Landing in London - what to see?

[sv-wolf]

Trying to think of what's west of London, all I can think of are plains, moors, cold beaches, Cheddar Gorge, and the M4.... Go North

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plains, yep (stonehenge), moors, yep, (wonderful), then a hundred miles of stunning UNESCO heritage coastline, Chesil Beach, Kynaston Cove, Durdle Door, the Mendips, the Malverns, the Quantocks, the Goonhilly Downs, South Wales, the Forest of Dean, the Wye Valley, the Lizard, Cornish cliffs and fishing villages, glorious old towns like Marlborough and Salisbury...

As for 'cold' beaches???? They're lined with palm trees in the deep south-west. Roseland is the hottest part of the country and there are sub-tropical gardens at Abbotsbury.

Nibblers? The west is just waiting for you, man! Forget the M4. Get out onto the groovy A303 and have the time of your life.

[High_Side]

Hiya HS

You shouldn't need to book anywhere ('make a reservation') at this time of the year unless you intend to stay in top class hotels or are going to tourist honey-traps like Stratford-upon-Avon. If you are going for B&Bs or small hotels you should find plenty of places to stay. Most reasonable-sized towns in the National Parks and tourist areas have Tourist Board offices which will keep lists of recommended places. (Tourist Board offices may close at 5.00-ish - or possibly even earlier at this time of year - so you will need to get there reasonably early if you want to use them. In England the Tourist Board uses a red rose logo. Look out for it on their signboards. They are usually quite centrally placed. They will also advise you on routes and what there is to see locally.) Or you can just take pot luck. B&B's have improved dramatically over the last 15 years. Ask to see the room first though.

The Lonely Planet guides give pretty good info, if you want to do a bit of research.

If you want to travel reasonably fast then stick to the motorways. (I'm speaking relatively: our roads are the most congested in Europe). But if you want to see the countryside the 'A' roads can be good. They are slower, though, and they do vary in quality. Avoid getting caught in and around towns in the rush hours from about 8.00 to 9.30 in the mornings and 4.45 to 6.00 in the evenings. Our signage is appalling, so be prepared to do some serious map reading. You can pick up a good road map of the country or the local area at any garage ('gas station'). If you want to get out and explore, then the detailed Ordnance Survey maps are excellent. You can pick them up in book shops and some newsagents.

Judging by the experience of other West Ponders I know visiting the UK for the first time, it might be wise to learn the rules for going round roundabouts and what the traffic lights mean at pedestrian crossings (there are various kinds of crossings - zebra, pelican, puffin, toucan - whose lights do slightly different things.) The rest is pretty obvious and you can pick it up very quickly. It is just the mirror image of everything you do normally.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /DG_070338

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /DG_070339

If you do go north from London and want to drop in then give me a shout. I'm just 30 miles north of London in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. That's just off the A1(M), one of the major northern escape routes from the capital.

Enjoy.

Thanks buddy. I'm glad to hear that we should be able to find places to stay without a reservation. This time I'll be travelling with the whole family but my usual plan is......no plan. It works great on the bike, but we'll see how it works with kids, a different continent, and driving on the wrong side of the road! It would be cool to catch some of the better sights. We have the travel books, and are scouting out a few of the castles worth checking out (hey, we don't have anything over 125 years old here). I can't wait. But first, Mauritius

[Nibblet99]

Trying to think of what's west of London, all I can think of are plains, moors, cold beaches, Cheddar Gorge, and the M4.... Go North

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plains, yep (stonehenge), moors, yep, (wonderful), then a hundred miles of stunning UNESCO heritage coastline, Chesil Beach, Kynaston Cove, Durdle Door, the Mendips, the Malverns, the Quantocks, the Goonhilly Downs, South Wales, the Forest of Dean, the Wye Valley, the Lizard, Cornish cliffs and fishing villages, glorious old towns like Marlborough and Salisbury...

As for 'cold' beaches???? They're lined with palm trees in the deep south-west. Roseland is the hottest part of the country and there are sub-tropical gardens at Abbotsbury.

Nibblers? The west is just waiting for you, man! Forget the M4. Get out onto the groovy A303 and have the time of your life.

Righty....
Malverns, Cotswalds, and Forest of Dean has always been north of London to me - Grew up in the Malverns Sorry when you said west, I wasn't thinking to include the Welsh bordering counties in it
The Wye Valley I'll give you that one
Goonhilly makes me think of all the satellite dishes
As for palm trees, you really need to get over to the Isles of Scilly to appreciate the tropicalness of that area. Something thats a pain in the arse to do for a day trip.
Oh and salisbury... are you even allowed to fly a Kite there? Thought the military used a good portion of it, as a testing range

For me I like the hidden little places down that way, such as Polkerris http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en ... 8&t=h&z=17 The Rashleigh Inn, there, used to be a cross between a restaurant and a pub. I spent many holidays as kid, singing sea shanty songs with the rest of the pub. I don't know if they still do that now though