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UK travel

Welcome to our UK travel forum where you can get advice on everything from holidays to exotic destinations, to tips on London travel.

Original poster

Everywhere is England is rammed

221 replies

Hyperfish101 · 31/08/2020 08:09

Maybe different elsewhere in UK but Covid has certainly wiped out options for a peaceful day out anywhere. Or so it seems.

Went to a local beauty spot for a walk yesterday. At 10 am cars queuing for the car park. All the NationL Trust type places swarming. Even little walks by our local river are overrun with people.

Had a week in a usually quiet place in the Scottish Borders. Nope. Jammed. The usual quiet beach was overrun. Car park rammed. Rubbish everywhere.

It’s horrible. I realise I was there too so limited grounds to complain but I’ve been going to these places for years and suddenly I can’t even park.

That’s even before mentioning the ‘wild camping’ we saw in the Lakes. Tents abandoned, rubbish everywhere.

I’m hoping when people can stop ‘staycationing’ and go abroad, things will settle down. I feel as if there are no unspoilt areas left now.

OP posts:
universallychallanged · 31/08/2020 10:22

The worst places around me are the water supply reservoir sites. There are signs saying no swimming - but dozens are swimming and jumping from bridges. The car parks have no open toilets so piles of poo and paper around (we even saw some floating in the water). Piles of alcohol packaging and some broken bottles (not nice for dogs) and loads of nitrous oxide capsules and balloons from kids getting high. What a mess!

Original poster
Hyperfish101 · 31/08/2020 10:26

For those saying I’m not picking the places carefully enough.,.,that’s exactly the point I was mAking initially. Previously otbt places are now as busy as everywhere else. I always pick quiet places for holidays and walks...was making the point that they are far from quiet now. Though god forbid I might want a bit of a peaceful holiday 🙄.

I’m glad done people have managed to find a bit of peace in the U.K. this year. Good for them.

OP posts:
WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo · 31/08/2020 10:28

Head to the coast that boarders the lakes.

It's dead, I walked about 10 miles on a stunning beach yesterday and barely saw another soul...........we've had the odd tourist discover us but in the main its locals only as the tourists all head for what they know.

Benjispruce2 · 31/08/2020 10:29

I’ve always found NT places rammed at weekends.

MintyMabel · 31/08/2020 10:36

Had a week in a usually quiet place in the Scottish Borders

I thought your post was about how England was rammed. Which part of England is in the Scottish Borders?

LynetteScavo · 31/08/2020 10:42

I think I must live in a parallel universe. I went on holiday to Cornwall, the weather was fantastic, it was no more crowded than usual. The last couple of weeks it's been rainy here on alternate days and when I've gone out on country walks there's no one around now (especially compared to lockdown when everyone seemed to be randomly wandering around).

I generally don't like to go to places you have to pay for parking on weekends in the summer or on bank holidays because they're always busy.

Original poster
Hyperfish101 · 31/08/2020 10:51

Near Berwick. If you want to nitpick my sense of geography though.

OP posts:
topofthewardrobe · 31/08/2020 10:52

Whereas now it feels like there's nowhere left that isn't affected - all the tiny, quiet special little places that a few people have loved and visited for years have been desecrated.

I was t aware that they had been consecrated in the first place. There are lots of tiny, special little places, you just happen to have ones that are as secret as the state of Katie Hopkins morals. Our tiny, special places are still that and we've found new ones this summer.

Benjispruce2 · 31/08/2020 10:54

OP given what you were upset about, surely you should be relieved that ‘everywhere’ in England is not rammed?!Confused

FlamingoAndJohn · 31/08/2020 10:55

We don’t live in a tourist town but there is a nice bit of the town full of independent restaurants and cafes that we usually go to.
Normally we can get a seat at our favourite cafe without an issue but this summer it’s been a 15 minute wait. But part of this is because they can only really seat people outside.

We went to a beach near us last week and it was empty but we chose a beach that had no facilities, no shops, toilets or cafes and we figured it would be quieter. We also got their early.

Also we have been not going to places because we are two adults with a nice garden. I’d rather the people trying to entertain children or who are in flats without outdoor space get to use them.

thewhitechair · 31/08/2020 10:55

We went to the Lakes the other week and couldn’t believe how busy it was. The towns were heaving, what made me laugh was people would have to put on their mask to go inside a well-distanced shop but then immediately remove it once they’d stepped back onto the crowded streets.

GreyGardens88 · 31/08/2020 11:06

I used to go for quiet walks along the country roads by my parents house for years without barely seeing a soul and people thought I was a sad act for enjoying it. Now it's full of range rovers parked on the verges and the roads resemble something from the tour de france with all the cyclists, it's as busy as a small town. It's madness, like people have all of a sudden found out walking in the country is a nice thing rather than jostling round Primark

SurferRona · 31/08/2020 11:11

@SunnySummerDays

We always go to Cornwall. It was rammed and i didn’t like it all. It usually feels like holiday makers there... this year it felt like shoppers and tourists and the atmosphere felt completely different. Even crowded on our remote walks. I’m hoping everyone despised the damp weather and gets back abroad again next year!
Grin what’s the difference between holiday makers and tourists?
Kaktus · 31/08/2020 11:21

Though god forbid I might want a bit of a peaceful holiday

Well yeah, I guess that’s what everyone wants. But as people were strongly discouraged from going abroad (or called selfish idiots on here), they stayed in the UK. Meaning that previously quiet places in the UK aren’t quiet this year. Not sure what you want people to do? Stay indoors so you can have your quiet holiday as usual?

ithinkiveseenthisfilmbefore · 31/08/2020 11:24

I don't get the mindset of 'let's go someplace lovely and leave all our rubbish behind after enjoying it' either.

Fucking twats everywhere.

emilybrontescorsett · 31/08/2020 11:26

There is a difference though in visiting somewhere and behaving respectfully and visiting and leaving shit everywhere. I used to be a member of I gym which shared its car park with a couple of other shops. At the far side is a MacDonalds with its own car park. The MacDonalds gets packed and every single weekend morning I went to the gym there was rubbish thrown into the gym car park by people who had been to macdonalds. Every single weekend. It is disgusting.

TheChineseChicken · 31/08/2020 11:28

I don’t understand this mindset. Complaining about people going somewhere - that you have also gone to. So it’s ok for you to go but not others? How do we know which places we are allowed to go to and which we aren’t?

emilybrontescorsett · 31/08/2020 11:32

I don't think the open is complaining so much about people going, it's more the disrespectful attitude and how they treat the place . A few weeks ago we tried to go to a country pub technically we could walk but we were an route to see my d's so we drove. The car park was unusually full, never had this before. So we left. We didn't someone out cat in,the entrance of choose to block someone in. That's the diffetence.

maddiemookins16mum · 31/08/2020 11:33

We joined EH last week, went somewhere each day, all ticketed. It was fab, places were half empty.
Hever Castle for instance.
Also went to Ramsgate Tunnels, only 20 tickets allowed 3 x a day, a far nicer experience.

emilybrontescorsett · 31/08/2020 11:33

Abandon it across the entrance.

Original poster
Hyperfish101 · 31/08/2020 11:34

FFS...MN loves to have a row. LMAO.

On the travel section, just having a little moan that everywhere seemed busy and I missed the previous peaceful areas I could visit. Places I’ve been for years. That were previously very quiet. Seemed a shame. That’s all.

Not saying no one else can go there. Was just a bit of an observation really.

OP posts:
BikeTyson · 31/08/2020 11:35

Where in Northumberland has been rammed? This summer I’ve been to a number of the beaches, all the NT places, farms and zoos/animal centres and none have been rammed. Car parks busy in a lot of cases, but I never felt like I couldn’t keep a good distance away from people.

Original poster
Hyperfish101 · 31/08/2020 11:35

And yes...I am pleased people have had quieter experiences than me. Shows that there is still a possibility to have a nice quiet break somewhere.

OP posts:
NunchukNinja · 31/08/2020 11:38

Not completely on point but, A bit like Like @BookWitch Post, I work and rely on visitor heavy town. I am beyond grateful that it’s busy, and most people seem to be behaving quite well. The difference seems to be day visitors, we’re close to London, and people who’d normally be abroad have replaced Normal European And International visitors. I am very aware other businesses are not so lucky and their high streets and livelihoods are suffering.

If tourist towns aren’t “rammed” now they And their businesses have no hope of survival at all. And even so some will have lost so much money without spring and early summer Trade that they may well not survive the winter.

Maybe if Gov funded local councils better they could employ people to pick up the litter. Then again In reality they’ll Rightly prioritise any cash They do have, which isn’t much, on adult social care, children’s services and local public health teams. In our town we do a big beach clean up at the end of the season.

Maybe some of the pp’s unhappy about the litter could consider starting a community initiative to keep Their areas tidy. For the good of everyone, including the local economy and jobs. Businesses like mine would be keen to help.

littlemisslozza · 31/08/2020 11:39

Regarding the National Trust places - they control certain sites by doing pre-booking but they also own a lot of car parks at beauty spots and some are not bookable. I think it is some of these places that have been particularly overrun. We have one nearby, a gorgeous valley ideal for family day out as it has a stream, and once the NT carpark is full they have been filling the streets and blocking residents in. New parking restrictions have had to be brought in. This has never been such an issue before this summer.

We had a week in Cornwall mid July and certain parts were busier than others. We thought we'd go to Padstow one day, took one look and carried on driving. People everywhere, queueing to park and there were long queues for ice-cream and Rick stein's fish and chip shop. Friends said that St Ives was also difficult to social distance in as you walked around. However, the Lizard peninsula, the Falmouth, St. Mawes area were all absolutely beautiful yet so much quieter.