I have been thinking about your day driving from Bath to Chipping Campden. First a few questions:
- Have you and Art driven in England before?
- Is Art driving with you navigating?
- Is the one who will be the passenger a nervous driver in the US or in Italy?
I ask this because we recently had an interesting experience with two American friends staying in the north Cotswolds. The driver was used to driving in Italy but had not driven in the UK. The passenger was a nervous driver/passenger even in the US but was really nervous in England. The day they picked up their rental car in Oxford was a bit of a nightmare and, I think, set up a pattern for their whole trip where the passenger never got comfortable with the driving, so they ended up not taking advantage of having the car.
I think of you driving on your first vacation driving day from Bath to Chipping Campden. Our friends did a few things wrong. They had booked an automatic but were given a manual and didn't refuse it. The passenger hated the car, felt it was jerky driving. They did not have a GPS and a good map, so got very lost coming out of Oxford (which is very busy and confusing). They ended up driving for two hours instead of one to get to their cottage.
For many years when we traveled to England Steve drove and I navigated. I started driving here during our 2007 trip. Steve is a great driver and has driven on the left regularly since 1988. But, as the passenger, I always felt he was too close to the side of the road, and was going too fast. He wasn't driving fast and the roads are very narrow, with no shoulders (there is no room beside the edge of the lane to pull off the road), that it just seems like you are too close. I did not like going on the narrow lanes because I sat there with a clenched stomach waiting for a head-on collision. And it was hard sometimes to navigate because the road signs are small and sometimes we missed them.
Note that A roads (red on the map) are always one lane in each direction with a line down the middle. B roads (yellow on the map) might be a bit narrow but usually have a line in the middle. When they stop drawing the line, it is because the road is too narrow to officially fit a car in each direction - although usually you can get by each other. The "lanes" are like the white roads in Italy, except they are paved. But they are very narrow, wide enough only for one car. However, you really get used to them. There are lots of pullouts (laybys) so when you see a car coming towards you, you pullover and they go by.
Now I love driving here. It is easier being the driver. On the lanes you can see better. It is easy to stay on the correct side of the middle line. Sometimes I do get too close to the edge of the road on the passenger side - you can't help it!
All this is to say that I will send you directions for the best way to get out of Bath. That Windsor Bridge location is very good because you can drive out of Bath without driving in the city (Bath is very crowded with traffic).
I would love you to come for lunch in Painswick, but getting onto the M5 after Painswick might be a bit shocking (motorway with 3 lanes in each direction) - but it might not. It is an ugly route though. There is another route from Painswick that joins up with that route through Tetbury (you join it near Northleach) and is prettier. But part of that route is busy and a bit tricky.
So, answer my driver questions and if you think this first day of driving on this vacation is likely to be traumatic, then maybe we should meet somewhere on your route via Tetbury/Cirencester/Northleach. But if you think getting out of the car half way and visiting with friends will make the driving day easier, let's do that.
Are you going to visit Castle Combe or Laycock? They are both just north of Bath, almost on the way (but not quite). Both are pretty but touristy.
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