Road Trip

Recently Nathan and I set out on a road trip in a rental car to take a tour of England. Although I use the term “road trip” to describe our adventure, we returned to Coventry at the end of every day. This worked out well, since the country is small enough that driving almost anywhere in a reasonable amount of time is doable from just about any starting point. Our particular starting point, however, is especially well suited for this sort of trip as Coventry is smack in the center of England. Driving a car allowed us to visit popular tourist destinations as well as many hidden gems. Our adventure included a visit to York, where we saw an enormous cathedral, a castle keep and the ruins of an old abbey, and later walked along the ramparts of the city wall. The next day we headed up to Yorkshire Dales and the North Penninies, where we visited one of England’s most formidable water falls, High Force. The day was full of driving through boundless rolling hills brimming with sheep and exploring the countryside on public footpaths through some of England’s endless farmland. The third day of our trip was spent in the famed Lake District, which does live up to its reputation for outstanding beauty. Here we drove on narrow roads around lakes and through quaint villages until our arrival in Windermere, where we encountered even more swans than we usually do in our daily lives. A hike in the Lake District revealed the presence of several accessible caves as well as a high, sheep-infested hill top which provided a fantastic view of the surrounding land. The fourth day of our trip brought us to the Peak District, where we explored wooded trails and farmland on public footpaths. Our search for a lesser-known waterfall in this area resulted in an unexpected side quest through one of England’s many collections of mysterious overgrown ruins. A visit to Stonehenge dominated the fifth day of our trip, where it was blustery beyond belief. We also visited Bath and Oxford on this day. Amusingly due to its name, Bath was flooded near the river that runs through the city centre, and Oxford was filled to the brim with students on bikes (so many bikes). The last day of our trip was spent in Wales, where we clamored out on a causeway of jagged rocks to the small tidal island of Worm’s Head in Rhossili. Here we spent much of our time navigating the precarious rocky landscape between sections of grassy hills and relaxing with sheep on the thick, springy marram grass under a pleasantly clear sky. We spent the second half of the day strolling through a field of ponies while the sun set, and lastly enjoying Cardiff’s illuminated skyline from the city’s bay. Finally we headed home for the last time, having ended the trip with a million brand new sights to process and still eager to see millions more.