We were shocked this morning. Having been conditioned by the Iceland ferry's practice of please vacate your cabins two hours before docking we were shocked and more than a little disoriented. Not only did the ferry staff NOT ask us to leave our cabin before docking, but they also unload all commercial trucks before asking drivers of private vehicles to attend their vehicles. This means that we could have slept until almost the official private vehicle schedule docking time of 6:30am.

Unloading, customs and immigration was all straightforward and then had our first taste of the UK road system.

Now having learned to drive on the British side of the road I usually do not find it a problem to switch; but I have never before driven a US/European vehicle on British roads and having the steering wheel on the curb side of the road was more than a bit weird, particularly at roundabouts, which are exceedingly prevalent in Britain. So as soon as we could find a place to stop I got out the tools and did the vario-pilot, thing and after 30 minutes of messing around voila, the steering wheel was on the correct (British) side of the vehicle.

From the ferry it was about 250 km to Rugby where we were supposed to meet our son Brendon and girlfriend Jessica to start a 7 day excursion on a British Canal boat. Navigation did not prove difficult but we were surprised by the density of traffic and the lack of places for heavy vehicles to stop. The typical roadside parking place is nothing more than a short section of extra lane with very little clearance between the parked vehicle and the active roadway.

There seemed to be no equivalent to the roadside parking/rest areas we have used in Europe and America. We eventually discovered that there are truck stops, or in the local language lorry parking. These seem to be attached to gas stations/restaurants and are secured, fenced yards where trucks park for the night. But they are not free. We found one near to Rugby (tomorrows destination) and for 24 hours parking it cost a little over GBP20 (about the same price as a US campground). For this price the driver could take a shower free in the attached restaurant facilities.

That was our introductory day on UK roads.