When we planned the trip, we considered where we wanted to explore beyond Bournemouth. We decided we wanted to go West, but didn't have time to make it all the way to Wales. We settled on Bath. Everyone I knew from the UK said "Bath is wonderful!" I looked at train connections and decided it was easier to drive, so we rented a car and had a bit of an adventure driving 'cross country' to Bath.
Nothing in England is really wilderness, but we did get out in the countryside. Lots of farms and endless hedgerows (that make it harder to see the countryside!) I took several photos when the hedgerows were absent. We had a day full of sun and clouds.
There were a few narrow spots where only one car could pass at a time. These were signed well with regard to who had to yield to whom. (There were a lot of these narrow roads in Scotland!) What was the most startling to me was that even on the "main" highway, there were frequently only 2 lanes with regular roundabout interruptions. I don't think we drove faster than 50 mph the entire trip. It's no wonder the shopkeeper in Bath said to Delaney "Oh, Bournemouth. That's a ways from here, isn't it." When it takes 2 hours to go 60 miles, yes. It is a ways!
This was the only stretch of 4 lanes the entire trip and it only lasted about 4 miles - why bother?
David was our champion driver, even managing a stick shift with the opposite hand.
There were many places on the road when the hedges and trees grew right up against the pavement. Looking ahead, we had a tunnel through the greenery at one point. We passed on crew that was trimming the growth back. They only prune so high, then just let it keep growing. Without much of a shoulder, I'd hate to break down. It'd cause a major traffic jam. (In fact we saw a camper break down on a road in town and the opposite flow of traffic was so heavy that no one could get around it - major traffic jam!)
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