencester and started driving around. We followed what we thought was the main road, but it bent to the left and narrowed dramatically. Suddenly after 40 yards we found ourselves in a dead end filled with parked cars and no way to turn around. I started backing out and looking for somewhere to turn around. There was a narrow driveway on our right and I decided to back into it then pull forward the way we had come. Mike offered to get out and guide me, but I said no. About half way through in I heard a scrape and pulled back out a bit and tried again. This time we made it but when we checked, I'd scraped a corner of the bumper pretty good. I don't know if I hit the wall or a trash can that I hadn't seen, but it bugged me allot. I should have let Mike get out but I was feeling pretty good about my driving and my arrogance got the better of me.

Later Mike checked the insurance he'd bought on the car. It fully covered any damage with no deducatable. So we could drop off the keys and not have to worry about the scrape. That's why we got the insurance, but it still bugs me.

Cirencester was another big town and wasn't very fun. It was getting late in the afternoon, but we decided to try one more town. A little village nearby named Bibury. It wasn't many miles away and we arrived near 5:00.

Bibury was a small village set along the banks of a big stream. The first thing we noticed was some sort of pond and park setup. It turned out to be a trout farm with a small store attached. The farm tours were closed but we looked around the store, then crossed the stream to a big pub to see about dinner. The restauraunt didn't open for quite a while yet so we followed the stream down through town. It was very quiet and tranquil. If I had my wish, I'd love to bring my wife back to stay in that Pub/Inn and enjoy the quiet of the town.

We found the village church and a series of huts that the guide book say has been there for hundreds of years. We walked past the row of homes and out through a path just in the edge of the trees parallel to the stream. It was a very quite and relaxing place.

We got back in the car as the sun was setting and headed for Cardiff. The GPS took us down an A road to M4, then across the Severne bridge. Traffic was heavy but not too bad until we got into Cardiff. We hit allot of stop and go traffic as we got off the M to make our way into town.

We found the Marriot hotel pretty easy, then went out looking for something to eat. We found a modern restaurant in a very swank part of town. It was delicious but I think we both wished we'd stayed in Bibury and waited for the Pub to open.

Stonehenge