UK!

 
In case you haven’t read previous trip posts, I am horrible at flying.  I think flying is AMAZING but I don’t fully appreciate it until I am home from my trip.  Basically, the least amount of turbulents freak me out and  I can’t sleep on a flight because I feel I need to stay awake to “help the pilot”.  And no, I have no skills whatsoever when it comes to flying a plane—just a worrywart about flying.  I was fortunate to be able to upgrade to Business which makes a HUGE difference in how I feel on the flight but I still can’t sleep.  The flight itself was very nice and calm.  Woohoo!  And, bonus, I got a free pass to use the “Arrival Lounge” in Heathrow’s Airport.  That was totally cool.  I managed to use almost every little amenity inside that shower room—whether I needed to or not!

Skipping over the part where I took the “lift” down a floor to get to the shuttles only to realize that they were on the original floor I had been on …and skipping over the part where I didn’t realize I could have bypassed the long wait at Hertz because, even after all these years, I was still considered a Gold Passport member (thanks to all those car rentals on my regular trips to Vanderbilt a decade ago.)  I got my small rental car (automatic…many are not) and slowly made it out of the rental lot and onto M4 (the highway).  I’ve driven in the UK before but it was a long time ago.  I remembered some of the basic weirdness of driving on the other side but it was little things that kept getting me.  Like, the parking break and gears being on the other side.  Or trying to adjust the mirror with my left hand instead of my right. After all, the ignition was still in the correct side.  I still don’t know if I successfully turned on the driving lights or not.  For awhile I thought the lights were the cruise control…wasn’t very effective in that role in case you were wondering.  Even after driving around for 5ish hours, I am still not sure where some of the things are in the car.  Don’t worry—I don’t plan to drive at night here.

I made it out of the heavier traffic of London and stopped at several of the rest areas along the road.  I don’t remember them from before.  They were similar to the service areas in the states.  I was thankful for their regular occurrence since I was jet lagged.  At one of them, I decided to relax for a bit. I parked in the 2-hour lot.   Since I wasn’t sure of the rules in the UK, I didn’t want to stay in the front seat in case it looked like I was sleeping behind the wheel so I got in the back seat and stretched my legs out.  Too small for any real rest but I needed to figure out it I should find a closer hotel and head to the castle the next day since I was getting worn out.  Right about that time, a crazy driver drove the wrong way and headed right toward me.  Since I was in the back seat, there was nothing I could do but try to figure out how hard he was going to hit me (and to be thankful that I got full insurance coverage for the car through Hertz).  He slowed when he realized I was there but then started again toward me.  I stared at him and he stopped and turned around somehow.  Well, that unexpected boost of adrenalin got me all riled up and I was wide awake for the rest of the drive!!!

Bovey Castle is in Dartmoor National Park and about 220ish miles from Heathrow.  The first 200 miles are really easy—get on M4 which connects to M5 and don’t accidently get off of it.  Even the next 16 miles on A30  aren’t too bad.  The last 10 miles, however, are much more challenging.  Bovey sends a link to their own directions to make sure visitors can avoid the teeny tiny roads that are only 1 car wide in spots.  Uh, yeah.  I found many of those roads on my journey.  Also met a nice guy in a new housing development (first spot where I could turn around on one of my accidental scenic routes) who said I was completely in the wrong area.  At this point, I called Bovey Castle to let them know that I was not going to make my 2pm afternoon tea.    Made it back to where I had started that last 10-mile part of the journey and found some free wifi at Hog & Hedge http://hogandhedge.co.uk/ (really cute place…recommend it if you are lost…or not lost in this area) and a tasty chocolate croissant and figured out where I had gone sooo wrong.  I also noted that there was a Travelodge right next to the food place in case I needed to give up on the castle.  I did pretty well until I made it to the little town of Bovey-Tracey.  Then it was more difficult to figure out where I should be.  I ended up finding one of the back roads to the castle that had many teeny tiny parts to it…very intimidating when a line of “Lorries” came the opposite way. After driving the amount of miles that the map had told me and realizing I was (once again) on the wrong road, I had to find a place to turn around.   I ended up with a chartered bus behind me for part of it.  When I found a place to pull over, I let the bus pass me and had it blaze a trail for me on the teeny tiny road. It worked much better seeing a large vehicle go in front of me.  Plus, cars coming the opposite way had to pull over for the bus so they just continued to wait for me too.

Incidentally, the hardest time I had remembering which side to drive on was on those teeny tiny roads where there are sometimes no divisions anyway.  However, when a car starts heading right toward you, it becomes important to remember that in the UK, you need to get to the left. 

Finally, I made to Bovey Castle.  The grounds are gorgeous and there is an award-winning golf course here too.  (Not planning to try it out since I can throw a golf ball further than I can hit it…and that’s not saying much.)  I didn’t do much exploring upon arrive.    My main objective was to take a nap and then wake up for dinner.  I reserved a Valley-view Castle room.  It was a great decision.  The hotel also included a free sample of their Bovey Sloe Gin made here.  It is a red color and tasted great but after one sip of the powerful stuff, my face turned the same color as the drink.  One of Bovey’s activities available for guests is to take a course on how they make the gin.  Unfortunately, it appears to overlap in time with my “Birds of Prey” experience.   Oh well.