UK by car. Traveling the UK by car What to pack for your trip

Travel half of Europe by car on the way from Moscow to London? Nothing complicated! Nadezhda Agonen, together with her boyfriend, made a great auto-trip and now reports on what she saw in nine parts. In the first - a little about the preparation and travel outside of Russia.

To drive across Europe to London with the instability of the currency seemed madness to many - but not to us. Taking into account that we have only two weeks of vacation, and ignoring the rising euro, we enlisted the support of loved ones, made a route, filled a full tank of gasoline and set off on a trip.

In fact, we didn’t really even know how to prepare for such a trip, so we took on everything at once. We carefully thought out the route so that daytime hauls would not be too tiring, and there would be strength and desire for at least a cursory tour of the cities. We agreed with our friends and acquaintances abroad about the possibility of staying with them for the night. We studied the sights of several countries and selected the most interesting of them (in our opinion, of course). We also got acquainted with national cuisines and identified restaurants that we want to visit. And, of course, we read hundreds of pages of forums and thematic magazines in order to be prepared for any surprises.

What to take on a trip

Probably the first and most important question that we puzzled over was the question of what to take with us on a trip.

1. Firstly, since we wanted to capture this trip in as much detail as possible, we had a lot of equipment with us. A car's cigarette lighter wouldn't be able to handle that much volume, so we took two extra batteries to charge phones, a tablet, and small cameras.

2. Speaking of sockets: in the UK they are different from the European ones, so an adapter will come in handy. In Switzerland, you will need an adapter if you have powerful appliances (with a “thick” plug).

3. Since our trip to Norway, we have installed a navigator with a map of Western Europe on our tablet - quite expensive, but working without the Internet. We have repeatedly regretted incomplete coverage in Belarus, Poland and the Czech Republic. In addition to building the route you need and calculating the time, the navigator is useful in finding campsites and gas stations. The latter is very important, because gasoline is significantly more expensive on the highway.

4. To travel abroad by car, you need an international civil liability insurance policy "Green Card". Such insurance is issued not for the driver, but for the car, so it does not matter who will be driving. You need to make a "Green Card" no earlier than a month before the trip. The standard terms of validity of insurance are 15 days or a month. You can get a document from any insurance company. However, if you have not thought about insurance in advance, then you should know that closer to the border with Belarus, Green Cards are sold along the highway.

5. Take some food in the car: fruit, muesli bars, something to drink. Regular stops for fifteen minutes will help not only to refresh and rejuvenate a little, but also distract you from the rather monotonous landscape outside the car window, which is typical for many countries.

6. We took a tent and sleeping bags with us, as we planned to spend a couple of nights on the way back at campsites.

7. Take cameras, cameras, phones with you - in general, everything that can capture your trip.

After we loaded everything listed above into the trunk, we headed towards Belarus. It was decided to make a stop for lunch in the city of Yartsevo in the Staroe Ruslo cafe, conveniently located on the M1 highway. Judging by the large number of occupied tables, the establishment is popular. There was a difference of opinion about the taste of the food, but most definitely the portions were large. Ginger lemonade at the end of the meal perfectly quenched our thirst, and we moved on.

If you don’t feel like eating at a roadside tavern, then go to Smolensk. It will not take you much more time, and in return you will be able to see one more city, especially since Smolensk is worth it.

The next stop on our way was Belarus…

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50. Despite the fact that the presence of a warning triangle in the car is not mandatory, it is still recommended to take it with you when going on a long trip. It should be noted that the installation of an emergency stop sign on autobahns is prohibited.

51. There is no ban on the use of studded tires in the UK, but due to mild climatic conditions, their use does not seem appropriate. There are no special speed limits for cars with studded tires.

52. The use of radar detectors is not prohibited. Appropriate signs warn about the presence of radars on the route of drivers, so the use of additional equipment to detect them is pointless.

53. According to a statistical survey, British drivers consider the M6 ​​the worst highway. It connects Rugby and Carlisle and is the oldest autobahn in the country, the throughput of the route is about 70 thousand cars a day. At the same time, the load on the track is almost doubled.

54. In the summer, the A30 highway is considered the most "unsuccessful"; it connects two popular resort towns - Devon and Cornwall. In summer, the 457-kilometer highway is one big traffic jam.

55. Traffic is often hindered on the M1, which connects London and Leeds. On this route, which is 322 kilometers long, there can be big traffic jams at any time of the year.

56. The real "national catastrophe" for the British is the snowfall in winter. The fact is that the snow cover reliably hides the road markings, which it is simply impossible to do without on local roads. Fortunately for local motorists, snow falls very rarely.

When choosing a model for trips in England, be guided by practical considerations: for routes mainly in the city - take a car with small dimensions, while for long trips (and for the mountains) you should take a more comfortable large car.

When handing over the car, require the employees of the point of visual inspection of the car for defects and the official signature of the acceptance certificate. Keep the invoice and acceptance certificate with you for a few more months.

Before returning the car, clean the cabin of debris, and do not forget to take all your belongings from the cabin.

You can always check our car rental offers in England using the search form at the top of the page. We assure you - you will not find cheaper!

58. The real leader in the number of car accidents is the A537 road connecting Buxton and Maclesfield. There are a lot of sharp turns on it, in addition, a very strong wind constantly blows in this area. Also among the dangerous roads in England, it is worth mentioning the A5012, A621, A625, A54, A581, A5004, A675, A61 and A285.

59. Tolls apply for some tunnels. These include the Thames Tunnel (Dartford, M25), the Mersey Tunnel (Liverpool) and the Tyne River Tunnel (Newcastle). The fare for these tunnels is between £1.20 and £1.50.

60. You need to pay for the right to travel on the following bridges: Humber Bridge (A15), Tamar (A38), Cleddaw (A477), Fort Bridge (A90) and Clifton. The fare varies and can range from 0.70 to 1.50 pounds.

61. Entrance to toll roads, bridges and tunnels is carried out through special payment points. Approaching such a point, you need to pay attention to the signs located above each lane. Depending on the image on the signs, payment can be made by credit card, cash through a machine, cash through a cashier or using a special automatic settlement system.

62. One of the most difficult cities for inexperienced drivers is Oxford (after London, of course), the roads here are narrow and winding. Traffic islands and signs can often be seen between lanes, and they also pose a threat to drivers who are not used to driving on the left.

63. When driving on city roads, special attention should be paid to cyclists and huge buses. Both the first and the second deftly maneuver in the stream of cars, despite their "non-standard" dimensions.

64. On local roads, you should not rush and worry that excessive slowness will annoy drivers. If it is difficult to overcome a narrow section of the road at high speed, then you can slow down a little or drive to the side of the road to let oncoming cars pass.

65. Indigenous people treat the car rather as a luxury item, despite the fact that almost every family has it. It is very expensive to keep a car in the UK, in addition, it can be difficult to move around in large cities due to traffic jams and lack of parking. Whenever possible, citizens use public transport.

66. In the UK, there are quite a few ordinary intersections familiar to foreigners, most often roundabouts are organized on them. An inexperienced driver can be knocked down by unusual left-hand traffic, and he will not immediately understand which road to take from the circle. In this case, the navigator will come to the rescue.

67. On local roads you can rarely see the police, the control over the implementation of traffic rules is carried out automatically - with the help of cameras. If you break the rule, you should expect a receipt in the mail to pay the fine. If some types of fines are paid within the next three weeks, the amount of the monetary penalty can be significantly reduced.

68. As in many countries, the UK has a system of accrual of "penalty" points. For some types of violations, the driver is awarded a certain number of points, and when they reach a critical number, a temporary deprivation of rights follows.

69. Those who are going to travel through the countryside for the first time should check the location of gas stations in advance. If gas stations are quite common near populated areas, then in the countryside there are many deserted sections of highways.

70. Drivers who prefer motorcycles are not allowed to drive on local roads without a helmet. It is also necessary to wear special clothing with fluorescent stripes.

71. The best way to travel around the UK is in a compact car that has low fuel consumption. In this case, it will be easier to move along narrow roads, and you can also significantly save on fuel, which is not cheap here.

72. London has some of the most complex road interchanges in the world. Inexperienced drivers who are accustomed to right-hand traffic are highly discouraged from driving on the streets of the capital on the very first day.

73. On the desert coast of Northern Ireland there is a rather unusual road, which the locals called the "Giant's Road". It is lined with large hexagonal slabs, and basalt columns 6 meters high are installed along the road. The road is a real local landmark; many interesting legends are associated with it.

February 8, 2010 5:18 AM York, Inverness, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Brighton + 2 cities - UK May 2008

Plane Tallinn-London. Taking into account the time zone, the flight lasted only an hour, of course, three objective times had passed. From a bird's eye view, England looks as unusually green as ever (at least in the blurred view of Estonian landscapes). It surprises every time that all visible land is divided into neat shreds. Not an inch of ownerless land, it is not so with us.

We were met at the airport, taken to the house, watered, fed and walked along the route Trafalgar horse - Big Ben. Night London is, of course, good, but the soul aspired beyond the bustling capital. However, my mortal body let my soul down, and I was ill the whole next day, but that's a completely different story.

Bankholiday is Monday, but no one is working. It seems that it is not an official holiday, but an official day off. Somewhere in the afternoon we left the house to the east, to the very blue sea. There was no specific purpose of the trip, I just wanted to look at the east coast. The weather did not let us down and was simply above all praise. We made a stop when we had already reached the shore. Kingsgate Bay (Kingsgate Bay, Broadstairs, Kent) enchanted with white cliffs and a view of the castle of the same name.

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kingsgate castle

We stopped at a roadside cafe (Captain Digby pub), drank a beer and looked around. Built in 1760, Kingsgate Castle looks simply luxurious; But you can walk along the coast as much as you like, and the coast with white rocks looks no less breathtaking. Actually, it was for these rocks that England was called Foggy Albion. It looked like it was low tide, because about two meters from the base of the cliff were covered with a layer of bright green algae and every little bit suitable recess was densely populated with shells.

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Having walked enough, we decided to go further along the coast. Literally a few kilometers later we stopped in the center of the town of Broadstairs.

A tiny town, only about 25 thousand inhabitants, but has been known for 700 years. The town is also famous for the fact that Charles Dickens lived here for a long time, in particular, “David Copperfield” was written here. We arrived in the city already at five o'clock, at that time there was just a fair, or something like that, but attractions, stalls and everything attached to it were installed in the city center. True, it was noticeable that activities were beginning to curtail. After walking along the main street, which, of course, runs parallel to the coastline, we stopped for dinner at a local eatery overlooking the sea. After dinner, we decided to make a small circle of honor around the city and move back towards London. While walking around the city, I got the strong impression that the town is popular with local (read English) tourists - there were many houses that looked like boarding houses and advertisements for renting housing. The unusual decoration of the fences also caught my eye. An ordinary fence made of small stones, and in some places large shells were inserted - it looked very beautiful.

On the way home, she persuaded me to stop by Canterbury. I really wanted to see the famous cathedral, and it was on the way.
Canterbury is a relatively small town (45 thousand inhabitants), but one of the oldest in England. It is known throughout the world for the fact that it is here that the main residence of the head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is located. And the cathedral itself, which is almost a thousand years old, and which is included in the UNESCO list of world heritage sites.

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canterbury cathedral

We reached Canterbury already at eight o'clock, and the town was already deserted, and the cathedral was already closed. We wandered through the narrow streets and admired the cathedral from the outside. A majestic building, what more can I say. It was here that I noticed the benches with signs: “In memory of so-and-so”, “So-and-so liked to sit at this place.” We later saw such benches all over England, I liked this tradition.

It was rapidly getting dark outside, and our English hosts had a working day the next day, so we took a direct course for London.

I chose the program of our first day of independent travel around England rich and the main word was “Castles”. Even before the trip, I selected several castles near London in advance, the look of which I liked. Well, something, and castles in England are found at every step, you can find almost every taste, and in varying degrees of safety. Therefore, I chose solely on the principle of "beautiful picture" and "more or less on the road."

The first item was Leeds Castle.

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It is located just 70 km east of London. Leaving early in the morning, at 10 were already in place. The parking lot was still almost empty, but the parking attendant was already standing and pointing out where to park the car - you can immediately see that the place is not offended by tourists. A peacock walked around the parking lot, well-fed, very self-confident and absolutely not frightened. He approached us almost a meter, the more he frightened me, the bird is still not small, it will still bite. But without waiting for anything from us, the peacock proudly and slowly retired on his own business. Tickets to the castle and the surrounding area were quite expensive 15 pounds per nose, but they were valid for a year. Of course, we didn’t need it, but we could give tickets to our English friends. With this thought, we agreed to tear money from our hearts.

Leeds Castle was first mentioned in the ninth century, the first stone castle was built in the 12th century. It is famous for being the residence of the English queens for several centuries. The castle stands on an island in the middle of a small lake, surrounded by a well-groomed garden with a pond, where many different waterfowl live. The castle also has a large aviary where you can find many exotic birds.

The castle is in excellent condition, there are guided tours inside the castle (naturally only in English). The tour is included in the ticket price. Everything in the castle has been put in order, the interiors of the royal bedroom and bathroom have been restored, other rooms are decorated in the style of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. You can take pictures anywhere and anytime.

What is more remarkable, next to the castle there is a platform with a balloon, where you can ride if you have money and desire. But the prices bite, so we did not dare. We stayed on the castle grounds for about two hours, but to see everything we needed at least two more. In short, a very good place to stay, especially with children.

The next stop was Bodiam Castle. From Leeds Castle it is about 60 km to the south and about an hour of travel time.

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Bodiam castle

A very picturesque castle. Not surprisingly, the castle periodically serves as a backdrop in historical films. It was built around the 14th century, surrounded on four sides by a moat filled with water, a rather narrow wooden bridge leads to the castle. Unfortunately, the interior of the castle has not been preserved. To get inside, you have to pay a "symbolic" fee of 5 pounds. We were greedy and admired the outside for free. About half an hour was enough for us to go around the castle and take pictures. And then Brighton was waiting for us.

Brighton is a fairly large city on the south coast with half a million indigenous people. I was drawn to Brighton to look at the Royal Povillon.

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The palace was built at the beginning of the 19th century by the prince and future king George IV for his mistress. Queen Victoria once stayed in the palace, but later sold it to the local authorities. The palace was built in the style of the Taj Mahal and is very unusual for England. The ticket inside cost 8.8 pounds. Visitors are given audio guides. Unfortunately, there was no audio guide in Russian, but there was a choice between “normal English” and “simplified English”. The interior of the palace is also made in Hindu style. Although the audio guide told us that the architects had never been to the east. Especially luxurious banquet hall. By the way, the palace can be rented for celebrations and weddings. I do not want to think about the price for this pleasure. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside. The inspection took about an hour.

To visit Brighton and not go to the beach would be blasphemy.

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The beach in Brighton is not sandy, but made of pebbles, but the pebbles are very smooth and pleasant to the touch. There were a lot of people on the beach, but only a few optimists were swimming, because, despite the warm weather, the water in the English Channel is cold in early May. The time was already evening and it was time to think about lodging for the night. And then there were shortcomings in the preparation. We didn’t have a map or addresses of campsites, we relied on the words of our English friends that campsites near the south coast were like mushrooms after rain. But according to the law of meanness, we never found a single one, and we didn’t want to go far for the night. Therefore, we decided to return and spend the night in London, fortunately it was not far away, only 100 kilometers, and there already stock up on addresses and the next day rush further west.

We left the house before nine, but made a huge mistake by driving west through the center. We made our way through traffic jams for three hours, tired, as after ten hours behind the wheel. Breaking out of traffic, we rushed along the M3 to the southwest to the world-famous landmark Stonehenge.

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stonehenge

Driving along the highway and climbing one of the hills, Stonehenge appeared before us suddenly and at first seemed grandiose. As I got closer, this feeling faded a little, but still, Stonehenge is one of the most unusual places I have ever seen. The entrance ticket cost 6.6 pounds, and in addition they give an audio guide, where - surprise surprise - there was also Russian.

The tour, but rather listening to the audio guide, took about an hour. After we decided to go south, to the sea.
On the way to Salisbury we came across the Old Sarum sign - the ruins of an ancient fortress, the remains of a rampart and walls.

On the road to Salisbury

In principle, there is nothing seriously to do there, but you can stretch your legs and admire Salisbury, which lies at a glance.
We went further south through Salisbury, we were too lazy to inspect the cathedral, because over time there was a problem. But they turned to the grocery store.

After passing through Poole, we decided to stop to eat at the ruins of Corfe Castle.

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Corfe Castle

Also very ancient ruins - more than a thousand years old. They didn’t get inside, because everything was already closed, but wandered around, looked at shaggy bulls and a herd of no less shaggy goats that were grazing on the steep slopes.

It was time to think about lodging for the night and we drove west along the coast in search of signs for campsites. About an hour later we were in West Bay. A cozy little town on the very shore of the English Channel. The camping area was provided with all conditions, including a night bar and an indoor pool. The tent was dismantled for the first time and spent almost two hours. By that time it was already dark. We somehow especially liked West Bay and we decided in advance that we would stay here for another day.

In the morning, leaving the tent in West Bay, we drove to Cornwall. But on the way, it was decided to stop by Dartmoor National Park, which served as the backdrop for the famous story by Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles. On my navigator, of course, there was no indication of a place called Grimpen Mire. But there was a place Grimspoung (Grimspoung) - a monument of the Stone Age. Bearing in mind that prehistoric caves were mentioned in the story, I decided that this was exactly what was needed.

We drove quite quickly along the big roads, and when we drove into the national park, the speed of movement decreased significantly. Firstly, the roads were partly one car wide, of course, there were occasional extensions where it was possible to let passers by. Then, when we drove a little further away, the maximum allowable speed became 50 km per hour. And not for nothing, since the roads were not fenced, and the sheep, which you can meet there at every step, loitered along the roads, rolled on the road, and in general showed with their whole appearance who was the boss here.

Dartmoor impressed me greatly, a huge bare space, as far as the eye can see.

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Dartmoor National Park

Soon we got to Grimspound. Not what I expected from these places, in the book it was all described as dull swampy places with eternal fog. And here you can’t imagine the weather better, neither swamps, nor fog, and there was no smell in the area, but from the huge free spaces, I personally took my breath away, but with delight.

We decided to walk up the hill. They were too lazy to look for the path. And they were punished for it. What from a distance looked like low, dry grass, in fact, turned out to be dry prickly heathers 30 centimeters high. I was in shorts, and after this walk my legs looked like they were being torn by ten cats, to which I immediately stepped on their tails. About an hour went on climbing the hills and looking at the prehistoric settlement, surprisingly well preserved. By the way, there were a lot of tourists there, but all, of course, are local. I think foreign tourists in those places are not the most frequent guests.

We made our way back to civilization along some goat paths, and spent two hours for a hundred kilometers. And we went to the Eden Project (Eden Project). The Eden Project is a remarkable place not only locally, but also globally. This is a huge botanical garden, with the largest greenhouse in the world (1.5 hectares).

The area is huge, a bus runs from the parking lot to the main building. We spent about three hours walking around, and this is quite a vigorous step, but I think in my mind, so we need to set aside a whole day for this place and walk there slowly. On the street, flower beds were divided into periods of the development of the plant world, from the oldest to the youngest, but the most interesting of course were greenhouses, one with a tropical forest climate, the second with a Mediterranean climate. As a northern person, the tropical forests “brought” me more. Inside the tropical greenhouse, the natural conditions for plants are maximally simulated, the paths are located on three levels, there is even a quite decent size waterfall. The Mediterranean is cooler and more cultured. We were still at the end of the tulip season, so we had time to admire the sea of ​​tulip beds, although some had already faded.

At about five we drove back to the place of our tent. Arriving at the place, they realized that they had made another mistake by placing the tent on the top of the hill. View of course awesome, but the wind. In a word, the tent was slightly battered, something even came off, but not fatally. It was worse that it was raining here during the day, and since we wanted to move out tomorrow, we raised a prayer to heaven that everything would be dry by morning.

The sky responded, and in the morning, in the local wind, we already laid down a dry tent. The next points on my map were two places: Cheddar, and Glastonbury Abbey on the way to it.

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Glastonbury Abbey

The abbey is a very picturesque ruin, so the place attracts many tourists. In addition, according to legend, the same King Arthur and his wife are buried here. And the place itself has 2,000 years of history.

About half an hour drive from Glastenbury is a small town, or rather a large village, Cheddar, famous throughout the world for its cheese.

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Cheddar

And the caves of Cheddar are also known, that's where I was drawn. Cheddar caves are located in the gorge of the same name, the largest in the whole territory of England. The place has been popular since very ancient times (Late Paleolithic 12-13 thousand years BC). On site, a museum dedicated to primitive people, three caves and an observation deck on top of the mountain are open to the public. Most of all, these are caves. Moreover, I am not a sophisticated cave visitor at all. The largest accessible cave Gough's Cave (90 m deep, over 2 km long).

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Cheddar caves

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Cheddar caves

Approximately 800 meters are open to tourists: stalagmites, stalactites, small lakes, whole stone waterfalls illuminated by electricity. The farther from the entrance, the heavier the air, in the farthest cave there is a local worker-guide, apparently, in case someone becomes ill. Thank God, I didn’t feel bad, but the peasant was apparently quite sad and we, as best we could, talked in broken English. The peasant showed us their "famous" cat - this is the shadow of a stone on the wall. To be honest, it seemed to me that the cat could be seen there only after breathing in local fumes and with great anguish.

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Cheddar caves

The second cave is small, only 18 m deep and 100 m long, but even there you can admire the bizarre natural architecture. The third cave is an attraction for tourists - some kind of fairy tale is told about a crystal ball that someone evil stole and needs to be saved. You go to yourself, and suddenly some red eyes flash in the corner, or mechanical skeletons move, or even non-mechanical ones. In general, it's funny.

We also climbed to the top of the hill, the gorge itself, in which there is a village up to 140m deep, so the climb is quite steep. It sucked all the last strength out of me, so after having lunch and buying local sweets and cheese, we drove back to London.

We planned to spend the next week in Scotland with our English friend. We had to leave on Sunday, so there was one free day left. But our friends decided to have a busy day and offered to hit the road for a day in South Wales, or rather in Cardiff. For us, the case did not arise and in the morning we headed west.

Cardiff is the capital of Wales, a port and industrial city with a population of approximately 300,000 inhabitants. But, looking ahead, I was somewhat disappointed in the tourist value of the city. We visited Cardiff Castle, but it did not impress me much, and for my taste it looks much more interesting from the outside than from the inside. The interior decoration is essentially a sloppy mixture of different styles, which seemed to me, although rich, but tasteless.

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Cardiff Castle

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Cardiff Castle

In the park next to the castle flows a small river or canal. Pleasure boats for tourists ply along this waterway. A round-trip ticket cost 5 pounds, one way 3 pounds. Plus, you also need to get on the boat, the day was Saturday, the weather was excellent and there were quite a few suckers-tourists eager for river walks in the park. Ahhh, those were the most pointless pounds I've spent. The one-way trip lasts approximately half an hour. The cutter rides along a narrow and nondescript canal, under some kind of dirty bridges. The shores are high and you can't see anything. Even with a manic passion to photograph everything, you will not find a more worthy object except each other along the way. As a result, we were taken to some gateways, they said that everyone can take a photo as a keepsake. There were very few fans of the locks, and the ship turned back, dropping us at the pier in Cardiff Bay. We decided to walk back to the center, and along the way we came across a couple of interesting buildings, for example, the building of the Welsh National Opera (The Wales Millennium Center) and the square adjacent to it.

Wales Millennium Center

On the way back home, we turned off the main highway, focusing on the sign "Ancient Roman landmark". The sign led us to the small village of Caerleon. Here at the dawn of our era there was a Roman fortification. Now you can find a well-preserved Roman amphitheater here, but it is quite small and did not make much of an impression. Well, to console myself, I also took a picture of a local picturesque church, with a cemetery adjacent to it.

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Kerlion (Caerleon)

From London to Edinburgh 650 km, a decent distance. Together with 8 hours stops for the road, stock up. We drove into Edinburgh, parked the car, got out and …. experienced temperature shock. It was about 20 in London and we were in shorts and T-shirts, and here it was 8 and a cold wind from the Arctic. The picture was still the same, there were people around in warm jackets, and here we are in shorts, sunglasses and panama hats were just not enough. We put on what we had (and there were not many), bought whiskey to warm us up and went to look for a campsite. About 20 kilometers from Edinburgh, we turned into the small town of Linlithgow to stop there for the night. At the reception, the wind blower was the most severe, but, having driven into the territory, my most terrible assumptions did not come true. The clearing for tents was covered on all sides by a dense forest of crooked growing fir trees (apparently due to constant winds), at the level of the fir-tree crowns a thick fog swept at high speed, and below it was quiet and grace, but the temperature was, of course, not tent. But the rest of the place is very good - and a toilet, and a shower with hot water, and a barbecue, and benches. What is surprising, we were not the only such tourists, another tent flocked next to us.

An increasing number of tourists decide to plan their trips on their own, without relying on travel companies. The beauty of such trips is that you independently develop a route, choose transport, cities to visit, museums, galleries, castles, hotels or hostels, and not choose a ready-made option.

So you can save a lot of money, and even not pay for the services of intermediaries. One of the most popular routes now is considered to be a trip to England, the sights and interesting places in which will please absolutely versatile travelers.

If we move away from the most traditional destination in England - London, although there are a lot of interesting things there, you can visit small cities, which will just allow you to learn more about the history of the country, delve into the real life of the British, and see the sights no less interesting than in the capital.

In addition, it should be noted that a trip to small towns will be much cheaper than excursions in London.

When you independently develop a trip to England, you will have to make a little more effort than when you book a tour with a travel company. You will have to deal with the issues of obtaining a visa, insurance, buying tickets and booking accommodation yourself. With sufficient knowledge of English, this is quite easy.

People visit England for a variety of purposes:

Overview of the whole country while traveling in a rented car or even a boat,

Shopping, visiting large shopping centers,

Ecotourism (cycling and overnight stays in tents),

Visits to certain places (for example, royal residences, castles in England, abbeys, Shakespearean theater, locations where the adventures of Harry Potter were filmed, etc.),

Visiting traditional regional festivals and various international sporting events.

Accordingly, you should choose transport and the route of movement in England, taking into account your own travel goals. In England, it is convenient to use public transport (underground in London, trains to almost every region, comfortable regular buses), own or rented car, bicycle, or even travel on your own two feet (hiking).

Traveling around England by bus can be a great holiday activity and is considered an economical option. There are a lot of advantages to such a trip:

Flight routes connect almost all important points in England,

Buses run on schedule, you can plan a trip almost in minutes,

Traveling in buses is very comfortable (they are equipped with a toilet, sockets, which, however, require an adapter, free wi-fi on board),

In regular buses you can get acquainted with the English mentality, as a lot of English people travel in them.

Those who find it difficult to travel long distances may face the problem of motion sickness. Quite long journeys are best done by train.

The main bus carrier in England is National Express. On its website you can find timetables, prices and routes, as well as book tickets. There are also Megabus and Megatrain services, where you can buy cheap bus or train tickets. Significant savings can be made if you immediately purchase round-trip tickets.

When planning a trip by public transport, think in advance about the hotels in which you will have to stay while moving along the chosen route. This will have to be taken care of even at the stage of obtaining a visa, but then you may encounter a situation where the bus or train arrives in the city quite late.

We'll have to navigate the terrain almost in the dark. It is better to print the cards in advance or contact the hotel representative.

Features of car travel in England

If traveling by train or bus, you can only stop at certain points of arrival, then the car will allow you to go to places where it was not planned to go in advance. Paying attention to a beautiful view or an interesting castle, you can easily turn off and look at the wonders of England up close.

If you plan to travel by your own car, you should bring the car in perfect condition and complete all the necessary documents allowing you to cross the borders. It is better that the car was of European assembly: in case of breakage, it can be easily repaired at a local car service.

If you plan to rent a car, you need to look at specialized sites in advance, for example, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo Rent-A-Car, Hertz, Avis Rent-A-Car, OneTwoTrip. It specifies the arrival time, airport, rental period and other data.

Then the representative of the company will tell you which stop you will arrive at from the airport (the terminals of car companies are not located directly in the airport building) and explain the rules for using the car. One of them is a fully filled tank upon delivery of the car to the office.

Car insurance issues need to be resolved in advance, but do not forget that in England the traffic is on the left side, and you still need to get used to it, so it is better to pay for full insurance.

Some roads in England are paid, which you need to find out in advance, otherwise the fines will be quite significant. In big cities, it is better not to try to get into the center, as parking lots are likely to be overcrowded, and fines for incorrect parking are very high. Fuel prices are also high, so traveling by car can be classified as economical by a stretch.

By the way, those who want to get to Europe by car from England, overcoming the English Channel through the Eurotunnel, should also take care of obtaining a Schengen visa. Also, the car rental company must obtain permission to leave England.

Together with the car, you can load into a special carriage of a passenger train. But if in Europe they practically do not check who comes to them from England, then on the way back they will have to go through careful control.

If by car you can travel almost everywhere, but, of course, you can’t drive into the smallest villages, then a bicycle can provide such an opportunity. With it, and on country roads, it is easy to get to your destination.

In addition, internal cycling routes in England often run through very picturesque places. The only problem with cycling in England is the weather.. If you are not embarrassed by frequent rains, changeable weather and dampness, you can safely go on a bike trip.

It will take a month and a half or two to overcome the whole country from south to north on a bicycle. Some sections of the route can be overcome by train so that the journey does not drag out: movement with bicycles is allowed here and special places are even allocated in the cars for their transportation.

Fans of ecotourism should take care of obtaining a visa in advance, since rest in tents can be complicated in terms of obtaining a visa. If you book hotels along the route along the chosen route on bicycles, there should be no problems with obtaining a visa. Although it is better to seek advice from those who deal with visa issues.

In order not to carry a bicycle from home, although many are accustomed only to their iron horse, it can, like a car, be rented on the spot, knowing all the conditions and the cost of rent in advance.

There are a huge number of routes worthy of cycling in England. They vary in length and complexity. There is even a service showing popular cycling destinations in England.

One of the most popular routes is the direction along the Thames. where you can visit Oxford, Windsor, Richmond. You can take a walk along the Cornwall peninsula. Nature lovers can see the Lake District. A fairly short route is presented on the Isle of Wight, which will demonstrate excellent sea views.

Having chosen the purpose of your visit, you can easily choose one of the many types of travel in England. Each of the types of recreation has its advantages and disadvantages, and therefore you need to carefully consider the route, stops, choose the type of transport and go on your own to get acquainted with the mysterious England.

10 most charming places in Britain:

UK by car? Probably from our country it is too far and confused. That's what I thought last year when looking at the stickers on one of the campers in Norway, which had a GB sticker among others.

Then a business trip to London. My taxi was stuck in a traffic jam next to a bright yellow Ferrari with Moscow license plates.

Then we jokingly began to figure out where we would go this year. The May holidays formed an interesting combination from which one could draw a long vacation. The car with flags on the mirrors itself prompted further thoughts. Or maybe the UK? Kind of on topic. Why not. Two visas? OK. Has anyone else been on their wheels? Hmm, practically not, there are three and a half stories on the Internet. It will be interesting...

And then everything somehow seemed implausible. After all, outside the window snow fell and fell. In mid-March, they applied for a UK visa. A bunch of comments on the documents - "at the discretion of the consulate." But successfully. Then they applied for a Schengen visa (France, as the farthest point of the planned trip). Even more notes. They even cared about the photographs. And again successfully. Insurance. THEN. To pack. And on Saturday, April 27, we went. No route.

Our inputs:

1) What is the UK for a caravaner? A complete unknown. In general, no idea what and where. There is not a grain of information and a clear picture of how Norway is. Foreigners are driving. There are only a few of us on our cars, more on rental cars, but there is even less useful road information from such stories. But there is the main thing - photographs that say that it is beautiful there.

2) What do I want from the UK? The same as from Norway - beautiful roads among beautiful nature. Minimum cities. Maximum countryside.

3) Travel plan. I'll probably sign it, it will help you navigate your planning. Everything was elementary:

No booking (except Berlin and London). We had no idea how we would spend the night. What will the weather be like? Camping? Hotels? b&b? We took a tent purely just in case (I received visas for "booking" campsites with a tent, following the model of Norway). Open maps.google.com on Europe. Write the word HOTEL or CAMPING. The entire map will be marked with markers. Again, May. May in the UK is cold and rainy. There are few tourists. The problem of booking can only arise from Saturday to Sunday, and even then not everywhere. In summer the weather will be better, but the hotels will be full (according to other people's stories). And in the summer in Scotland there will be a biting midge. Such an uncomplicated choice. Either round-the-clock rain, or midges. What does your nervous system tolerate best?

Cross the border "there" in Berestovitsa. Presumably on the first day. They said it would be fast there, but they would have to stand in Brest. Confirmed.

Everyone associates the border "back" with the word "Hell". We walked unpretentiously through Brest. What can I say. Hell yes.

On the way "there" it was necessary to visit two relatives - in Berlin and in the suburbs of Amsterdam. Which accordingly affects my route. In a calm mode, the road will take 3 days of road and 1 day by ferry. On the fifth you find yourself in the UK. If it's faster - 2 days of travel and 1 day by ferry. Really. And without fanaticism. In one person, with stops, kneading, eating, refueling, etc.

It seems that a ferry departs from the suburbs of Amsterdam to Newcastle. It would be more convenient than the Calais-Dover ferry. Let's go straight to the Scottish border. We checked the information locally. Good luck. Comfortable.

The wife wanted to see London. OK. A small hotel reservation was made from Moscow for the period May 18-22. This is higher than the roof, there is nothing more to do there.

We return via the ferry "Dover-Calais" and sawing home. The estimated return date is Saturday May 25 plus/minus one day. That is, depending on the pace of the return trip, from 28 to 30 days. Is it possible to go with less vacation? Can. Two weeks for a trip to Scotland is enough. In three weeks you can safely drive through Scotland and Wales. Or Scotland and the islands.

4) Crew - 2 adults, 1 child (4.1). The car is still the same - a Land Rover male with mileage on the day of launch - 110,500 km.

DAY 1 Moscow - Poland. A little over 1000 km.

The very first frame. Armament check. Minsk highway of good quality. Roll yourself and roll. It turned out to leave at 5 am, before traffic jams. At 10 o'clock they were already rolling across Belarus.

In Belarus, the road surface itself is better. The speed limit is 120. I even liked it. But with services rotten. I'm not talking about services that are for cars. I'm talking about a service that eats and goes to the toilet. Toilets, even at visually good gas stations, are holes in the concrete floor, the approaches to which are carefully mined with human compost. The location of the toilets is determined by a stable smell.

The bison in the field is the only landmark along the entire length of the road in Belarus. Variety among endless fields and meadows throughout the day. Everyone stops, takes pictures "me and bison", "bison on my palm", etc. No, well really nothing else to watch all the way.

The border in Berestovitsa was crossed in 40 minutes. We were horrified by the back queue. She was wildly long. Before reaching Bialystok, we turned at the sign to the hotel "Bobrova Dolina". Despite the fact that the road is unpaved and the hotel is located in the most ordinary forest village, the hotel is good and inexpensive. I recommend.

DAY 2 Poland - Germany, Berlin. Something in the region of 850 km.
In the morning after breakfast we continued on our way. The road to Warsaw is pretty loaded with trucks - a lane there, a lane back, local cars fly like ours, spitting on markings and speed limits. But from Warsaw there is already a wonderful paid E30. I don't even think there are any restrictions. I don’t know, I don’t care - with boxing you can’t exceed 130. I had to go without it.

The task of the day is to get to the hotel in Berlin before 18:00. After that, my unpaid reservation will be burned. It's not that I'm giving a damn. Just a competitive moment.

A little late. We turned into the hotel parking lot at 18:20. No problem, we called to let you know.

DAY 3 Germany, Berlin - Netherlands, Amsterdam. About 1000 km.
The next day we got out of the morning traffic jams in Berlin back to the E30. German roads are remembered for the large number of cars and the fact that the road is mostly concrete. And therefore noisy.

There was even a whole cork. Stopped. They stood for about 15 minutes ... And abruptly everyone drove off again at a bad speed. Cause of the blockage? Who knows.

The last car with Russian numbers that we will see in the next 4 weeks. Petersburg Kalina. Somewhere near Amsterdam. Respect.

If in Germany there are simply a lot of windmills, then in the Netherlands they are generally everywhere.

We arrived in the town ... in Google it says that it reads IJmuiden. Don't know. In my personal transcription, it is pronounced as Izhmuzhden. Suburb of Amsterdam. From here the ferry leaves for Newcastle.

Actually, here it is loaded. If you are not slowed down by any business in Amsterdam, then it is quite possible to load right away and roll around Scotland the next day. Just in case - if this is what you want to do - drive straight to the car Check-In. Right there, buy a ticket and go through passport control right away.

And we go to the office just buy tickets for tomorrow. And, after sitting in a restaurant on the shore, we set sail for Amsterdam. Stayed overnight with a relative. So I can't give you any advice on where to stay. But there are hotels right here next to the ferry pier. Don't sweat it.

DAY 4 Netherlands, Amsterdam. Few km.
On the fourth day, we say goodbye to all obligations in Amsterdam and hurry to Izhmuzhden.

By a strange coincidence, on this day the Queen of the Netherlands abdicated. We don't belong here! Day off in the country. "Ring" around Amster - almost empty.

Due to empty roads, we arrive not just "early", but "horror how early". They were afraid that there would be traffic jams, overlaps, etc. We decide to go to the other side of the bay. Via us. Wijk aan Ze. The navigator says that there is a beautiful place (despite the puffing power plant) and it takes only 20 minutes to go there through the lock system.

And, I must say, the place there is the most beautiful. In the summer, probably not overcrowded.

A cloud came running - the beach turned into a bewitching industrial monster.

There are great cafes on the beach. Actually, it's kind of easy. Probably began to switch to the "I'm on vacation" mode.

Check-In of cars opens, in my opinion, at 14:00. After lunch at the beach cafe, we go to the ferry. The child, walking up, passed out as soon as he got into the car.

We pass control quickly. The only hitch - with our passports, the policeman ran to the main building to put stamps on leaving the Schengen. Not often our compatriots come here, apparently. A couple of questions and we are transferred to a specially trained ferry man, who says which loading line to get into. Around a bunch of bikers from all over Europe, campers, cars with trunks. Everything suggests that caravanning is present in the UK and we are driving in the right way.

We stopped by.

Loaded

And let's go. I had the same feeling last year on the ferry to Stockholm. Somehow I don't believe it. Damn where. Damn where.

The ferry is the same as Helsinki-Stockholm. The same shops, restaurants, entertainment establishments. Even the travel time is the same - from 17:00 to 9:30. Just a little smaller in size. But there are also fewer people.
We really need to go to the store. Firstly, these are adapters for sockets. And secondly, these are such stickers on the headlights for redirecting the beam of headlights so as not to blind the local oncoming ones with their left-hand drive headlights. The British, it seems, also stick on their cars when they go to Europe. It seems to be necessary according to some European law. It seems to be. Want to be honest? I didn't stick it on. And I did not see anyone pasting. And I have not seen them on European cars meeting in different places. And when I was driving back, I didn’t see right-hand drive Brits sticking them on their cars ... I didn’t drive at night, and during the day in the UK it’s not customary to drive with headlights. I don't know what would have happened to me if someone had taken a piss. It would be necessary to go at night - I would stick it. Maybe. If it weren't for laziness. Too many "would" for one paragraph, in short.

Windmills do not lag behind us even at sea.

There are hundreds of them here.

DAY 5 Ferry, Newcastle, UK - ... where to? :)
Morning of the fifth day. Climb. Shower. Solid breakfast. The clock advances another hour, giving even more time head start. In total, 3 additional hours run up to this point. Convenient if you are an "owl". You wake up at 10:00, and the clock says 07:00. It's great. The loudspeaker announces that motorists can go to the car decks. Unloading.

On the shore, cars are distributed along the lines to the booths. Passport control. From the interested faces of the cops standing after the control, I see that I am their client. Well, we additionally communicate with the cops. Inspection of the car (purely formal - I looked through the open windows what was in the cabin). Che yes how and where. Standard.

And, finally, ... the first kilometers on the opposite side.

To be continued

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