Headed to the British Isles

JayC

JayC

5 kids,3 dogs,only 1 wife
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I just booked a 13 day tour of Ireland, Scotland, and England. It starts in Limerick, goes around the southern coast of Ireland then up to Dublin and up further to Edinburgh. Then down to York and London. It is a high school graduation present for my son.

I had gone back and forth between planning my own route, renting a car, basically flying solo with my son. In the end, we decided on a group tour. It will be more "touristy" than just the two of us in a rental car, but I think it will be a great experience.

For the past several months, I have been trying to figure out which of the many cameras and lens combos I want to keep/sell. I think booking this trip is going to make me finalize with my Leica M9-p with a 35 summicron ASPH, and maybe find a 24 Elmarit ASPH.
 
Sounds like my dream trip (exchange son for girlfriend 🙂 ) I think the group tour will give you a chance to meet people which I find to be one of the great things about traveling. Shooting any film?
 
Great trip, you will have the chance of getting a wide variety of pictures. Keep in mind that the British/Irish weather can be very changeable so plan for some lightweight rain cover. If you will be visiting castles, country houses, museums etc you should find that many allow indoor photography but nearly always without tripods or flash. When in the big cities especially London be aware of pickpockets (as you would anywhere in the world these days). If you get the chance when in London try the food, these days we have some of the best restaurants in the world.
 
You're going to get six or seven hours in each place, from the sound of it. I'm very much afraid that you'll see the tourist traps and not a lot else. My view is that you would have been much better served by your original idea of renting a car.
 
Hi,

Sounds a great trip.

You'll love York, small enough to walk round and you'll find you're getting through film faster than you can buy it. You'll probably need a 28mm lens for the more famous streets (called "The Shambles" for reasons I won't explain). Having said that, I took the XA2 (35mm) the last time.

London's the same and, if you combine your trip to just the City of London and Westminster, you can walk around both easily. When you're there try a river trip to Kew Gardens.

It sounds like you could start a London RFF met as well.

Regards, David

PS XA2 picture of York here at post No 35 http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66397&page=2
 
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I have a different view. I spent four years from 1958-62 living and working in England, had a few business trips back there afterwards and my wife is from Devon. At one time we were making the trip annually and we always hired a car and drove ourselves. We knew the ropes, we had friends and relatives to visit, and we knew our way around. We also knew what things we liked to see and do and those we didn't particularly care for. For a first time ever trip like you're planning, joining a group tour has a lot of advantages - and one or two disadvantages. For one thing you cannot be as flexible as you might like at times, and the mix of things you see and visit might not be (after consideration) exactly matching your preferences. But it saves a lot of stress and organising. Somebody else is taking care of that. You will undoubtedly "cherry pick" and see the prime tourist attractions but there's nothing wrong with that. And it will give you a very good idea of what you want to do if you get the chance to make a later visit.
As far as cameras go, I understand the attraction of digital for colour but I'm a dyed-in-the-wool B&W film man so i take two cameras. For film work I use a Voigtlander Bessa or my Leica M6 with Ilford Delta 400 or HP5+ (ISO 400) and have found that a 25mm focal length lens is great for confined spaces, alleyways and interiors, a 35mm is good for general photography and maybe as an option a 75-80mm for anything else. Wide is good! I have 21, 28, 50 and 90 mm lenses as well but generally keep weight and bulk down by taking just two. There are plenty of film supply houses you can order from by phone or internet but you do need to plan in advance if you want to use a particular film. You can't count on walking into the nearest chemists/pharmacy and picking up B&W film. That's a long way around to say you will need quite wide lenses, fast film and to have organised the supply. Enjoy!
 
... the Shambles is something to do with slaughtering animals isn't it? ...

Sejanus.Aelianus said:
You're going to get six or seven hours in each place, from the sound of it. I'm very much afraid that you'll see the tourist traps and not a lot else. My view is that you would have been much better served by your original idea of renting a car.
Click to expand...

... yes I'd agree with that
 
Ah well, he's doing what he's doing. Maybe, if he gets another chance, having seen the tourist sites first time round, a self-planned trip would be a good choice.

Sounds like there might not be much time to meet up with folks, if JayC's being herded round by an earnest chap brandishing an umbrella.

Just as an aside, I had a friend who grew up in Oxford. One of his hobbies as a teenager was to confidently divert groups of tourists and give them totally spurious tours of the city, with plenty of invented detail. There must be a lot of confused Americans and Japanese...
 
Just as an aside, I had a friend who grew up in Oxford. One of his hobbies as a teenager was to confidently divert groups of tourists and give them totally spurious tours of the city, with plenty of invented detail. There must be a lot of confused Americans and Japanese...
Click to expand...

Go on - admit it, you stole that from the "Lewis" episode "And the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea".

😉 😀
 
... on the plus side taking a tour means not having to learn to drive on narrow twisty roads and go around roundabouts, and you will get to see all the big stuff, like I tend to do
 
Rodchenko said:
Just as an aside, I had a friend who grew up in Oxford. One of his hobbies as a teenager was to confidently divert groups of tourists and give them totally spurious tours of the city, with plenty of invented detail. There must be a lot of confused Americans and Japanese...
Click to expand...

Ah yes, the underground cathedral! I've done it as a party piece once or twice, you need to be good to get away with it though! Oh, and my other half is fond of directing people who ask where the university is up to Headington to Brookes...

As advice to JayC I would say pack a raincoat! The weather here may only rarely try to kill you, but dripping down the back of the neck in a really annoying fashion is a speciality.

Adrian
 
Sparrow said:
... on the plus side taking a tour means not having to learn to drive on narrow twisty roads and go around roundabouts, and you will get to see all the big stuff, like I tend to do
Click to expand...

Yes a tour is a good idea ...you will find the roads both congested and chaotic especially in the south.
Parking is limited and also expensive.

As regards film ... if you do run out the national pharmacy chain Boots carry XP2 and HP5 in their city stores.

The cut price chain Poundland have stocks of Agfa Vista 200 ,24 exp for a pound a roll ($1.66).

I hope that you enjoy your holiday.
 
I'm afraid that I have never seen any episodes of Lewis, on account of not having a TV. I hope they credited Patrick 'Smedley' Hardiman with the idea.
Click to expand...

Well, if he used a stuffed crocodile as part of his caper, he may be able to sue them for plagiarism! 😀
 
Typical of us Brits, jumping in to get a good moan in about the weather, tales of winding up tourists and a whinge about our congested and angry driver filled roads 😉 All valid stuff mind 🙂

Michael's advice re: film stockists is excellent. There are a few Jessops stores left and Snappy Snaps but Boots and Poundland are in pretty much every town in the UK so film supplies shouldn't be too hard to find.

If you find you have a little extra time in London it may be worth popping a message on here as a local may well meet up if only to show you a little more of the city and to say hello.

I've never been a fan of official tours but they are a good start for a first visit wherever you may be going, especially if time is a little limited and it sounds like you've got some of the big choices ticked in terms of cities- tick a few boxes and come back for longer next time if you like it. Your wallet will probably not like it here 😛 Though at least you don't have to pay these prices permanently😀

Have a great time....and do try some of the food, its not as bad as the French make out 😀 and there's everything from the poshest restaurants to amazing street food in some of the markets and back streets. For a twist on typical Brit pub type snacks try "Eat My Pies," Thursdays & Fridays at White Cross Market or Saturdays at Broadway Market in Hackney.

Enjoy.
 
Hi,

Well, JayC, you've heard the worst but don't worry we are a friendly lot really.

Perhaps if you let us know how long you've got in each place...

Trouble is there's basically two sorts of tour, the whistle and umbrella version (Changing of the Guard, Tower of London and I know not what else) or the "today at leisure in London" version. We can help with both and have seen enough to know what they do; I was doing some emergency duties once in the City, meaning awake all night, and at 5:30 am the first coaches rolled up to St Paul's and the sleepy tourists were pushed out. Honest.

OTOH, we are mostly photographers on this forum and carry cameras all the time, so we can help in our own little ways. We can even direct you to famous film locations that are the real thing like "The George" in Borough High St. and so on. (It's not original, btw, the first one was destroyed by fire in 1676 and this is what was rebuilt.)

Regards, David

PS I think Boots &c are expensive for film but there's other places and we can help source film for you at non-tourist prices. Those still working can easily recommend places.

* http://www.pubs.com/main_site/pub_details.php?pub_id=92
 
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