It’s time for me to document our trip across the pond before my brain forgets the details. We landed at Heathrow picked up our bags, spoke to the customs agents about our intentions, and found a shuttle to the Hertz car rental office. Thankfully we listened to the agent behind the desk and went with a larger car and a Satellite Navigation system that would become our best friend. We lovingly named the SatNav, Jeeves. He told us to “bear right” and “bear left” and “at the roundabout take the third exit”. All these instructions were with a fabulous British accent.
Both Josh and Dear did a fabulous job of driving on the other side of the road and making it through the narrow roads lined with hedgerows. After a few hours on the road and before our final destination we chose a random road to turn on to try to find something to eat. We stumbled upon Stoke Bruerne in Northhamptonshire. A lovely little village on the Grand Union Canal.
Our choice for a meal wasn’t the best in this town but it sufficed and being jet lagged it would have to do. We had a nice walk about the village after our meal. It was good to stretch our legs. We were even able to help open up one of the gates of the locks along the canal.
We saw our first thatched roof cottages in this little town.
It was fun to see all the colorful Canal Boats.
We said our goodbyes to our first village in England and headed farther North for our first Bed and Breakfast stop.
Happy October to all of you. I’m happy to report my body seems to have adjusted to being on the West Coast of the U.S.A. again. Looking forward to a nice long stretch at home. What does October hold for you?
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
So glad that I read A Fine Romance because I have a better sense of what you experienced. I don’t think I could handle the opposite side of the road and the opposite side for the steering wheel so cheers for the men who did so well with it! I loved seeing the design cut into the thatched roof.
What an exciting trip it must of been. Look forward to the rest. The pics of food you ate looks unappealing too. Probably just like it tasted for you. Well hopefully we won’t have as much rain here in Oregon in October as in September. Have a blessed day.
I love this virtual trip. Love the thatched roof cottages, and aren’t those brightly colored boats wonderful? They make such a neat photo. I’m sure I’d be so confused if I had to drive on the other side of the road. Love those navigation systems, and Jeeves is a cute name for your English-accent navigator. I look forward to seeing more. laurie
I followed your blog entries about your Mom’s memorial service, etc., but couldn’t comment as we were travelling with limited access to internet. It looked like a lovely memorial.
I will look forward to more descriptions and pics of your trip. It has been 5 years since we were last over there. We have many great memories of the scenery, the people, and events we experienced, as I am sure you do.
I wish we could import Jeeves to our side of the pond. it would be lovely hearing that accent. I’m really looking forward to your travelogue!
I am keenly interested in hearing all about this trip. England is definitely on our bucket list! I also remember how stressful it was travelling on the opposite side of the road in a standard car when we travelled in Ireland a few years ago! Screaming “Keep to the Left” comes to mind!
I’d been to the UK several times, but had never driven there before. You’re all very brave and glad you made friend of Jeeves. 😉 Enjoy reading your travel journal.
You truly are the Queen of Travel!!!!!!! What a fun trip! I love it that they still have those iconic bright red phone booths! I have never seen a thatched rooftop in person. I’ll bet that was cool! The photos of the cottages are exactly as I would have pictured in an English town! Funny about the navigation system Jeeves!!!! It would be a lot more fun to have a British accent coming out of my dashboard than that tired chick used here in the States! 🙂
Alycia! how’s your shoulder? Hope things are a lot better by now. Jeeves was fabulous…
I dream of a canal boat trip through the UK! Laughing at Nachos on the menu-pass!
Bernie’s ancestral property in Maryland, built in the mid 1600s was named Northampton. Presumably because that first Spriggs in America came from Northampton. He named the house that he built on the property “Resurrection Manor”. Someday we’d like to visit the UK Northampton areas.
This so reminds me of some of the fun places we visited in the ‘London countryside’. I was glad we had an experienced British driver at our beck and call though. You guys were brave!
Your photos are making me ‘homesick’ for my favorite vacation destination!
Awesome sights!!!