Get used to rubber-necking it. When you see the back of a sign on the opposite side of the road, as soon as you pass it, quickly whip around and read it.

We learned this the hard way on our first trip to Scotland. We must’ve driven the same road five times before we noticed one teeny little sign pointing the way. We’ve encountered this phenomenon many times. Don’t know if it’s misguided thriftiness, careless maintenance, or what.

Doesn’t matter: your job is to pay attention to ALL signs – the ones facing you and the ones facing the oncoming traffic. A sign facing oncoming traffic may be the only sign you’re going to find telling you where Castle —– is located.

Street signs are often hard to find – and optional.

Be aware that people walk in the UK. They don’t drive two blocks for a carton of milk as we Yanks are prone to do. You’ll probably be as surprised as we were by the large amount of pedestrian traffic at all hours of the day and night. Most all their signage is printed and posted with foot traffic in mind – down low – where pedestrians can easily see it.

That having been said, UK cities’ and villages’ solicitous concern for all who are trying to find their way around stops right there. Evidently, their cities and villages have few or no rules or codes for street signs. You’ll have to keep a sharp lookout, as they don’t uniformly show up on posts at street intersections. While walking, you have plenty of time to search all over each intersection for these signs. While driving – on the left side of the road from the right side of the car in an unfamiliar city – you don’t.

You might find one a couple of feet up from the sidewalk on the front of a building on the SW corner of an intersection. The next one might be at chest height on the opposite side of the street, again, on a building – but in a different color and completely different style. The next one might be an actual street sign on a pole at the NE corner of the intersection. But there might be none at all at the next intersection.

That brings us to our Tip #2.