# Visiting England—driving advice needed **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 6, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420 "2018-07-06T20:35:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/81 "2018-08-19T10:29:35Z")
Glad you’re enjoying it! England is beautiful. As for missed turns, if you have a smart phone then a good GPS app is priceless — voice commands, especially at all the roundabouts, “…at the next roundabout, take the third exit towards Bath…”, e.g., can make a world of difference when getting around. As for negotiating turns, remember the mantra, “Left is right, and right is left”. Enjoy and have a great time! ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/82 "2018-08-19T11:04:17Z")
England is indeed beautiful, although parts of it are still a bit brown after the long period without rain, and Buxton is a great town to visit. The Edwardian Opera House is not to be missed. They have films (currently “Leave No Trace” [LEAVE NO TRACE | Official Trailer - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=_07ktacEGo8)) as well as opera. Don’t miss the well dressing [Well Dressings - Visit Peak District & Derbyshire](https://www.visitpeakdistrict.com/whats-on/well-dressings) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/83 "2018-08-19T17:21:46Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > I’m sooooo glad we took the advice given here. London was great by tube, cab, and foot. It would have been nerve wracking in a rental car. The trip has been great. Everyone has been nice, and every meal has been a good one. We picked up a car in Manchester yesterday. Getting out of Manchester was a real treat; a plot of our route would look like spaghetti, due to all my missed turns. I figured out the left hand shifting pretty quickly. I’m still learning right turns. Currently in Buxton, nestled in the Peaks District. It is beautiful here. I visited Buxton a couple of years ago; it is lovely there. I stayed at the Old Hall, which was formerly the home of the Earl of Shrewsbury, and where Mary Queen of Scots stayed while she was in his custody and was taken to enjoy the hot spring baths which are right behind the Hall. It’s one of the 25 or so places Mary is said to haunt, keeping her on quite a busy and active schedule in the afterlife. Both buildings were all wrapped up in blue tarps and scaffolding when I was there. I hope they’ve finished the renovations by now. You’re also quite close to Chatsworth if you’re inclined to visit it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/84 "2018-08-19T18:53:20Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > The trip has been great… Currently in Buxton, nestled in the Peaks District. It is beautiful here. I’m glad you’re having a great time. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/85 "2018-08-19T21:18:27Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > You’re also quite close to Chatsworth if you’re inclined to visit it. Pemberley in the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice. Watch out for half-naked men climbing out of the lake. ---
**Author:** ![KatTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@KatTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KatTP)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/86 "2018-08-20T06:51:44Z")
If you’re still in Buxton, and haven’t already gone, i suggest a stroll though their park. It’s quite lovely. Also, Pooles Cavern. It’s a rather short tour of a cave, very cool. ---
**Author:** ![KatTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@KatTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KatTP)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/87 "2018-08-20T06:56:34Z")
Oh, Haddon hall is fairly close too. And from there you can visit Bakewell, an amazing little town. Bakewell outdoor market is today. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/88 "2018-08-20T12:48:27Z")
I noticed you’ve asked for advice in the OP but all you’ve been getting is good advice … seems a shame to me … let us know when you’ve returned home because I have a ton a bad advice for you … to wit: 1] Drive on the right side of the road … insist them blokes drive around you … you’re an AMERICAN … WE WON THAT WAR dammit … As you can see, such advice is best given after the fact … ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/89 "2018-08-20T13:17:49Z")
If you hadn’t (and you have Napoleon to thank for it) we would have been begging you to bugger off and do your own thang in a hundred years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/90 "2018-08-28T09:34:31Z")
We did the Chatsworth tour, and really enjoyed it. What a stunning concentration of wealth! And the property is a fraction of its former size. We stayed at a B’n’B in Buxton, and our host said that much of Buxton, 20 minutes away from Chatsworth, had once been part of Chatsworth. We also went for a walk thru the Buxton Park, to the Buxton Brewery Tap House; two Buxton features that make me want to spend a summer there. I had a stout at the pub that was so thick, it made a ‘thunk’ when poured into the glass. From Buxton, we drove to Windermere, for three days of hiking in the Lake District, another beautiful area. Then it was back to London, where we did the Tower, Kensington Gardens, and St Paul’s, which was unbelievable. I’m so impressed that St Pauls allows tourists to climb up to the top of the dome. I’m a naval history nerd, with a special interest in cruisers, especially the treaty cruisers built between the world wars. There were about 150 of them built, but there’s only one left, and it’s floating in the Thames. HMS Belfast was the highlight of the trip, though it’s well down the list for my wife. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/91 "2018-08-28T15:01:05Z")
Interesting (or not as you please) fact about HMS Belfast’s big guns. > [@](#): > > It sounds like an urban myth. The forward-facing guns of HMS Belfast are permanently positioned to score a direct hit on the London Gateway service station at Scratchwood. > It is no myth. The target is intentional. If the six-inch guns were loaded with shells, they could deliver an awesome pounding to the M1 cafe and toilet stop. Each shell weighs 112 pounds, similar to a sack of coal, and much more explosive. The forward guns could fire eight rounds per minute, meaning that Scratchwood could be obliterated in seconds. > > But why this target in particular? It has nothing to do with the exorbitant price of its cappuccinos. > > The imperilled service station sits neatly on the radius of the guns’ comfortable range (about 18.5 km at 45º elevation, but the artillery could stretch to 23 km if pushed). A point anywhere within that band might have been chosen for the resting formation of the six forward guns. According to the ship’s Chief Yeoman, Kevin Price, Scratchwood was picked on because it was a well-known landmark on the M1 motorway. “We could also hit Cheshunt, or Gidea Park, or fall just shy of Dartford,” he tells us. Scratchwood, though, has a certain quotidian monotony that invites comparison with Betjeman’s “come friendly bombs” prejudice. > **[Why Do The Guns Of HMS Belfast Point At A Motorway Service Station?](https://londonist.com/2015/02/why-do-the-guns-of-hms-belfast-point-at-a-motorway-service-station)** > > What has the ship got against Scratchwood? ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/92 "2018-08-29T01:54:34Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Interesting (or not as you please) fact about HMS Belfast’s big guns. > > [https://londonist.com/2015/02/why-do-the-guns-of-hms-belfast-point-at-a-motorway-service-station](https://londonist.com/2015/02/why-do-the-guns-of-hms-belfast-point-at-a-motorway-service-station) That’s very interesting, to me at least. A nitpick: 45 degrees elevation is required for maximum range. Perhaps the guns were at a lesser angle previously. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/93 "2018-08-29T08:53:34Z")
Maybe you misread. They had to point the guns somewhere when they set it up in 1971, and the service station was an obvious target when it came to publicity. > [@](#): > > The imperilled service station sits neatly on the radius of the guns’ comfortable range (about 18.5 km at 45º elevation ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/94 "2018-08-29T09:20:43Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Interesting (or not as you please) fact about HMS Belfast’s big guns. It was either last year or the year before, but one of the smaller guns of HMS Belfast was used to start the race for Doggett’s Coat & Badge. It was also a not-so-subtle reminder that those guns could easily be loaded for real. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/95 "2018-08-29T09:56:24Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > I’m a naval history nerd, with a special interest in cruisers, especially the treaty cruisers built between the world wars. There were about 150 of them built, but there’s only one left, and it’s floating in the Thames. HMS Belfast was the highlight of the trip, though it’s well down the list for my wife. Obviously far too late now, but if you find yourself in England again, you need to factor in a trip to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard/National Museum of the Royal Navy. It’s fantastic for anyone interested in naval history, (even my wife who has no interest in that line enjoyed it). I’ve been twice and could happily return. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/96 "2018-08-29T12:09:20Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Obviously far too late now, but if you find yourself in England again, you need to factor in a trip to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard/National Museum of the Royal Navy. It’s fantastic for anyone interested in naval history, (even my wife who has no interest in that line enjoyed it). I’ve been twice and could happily return. I was going to suggest this too. I was there on a trip last spring. They have some incredible historical ships–the Victory, the recovered hull of the Mary Rose, the Warrior. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/97 "2018-08-29T12:41:23Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Interesting (or not as you please) fact about HMS Belfast’s big guns. > > [https://londonist.com/2015/02/why-do-the-guns-of-hms-belfast-point-at-a-motorway-service-station](https://londonist.com/2015/02/why-do-the-guns-of-hms-belfast-point-at-a-motorway-service-station) Hah, Kevin Price still works on that old rust bucket? I used to work on it. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/98 "2018-08-30T02:18:26Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Maybe you misread. They had to point the guns somewhere when they set it up in 1971, and the service station was an obvious target when it came to publicity. What’s wrong there is the ranges and angles are confused. An elevation of 45 degrees will deliver maximum range. The service station is at max range. To hit a target at 18.5km, only about 25 degrees of elevation would be needed. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/99 "2018-08-30T02:26:20Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Obviously far too late now, but if you find yourself in England again, you need to factor in a trip to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard/National Museum of the Royal Navy. It’s fantastic for anyone interested in naval history, (even my wife who has no interest in that line enjoyed it). I’ve been twice and could happily return. I wanted to go there, and the Imperial War Museum, and HMS Victory, too. There’s only so much naval history that I can drag Wife to. We will return, and I will see those. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-england-driving-advice-needed/817420/100 "2018-08-30T04:58:58Z")
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