After quitting my full time job in England and having a month before my start date to work as an Au Pair in the Netherlands I wanted to do something spontaneous. I had to sell my car and sort out all my belongings to keep, sell or to give to charity. The month was passing by so quickly!
Well before selling the car we decided on a road trip in England! My partner had arrived in the UK to visit me on the Isle of Wight for about 2 weeks, but we spontaneously decided that I would pick him up at the airport and we would just drive from place to place until the two weeks were up!
Picking him up from Bournemouth Airport, due to being too late to land at the usual airport of Southampton we had a hotel for the night before we first set off. Our plan was to drive anticlockwise around England.
Below are the cities we visited! The bold cities is where we had a place to sleep and the other cities is where we took day trips to. Planning everything went well, once arriving at one place we booked the next place for a few days in advance making it cheap to do being last minute.
- Hastings
- Brighton
- Clacton-On-Sea
- Cambridge
- Scarborough
- Newcastle
- Bath
- Wales
This is the estimated route we likely took to the cities we had sleeping arrangements in. This map does not include the day trips from each city.
Hastings
This was our first stop, a lovely little place to walk along the beach and for a some seaside lunch.
Brighton
While we were here we did the usual touristic sightseeing and shopping but it was raining for the whole time, giving us not much time to enjoy the beach or relax in the sun with an ice cream. We visited a little castle on the way to our next destination, which was pretty and gave us some great views of the cliffs towards Dover.
Clacton-On-Sea
This was a beautiful little spot to stay and relax at. Close to the sea with some beautiful walking routes.
Cambridge
We visited Cambridge for a day trip, a place not to be missed during a road trip around England. The beautiful city has so much to see and do it was hard to decide what to see and where to walk first! As tourists of course we had a punting tour along the river and visited the King’s College Chapel and the grounds.
Scarborough
Once we were settled at the Cayton Bay Holiday Park, who gave us a luxury camping home with bottle of wine for a different couple (which we drank!), we were greeted by the beautiful view of the sea and coast. We walked here for ages! In the city we visited the seafront, got the ice creams we missed out when in Brighton and visited the castle.
Newcastle
We took a day trip here to visit the Angel of the North and some shopping. Driving from Scarborough along the coast was beautiful and we ended up having the sun the whole day, making it a great day for lunch outside and lots of walking.
Bath
Stopping here on our long journey back to the Isle of Wight was the perfect place. The city gave us the combination of history with visiting Bath Abbey and relaxing with lots of little cafes to sit at and unique shops to visit.
Wales
A day trip over the Severn Bridge to visit some castles, such as the Raglan Castle. We also found some roman ruins that we discovered along the road too.
Heading Home To Southampton
We took the Clifton Suspension Bridge back on the way driving south. We planned to stop at Stonehenge, since I had also never been here so close to home. It was rather busy but we queued up for a ticket and an audio guide. Interesting to visit!
Overall we loved our spontaneous trip, even if we missed some pretty nice places to visit. Every place had its uniqueness and different activities to do so its hard to pick the best place, however Scarborough was one of our highlights, greeted with sunshine and those pretty views!
No Comments