Driving in UK: An unexpected Stop at Old Marriage House
Pic 1. England-Scotland: A bridge over River Tweed
Rick Steves once said in his book “Best of England with Edinburgh”:
“Driving here is basically wonderful – once you remember to stay on the left and after you’ve mastered the roundabouts.”
0, GPS/Sat Nav
It’s strongly recommended to have a car GPS (Sat Nav in terms of UK) on the road and get some time to be familiar with the device. Sometimes a device may be as stubborn as a mule to repeat its route.
Pic 2. Kyleakin or Armadale: Unreachable
1, Roundabouts
Traffic flows clockwise, and cars already in the roundabout have the right-of-way.
“When approaching an especially complex roundabout, you’ll first pass a diagram showing the layout and the various exits” (If a GPS device is used, it will announce which exit you should take). And the road is usually painted to indicate the lane you should exit for a particular road or town on your direction.
Pic 3. Bowburn Roundabout (Exit 1 to 5)
2, Driving in Cities/Parking
Driving in the cities (especially in the large city like London) is usually discouraged. It’s better to park the car in a designated area or a parking lot (“Car Park”) with pay-and-display and then walk or take a public transportation (such as Bus) to your destinations. You can make payment using your card (Credit or Debit card) to get a ticket from one of the parking ticket machines, and then display it in the windscreen of your car. Payment must be made on arrival.
Pic 4. Worcester Street Car Park at Oxford: Entry vs Exit
Some hotels (such as Hampton by Hilton York and Premier Inn Edinburgh Central) may have no their own parking places but partner with National Car Parks (NCP) to park the customers’ cars with a discount (Usually the hotels validate the parking ticket first and you use it as the case in US. But sometimes the hotel has an additional ticket to companion with NCP ticket and you must use both in a Ticket Machine before exiting the car at the barrier where the payment may not be accepted but only accept a paid ticket).
Pic 5. Please Pay Here
3, Driving in Rural Areas
Driving on the Motorways in UK is as easy as on the freeways in US. However, the roads in rural areas tend to be narrow.
Although “it helps to remember that the driver always stays close to the central line”, the narrow country lanes usually have no divided line (, and no shoulders). And some such roads are barely wide enough for one car. You may have to go slowly or use pullout (“passing place”) to yield an oncoming car.
“Many Yankee drivers find the hardest part isn’t driving on the left but steering from the right. Your instinct is to put yourself on the left side of your lane, which means you may spend first day or two drifting into the left shoulder or curb.”
Pic 6. Stone Curb on A698
Its’s true when we drove in 2nd day to pass a bridge over the tweed. The oncoming cars run wildly, and our car was drifting to the left curb of the road. Two left tires were immediately damaged by the stone edge that made us an unexpected Stop at Old Marriage House – an unusual Welcome to Scotland.
Pic 7. Welcome to Scotland
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Declaimer: Picture 2, 3, 4, and 6 are screenshots of Google Map.