A Rough Ride for Britain
Britain is a disunited kingdom of cynics bent on cashing in on its heritage, at least according to the latest edition of the Rough Guide to Britain, out this week.
The new guide from successful range of Rough Guides surprisingly lists a night out in Newcastle upon Tyne as Britain’s top attraction, surfing in Newquay csecond and the city of Oxford in third place. Both “whisky” and “a pint down the pub” make it into the top 20.
The Rough Guide to Britain’s top 35
1 A night on the town, Newcastle upon Tyne
2 Surfing, Newquay
3 Oxford
4 London’s markets
5 Whale- and dolphin-watching
6 Castle Howard, Yorkshire
7 Kinloch Castle, Rùm
8 Snowdonia
9 Edinburgh
10 Coasteering (a combination of rock scrambling, cliff-jumping and swimming)
11 Whisky
12 The British Museum
13 Iona
14 West Highland Railway
15 A pint down the pub
16 Glasgow School of Art
17 Punting on the Cam
18 Portmeirion
19 Bath
20 Whitby music festivals
21 Shopping in Leeds
22 Harlech
23 Cairngorms National Park
24 Hill-walking
25 National Museum of Wales
26 Hadrian’s Wall
27 Ullswater
28 York Minster
29 Eden Project, Cornwall
30 Melrose Abbey
31 Loch Shiel
32 Tobermory
33 Avebury
34 St David’s Cathedral
35 Tate St Ives, Cornwall
If you live in the UK, you may feel that the list misses the mark a bit (Whitby music festivals?(!)), which I hope is a wake up call to anyone who closely follows the recommendation of travel guides.
