It goes without saying that a motor tour should be planned in advance as carefully as possible.  If one starts out in a haphazard way, it takes him a long time to find his bearings, and much valuable time is lost.  Before crossing the water, it would be well to become posted as thoroughly as possible on what one desires to see and to gain a general idea of the road from the maps.  Another valuable adjunct will be a membership in the A.C.A. or a letter from the American motor associations, with an introduction to the Secretary of the Motor Union of Great Britain and Ireland.  In this manner can be secured much valuable information as to the main traveled routes; but after all, if the tourist is going to get the most out of his trip, he will have to come down to a careful study of the country and depend partly on the guide-books but more upon his own knowledge of the historical and literary landmarks throughout the Kingdom.

II

IN AND ABOUT LONDON

London occurs to the average tourist as the center from which his travels in the Kingdom will radiate, and this idea, from many points of view, is logically correct.  Around the city cluster innumerable literary and historic associations, and the points of special interest lying within easy reach will outnumber those in any section of similar extent in the entire country.  If one purposes to make the tour by rail, London is pre-eminently the center from which to start and to which one will return at various times in his travels.  All the principal railways lead to the metropolis.  The number of trains arriving and departing each day greatly exceeds that of any other city in the world, and the longest through journey in the island may be compassed between sunrise and sunset.

The motorist, however, finds a different problem confronting him in making London his center.  I had in mind the plan of visiting the famous places of the city and immediate suburbs with the aid of my car, but it was speedily abandoned when I found myself confronted by the actual conditions.  One attempt at carrying out this plan settled the matter for me.  The trip which I undertook would probably be one of the first to occur to almost anybody—­the drive to Hampton Court Palace, about twelve or fifteen miles from the central part of the city.  It looked easy to start about two or three o’clock, spend a couple of hours at Hampton Court and get back to our hotel by six.  After trying out my car—­which had reached London some time ahead of me—­a few times in localities where traffic was not the heaviest, I essayed the trip without any further knowledge of the streets than I had gained from the maps.  I was accompanied by a nervous friend from Iowa who confessed that he had been in an automobile but once before.  He had ridden with a relative through a retired section of his native state, traversed for the first time by an automobile, and he had quit trying