# UK Road Trip - Thanks for all the recommendations



## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Well, had a stroke of luck at work. Due to some schedule changes, I just found myself with two weeks of unexpected holiday from the last week of Sept thru the first week of Oct. So me and the misses are going to jet over and check out the south coast starting around Brighton and heading west to Lands End. From there, head north and make our way back to London.

Any recommendation of "must see" places to visit and "don't go there" areas to avoid are appreciated.

We're more into cultural and historic sights. Not really into the tourist stuff (e.g. boardwalk or pier carnivals, theme parks, etc.)


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## SlammedTTS (May 28, 2015)

I don't think a week is enough, so it'll only be a whistle stop tour...


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Two weeks actually, but you're right, it's not a lot of time. That's why I'm looking for suggestions for "must see" vs "don't bother" places along the way.


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## ashfinlayson (Oct 26, 2013)

If you're heading towards Cornwall then there's Bodmin jail and Tintagel castle, Merlins cave etc if you like your history/ruins. Some fantastic views down there too. I wouldn't bother with Jamaica Inn though.


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Thanks Ash! I'll put those on the list.


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## Taylortony (Feb 10, 2012)

Ok the Historical Dockyards at Portsmouth are fascinating. See the Mary Rose, the Victory, HMS Warrior, a tour of the harbour etc all included, good fish and chip shop across the road from the entrance. The Victory and Warrior are well worth it, ticket price a bit high but valid for a year.

https://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/

Stonehenge, everyone visits it, I don't know why as its just a ring of rocks, but strangely I have visited twice....go figure

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/vis ... tonehenge/

Close by is Salisbury Cathederal

https://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/visit/what-see

If tanks interest you, about the best collection in the world is at Bovington

https://www.tankmuseum.org/home

If Aviation is your thing

The Fleet Air Arm museum is another world beating collection

https://www.fleetairarm.com/


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## ashfinlayson (Oct 26, 2013)

Totally forgot about Portsmouth dockyard (haven't been there since I was a child). We're having a few days on the south coast at the end of the month so I'll go for a visit. Thanks


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## Taylortony (Feb 10, 2012)

Mary Rose appears to be a separate charge now, you can easily spend a day there with all the bits like the boat tour and going across to the sub museum etc.

The tours in Victory and Warrior are fascinating, I learnt where the term to half inch I.e to steal came from. The copper nails of several feet long used to construct Victory were stamped every inch with the military crowsfoot marking, if you were caught stealing it they would hang you, so they used to cut the crows feet sections out of the bars and steal the half inch between that wasn't marked, hence half inch or pinch to steal something....

Here endeth the lesson. :lol:


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## flyfifer (May 13, 2019)

Jurassic coast, particularly Durdle Door: https://jurassiccoast.org

New Forest is home to Beaulieu and their motor museum. If you get bored of your hire car, you can rent a classic for the day: https://www.newforestclassiccars.com/hire/

Around that same area, you have Buckler's Hard: https://www.thenewforest.co.uk/things-t ... rd-p780511

St. Michael's Mount: https://www.visitcornwall.com/things-to-do/south-coast

If you like the idea of standing at the end of a bit of land looking out at the sea, both Portland Bill and Lizard Point are excellent. If you don't, then there's not much else to keep you occupied at either. Land's End is now just a disappointing pirate theme park.

If you're prepared to pay for a short plane ride, the Isles of Scilly are well worth a day trip: https://www.visitislesofscilly.com

The drive from Newquay to Padstow is lovely. I even cycled it once in my younger, fitter days. Damn near killed me. But the stop at Bedruthan Steps is nice: https://www.visitcornwall.com/beaches/t ... teps-beach

Ancient and interesting towns and cities to visit in the area: Bath, Wells, Salisbury, Winchester.

Graham.


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## TTsdsgomg (Mar 19, 2013)

SwissJetPilot said:


> Well, had a stroke of luck at work. Due to some schedule changes, I just found myself with two weeks of unexpected holiday from the last week of Sept thru the first week of Oct. So me and the misses are going to jet over and check out the south coast starting around Brighton and heading west to Lands End. From there, head north and make our way back to London.
> 
> Any recommendation of "must see" places to visit and "don't go there" areas to avoid?
> 
> ...





SwissJetPilot said:


> I've posted this in the "Off Topic" section but wanted to ask for help from anyone who knows the south coast (Portsmouth to Lands End) for a two-week road trip. Recommendations are appreciated!
> 
> https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1921471


The Swiss are Coming [smiley=gossip.gif]

Swissyland comes to the UK  , suggestion ... Swiss gives us some dates and we have a meet up or two along your route. You could do a roadster road show ... no only kidding ( not ! :wink: ).
Com'on a chance to meet the legendary Swiss cheese even without his beloved roadster. I am defo up for it and willing to organise or help with anything near London town.
Swiss more than happy the drive you round the sights of London in my TTs roadster, great sights and atmosphere around sunset and dark, obviously would have to be only one Swiss at a time :? unless we could arrange a convoy !!


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## SLine_Tom (Oct 20, 2017)

If your going as far down as Lands End the Minack Theatre is worth a look at, maybe see a performance if theres anything on.

https://www.minack.com


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Thanks everyone for the recommendations. 

Made our way from Heathrow to Oxford without any drama. Woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain hammering the roof in buckets. You guys get some SERIOUS rain over here! No wonder everyone is having water ingress problems. Wow!


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Yes t was a bit exceptional the rain this morning. Usually its just grey and drizzle all day but today, just for you, we're having heavy thundery showers for a change.


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## Stiff (Jun 15, 2015)

It's gorgeous and sunny up here in East Yorks but we're due the rain this afternoon and all week following until at least next Saturday! Looks like I won't be washing the cars then :x


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Had a nice day in Oxford despite the drizzle. Amazing place. Really nice drive on the back roads enroute to Bristol. Although we were a bit disappointed with the graffiti. Someone carved a huge horse into the side of a hill near Westbury. Shocking disrespect for nature! I hope this isn't a giant problem in the UK.


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

The level of disrespect is even worse in some places .....


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## Stiff (Jun 15, 2015)

Keep an eye out for the less seen ones...


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Another great day in the Somerset countryside. Bit of a mix reviews however. We checked out the Cheddar Gorge. The drive was nice, but it doesn't look anything like Cheddar and tasted more like dirt. Wells Cathedral was amazing. I even chased away the parking meter maid so I could toss a few more pounds in the broken meter (it was off by 40-minutes!). Then made our way to Glastonbury Abbey. Very nice, but you guys really need to keep up the maintenance on your older buildings. The place was a complete ruin. Sad really.

On the way home we decided to find a typical English dinner. We got lucky and found a Tandoori take away. Food was great, but they gave me an odd look when I asked for traditional fish and chips. Odd that.


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## j8keith (Jun 26, 2009)

SwissJetPilot said:


> Another great day in the Somerset countryside. Bit of a mix reviews however. We checked out the Cheddar Gorge. The drive was nice, but it doesn't look anything like Cheddar and tasted more like dirt. Wells Cathedral was amazing. I even chased away the parking meter maid so I could toss a few more pounds in the broken meter (it was off by 40-minutes!). Then made our way to Glastonbury Abbey. Very nice, but you guys really need to keep up the maintenance on your older buildings. The place was a complete ruin. Sad really.
> 
> On the way home we decided to find a typical English dinner. We got lucky and found a Tandoori take away. Food was great, but they gave me an odd look when I asked for traditional fish and chips. Odd that.


It's work in progress


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

@ pcbbc & TTsdsgomg - Thanks again for the recommendations. We drove across the Clifton suspension bridge and visited the Camera Obscura at the Observatory and climbed down and up the Giants cave in Bristol today. Freekin' awesome! Talk about engineering marvels. Well done!


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## andy mac (Jun 24, 2019)

SwissJetPilot said:


> On the way home we decided to find a typical English dinner. We got lucky and found a Tandoori take away. Food was great, but they gave me an odd look when I asked for traditional fish and chips. Odd that.
> 
> View attachment 1


I hope you're going to try a chip butty while you're over here: white bread, butter, fill with chips, enjoy.
Ketchup optional, I prefer them with just a bit of salt and vinegar.


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## ashfinlayson (Oct 26, 2013)

Oxford is very close to me, nice place to go for a day out but sucks to commute to. In fact it used to take me nearly 2 hours to drive 15 miles into the centre in the morning via the park and ride, so I gave up after 5 months of doing it.

If you're heading to Bristol, you may see a bit more graffiti, they frame it and make shrines of it down there


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

Looks like you're seeing all the good sights. I missed this thread, but you're in my stomping ground - but other people have covered off all the good places!

Haynes Motor Musem is the only other place that comes to mind, but you've probably gone past that by now. The only other thing that might have been worth a ganders would have been a trip across into Wales to view some castles.

A lot of the old churches went to rack and ruin after Henry 8th dissolved a lot of them, which is a real shame as there are so many spectacular places that have been lost.


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Dash said:


> A lot of the old churches went to rack and ruin after Henry 8th dissolved a lot of them ......


..... in sulphuric acid. :lol:


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Having a great time on the coast. Visited Dunster Castle and were so impressed, we decided to look for a summer home in the area. Got lucky and found a small fixer upper.


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Tintagel was pretty cool. The new bridge, hummm....not so sure it really fits. Seems a bit out of place. We crossed it out to the castle, and took the old small wooden bridge to the beach. At least they had a couple of LandRovers that could drive us up from the beach and back to the ticket office in town. Yeah, we're slackers.


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Lands End - the weather was perfect and the scenery, what's not to like!? Made our way up the south east coast from Falmouth, St. Michaels and poked into the little fishing villages along the way. Met up with a group of Royal Marines in Dartmoor who were great guys and very helpful. Thankfully they knew the area better than the guy at the information center and they gave us precise directions to one of the stone village ruins. Also visited the Dartmoor prison museum (actually the old Dairy) where American prisoners of war were kept during the war of 1812.

Stumbled across a very cool Formula 1 Hammer Head shark artwork in a Padstow art gallery. Created by a retired F1 mechanic by the name of Alastair Gibson. Very cool, but not £27,000 cool. :roll: 
https://carbonart45.com/artwork/engineered-hammer/
https://carbonart45.com/


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Stonehenge. Yep, still standing. My Dad and I actually camped there in the stone circle in 1964. Times have changed. You're not even allowed to touch it now. Old Sarum castle was also pretty impressive.


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Cool

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


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## Taylortony (Feb 10, 2012)

I visited Stonehenge several times in an RAF Puma when we used to play on Salisbury Plain, the thing that impressed me was what you do not see on the ground but in the air you see lines and stones running off from it in perfectly straight lines.


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Enjoyed a really nice day in Salisbury. What's not to like about a cathedral? Also had the opportunity to view one of four Magna Cartas which was a nice piece of history.

I noticed this mark on the gateway entering the cathedral grounds. You can see it on the corner stone just to the right of the lower window. Anyone know it's significance?

Wandered the stones of Avebury and had very nice dinner in the Red Lion where I discovered British toilet humor...


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Well kids, last day on the big island. We fly home tomorrow and say good-bye to the land of Stonehenge and Brexit.

We had a wonderful time, saw some really great places and finished it all off wandering around Arundel Castle. Really worth seeing!

I can't say enough about the warmth and humor of the British and their hospitality. I also take back all the rude things I've said before about the weather and the food. Okay, the weather was a bit crap, but the food was excellent! 

Many thanks to all for your recommendations. Just not enough time to fit them all in, so we've put them on the 'to see next time' list.


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## Iceblue (Jul 20, 2018)

Swiss re your query on the marking. I did some research and found that in medievil times they had a ticketing system whereby you had to insert the ticket into the groove above the arrow which would determine how many sheckles you would have to pay depending upon how long you had spent in the town. Obviously over many hundreds of years, the calcification and erosion caused by wind and rain has led to the ticket opening being closed.


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

I just Googled it and found that it's a Government Ordnance Survey mark. Not quite the mysterious symbol I was hoping for! :lol:

I have also seen lines, about 2-feet long, carved into the stones at city gates and churches. Turns out they are the standard unit of measurement for that city before everyone standardized lengths and measures.

_A broad arrow is a symbol used traditionally in heraldry, most notably in England, and later by the British government to mark government property. It became particularly associated with the Board of Ordnance, and later the War Department and the Ministry of Defense. It was exported to other parts of the British Empire, where it was used in similar official contexts. 
_
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_arrow


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## Stiff (Jun 15, 2015)

Cool stuff. Glad you enjoyed the fruits and histories of Britain's fine lands, you've visited more of them than I have :lol: 
How was the Guinness in the South? As good as in the North? We'll have to have a catch up over a few again at some point in the future


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

I actually discovered Kopparberg Cider, specifically Strawberry Lime and Passion Fruit. Very yummy! I can get beer here easily enough, but cider is much harder to find on the continent so I often try out various ciders when I'm in the UK. Actually last time I was in the UK, they gave me a Guinness that was foamed up with some sort of vibrating device. Weird.


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

Nice pics, glad you had a nice time. I really should go out more often!


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## Back 2 TT (Nov 12, 2015)

SwissJetPilot said:


> I just Googled it and found that it's a Government Ordnance Survey mark. Not quite the mysterious symbol I was hoping for! :lol:
> 
> I have also seen lines, about 2-feet long, carved into the stones at city gates and churches. Turns out they are the standard unit of measurement for that city before everyone standardized lengths and measures.
> 
> ...


Also known as the "Crows foot" or to my old mob the "Pusser's arrow". There is a stone right opposite my mum's house in Stockport with that carved into it. Amazed me for years as a kid :lol:


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Well you are all wrong. Anyone who played Space Invaders in the 1970s will recognise the sign and know that its the location of an alien landing site.

But don't tell anyone.


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