Discovering UK in a Vauxhall.

[Christian P.]

I have been in England for about 10 days now and I have had the chance to explore around in a Vauxhall Insignia - thanks to Enterprise rent-a-car and a free upgrade.

One of the greatest things about UK is that the rental cars come with a manual transmission. I almost forgot how much fun it is to drive a manual car with decent power.

I believe that Vauxhall is owned by GMC/Chevrolet. I am actually quite liking the Insignia.

I spent a few days in Bracknell getting trained by the new company I just joined. I had the chance to spend some time with Martyn from Africa-Overland.net



Our first stop was Wales.



Those of you watching Gavin and Stacey (my gf does...) should be familiar with this location:







One major problem with visiting in December is the lack of proper light.







Visiting this castle was very interesting as it is not "technically" open to the public - it is used by an Arts College.





The church next to it date from 11th century and was free to visit - with no one around.

[Gren_T]

Hi there nice photos.. i recognise some of them as i dont live far from barry, i trust your not still in south wales and stuck in the snow.

if you are let me know if you fancy a beer.

seasons greetings to all

Gren

[Christian P.]

Nice on the list was Oxford. Unfortunately we got rained on so I did not have the chance to take many pictures....but we did have the chance to visit one of the oldest pubs there.





From Oxford we traveled up to Ambleside in the Lake District National Park.
This is the largest park in England and is totally stunning.





Coming here mostly for work, I did not really bring any hiking gears...but we did manage to go for a short walk around...











I tested the limit of the Insignia by trying to get over this pass on the mountain...unfortunately I had to track back as the summer tires did not respond very well on ice.







Luckily we had some back up in the form of a much well prepared Mitsubishi L200.

[Christian P.]

It was then time to drive back in the Valley to get dinner...



...just had to be careful not to drive into the beautiful lake.

[Christian P.]

And now for some expo vehicle content - check out this 80's era Fiat van.

[Sturmy]

Hi Christian,
I see you made it to my home/workplace in Great Langdale. I was actually at the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel for lunch on Thursday & saw the same Fiat van. Not many of those left, they rust here really badly. landscape looks even better today after fresh snow. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Regards

James

[1leglance]

great pics...
and nice use of some free time while getting work done.

The Fiat looks like a pop top van, very cool

[MattScott]

You should put up a picture of the flame twirling woman off high street!

[Christian P.]

You should put up a picture of the flame twirling woman off high street!

Matt! I forgot about that woman....

Are you in Paris now? Did you get my message at the hotel?

[Christian P.]

Well the road tip has come to an abrupt stop tonight.

I am stuck in a rest area on the M1 at J15 watching cars and trucks trying to climb the hill in the snow.

We left the Lake District this morning hoping to be able to reach London tonight and catch our flights tomorrow but that is not looking good right now.

we are about 60 miles North of London in a huge snowstorm, a rare event here apparently judging by the numbers of cars stuck everywhere...

I managed to get the Vauxhall into the parking lot of the rest area thanks to the front antislip lock but the low profile tires are not helping at all. I won't be able to climb even the slightest hill. actually, the traffic is totally stopped in both directio right now exactly because of that reason.


It is actually quite amusing to watch the cars trying to climb for this restaurant that overlooked the freeway...