Frights, Freeways and Frugality

Day Nine – London to Southampton
Today was the day got the car and started our driving adventure. Our first stop would be Southampton. Before we left there was time for one more big London breakfast. After that we packed up everything, did a quick room check and dragged the bags down to checkout.

Jenni and Anna waited outside with all our stuff while James and I headed off to Hertz to pick up the car. I had suspected we *might* need a bigger car with all our luggage and that's how it turned out. What I *hadn't* anticipated was the extra GBP560 it would cost for the upgrade. Ouch! I knew we might be up for another 200 quid or so but that was a bit cheeky, and even that was after I got them to give me a 10% discount and keep the insurance at the same rate. These things are bound to happen I guess. At least now we have a really nice deisel Volkswagen Estate with plenty of room and all the bells and whistles. It drives really well and is a pleasure to ride about in. I've just about worked out all the oddities like the super-secret pushbutton handbrake now too. All I have left to master is the reversed indicators and wipers. Eventually I'll stop washing the windows when I turn corners.

I thought getting out of London might be a bit hairy, especially with the Tube strike but it proved pretty simple. Were we right near the end of the A40 and from there it was all motorway towards Southampton. We were seeing our first real rain with a couple of very heavy downpours but at least they were intermittent and we were in the car.

Halfway down the M3 we came across signs advising delays due to a large accident. It was getting to lunch so we decided to take a drive in the country to Alton and rejoin the motorway past the accident. The exit was a bit complex with an odd ringroad arrangement but not long after we were driving in between hedges and through small villages. As well as lunch I was hoping to see Alton Church (don't ask me which one, I assumed CofE) as there was a minor English Civil War action there and the chruch has some info and still shows some of the consequences i.e. damage to stonework.

Alton is quite pleasant, typical chocolate box stuff really. We parked up near a park and went for a walk to find some food. After a bit of wander we found a cake shop that did great food and appalling tea. Them's the breaks... We took lunch back to the park and sat in a shelter as they were the only seat that hadn't been drenched by the rain. After lunch we wandered round the park and then went looking for what turned out to be an invisible tourist information centre. Every sign in town points to it but you never actually find it, even with directions from local shopkeepers. On the off chance we walked back to a church we passed but it wasn't the one I wanted so we gave up and got back on the road.

Back on the motorway we passed another accident. The motorway folks were using a large crane to pick up and load into a tipper truck what looked a lot like an exploded caravan. No sign of ambos or bodies so hopefully nobody was hurt.

Ten minutes later we reached the Holiday Inn where we're spending the next three nights. There was hardly anyone about so we checked in and found the room in minutes. The rooms is clean, tidy and quite pleasant. To be honest it is a lot cleaner than the hotel in London which was a bit jaded and tired.

We spent a few hours in the afternoon sorting ourselves out and then went out for dinner. After driving in circles (a combination of several roundabouts and ATROCIOUS directions) we eventually found The Ship Inn. This is a proper old English pub in every sense of the word. I was bent over in most places to prevent knocking my head on the exposed beams. The food was pretty decent and the atmosphere very pleasant as well. If the directions had been better we'd have got a cheap meal as well. Getting back proved a lot easier. I guess I've already pretty much memorised the local area now as much by trial and error as anything else. We got directions to the local shops from one of the bar staff. We're going shopping tomorrow. God I hope these directions are better...

Tomorrow we're meeting my cousin Mary and my Uncle Gordon. I'm really looking forward to seeing them both and it is a major reason we've come down South.

Cheers,
Millsy