karanmehta

Hi friends. We are a couple (30 yrs and 27 yrs) traveling to UK in June (to and fro London). We are planning to take a car from Heathrow airport and travel through Wales, England and Scotland and return the car in Edinburgh and go back to London by train.

We are avid drivers and would love to cover some really scenic routes and are very comfortable with driving up to 4-5 hours daily. Our main interest is to drive throughout the country and see some amazing scenery on the way (and a few castles here and there). We normally cover a 5 hour journey in 10 hours as we take multiple stops on the way to enjoy the sights and so we have kept the entire day for driving when doing long distances.

We have chalked up a rough itinerary as follows. Request you to share your views on it.

9th June 11:30 AM - Arrive at Heathrow airport, take a car and proceed to Bath. Visit Stonehenge on the way. Overnight at Bath.

10th June - Drive from Bath to Llandudno/Conwy. Planning to take the M4 into South Wales and catch A470 near Brecon and then onto North Wales through Snowdonia. Planning to reach Llandudno/Conwy by late evening (with multiple stops on the way) and staying there.

11th June - Local sightseeing in North Wales. Visit to Great Orme and Conwy Castle (is it worth a visit?). Stay overnight.

12th June - Drive from North Wales to Lake District (Keswick). Will take the A591 from Kendal via Windermere to Keswick.

13th and 14th June - Explore Lake District

15th June - Onwards to Scotland!! Drive towards the Western Highlands through Loch Lomond National Park (A82). Reach Glencoe by early evening and explore. Overnight at Glencoe.

16th June - Spend the morning in Glencoe / Fort Williams and proceed towards Skye by afternoon. Reach Glenfinnan viaduct for the afternoon Jacobite crossing (around 3 PM?) and then take the last ferry from Mallaig to Armadale (6 PM). Reach Portree by night.

17th and 18th June - Explore Isle of Skye

19th June - Portree to Edinburgh through Skye bridge (A87) then via Spean Bridge to A9. Reach Edinburgh by evening and return the car. Is there a better route than this considering that we would have already covered the Glasgow - Fort William A82 route on the way to Skyy.

20th June - Explore Edinburgh (Edinburgh castle)

21st June - Half day in Edinburgh and take an afternoon/evening train to London

22nd to 25th June - London

Hooameye

I wouldn't recommend get off a transatlantic (?) flight and driving on crowded unfamiliar roads (possibly on the other side).

karanmehta

We are from India so drive on the same side.

Also the flight timings are quite decent for us - departure 6:30 AM India time and arrival 11:30 AM UK time so hoping not much jetlag to be there.

Another option is to drop Stonehenge and take a bus/train from Heathrow to Bath on the first day and take the car from there the next day. Does that make more sense?

Also is it advisable to take off one day from Lake District and add it to Glencoe / Fort Williams area?

janisj

Yes, the flight times look OK and you are used to driving on the left. But it is still extremely foolish to drive any distance (or at all) directly off a long haul flight.

I would cut back . . . Which is more important to you - Bath/Stonehenge/Wales, or Scotland.

One advantage is the VERY long days so you will always have daylight for your drives.

But a reality check starting with day 1. With an 11:30 AM arrival and the often looooooong immigration queues at LHR, you will be lucky to get to the rental cars before about 2pm. By the time you drove to Stonehenge and on to Bath you will have absolutely no time to see anything in Bath, and then the next morning you are off for the long drive to North Wales.

Rethink this.

RM67

1. Allow yourself an overnight near the airport - maybe Windsor. Explore the castle and great park, then have an evening meal at one of the riverside pubs or restaurants. You'll be in a better state for driving the next day

2. Take Wales off the itinerary. This gives you more time in the west of England, lakes or Scotland.

3. I like that you finish in Edinburgh and get a chance to explore the city before coming back by train - I think that's quite a nice way to round off the trip.

janisj

Oh, I just noticed the >>very comfortable with driving up to 4-5 hours daily.<<

Realize that many of the drives you have planned are 6 to 8 hours without any stops.

I would also spend the first night in Windsor (it is only 7 miles from LHR). You might be able to squeeze in a visit to the castle. Next day jump on the motorway and head up to the Lakes. This will be a long but mostly fast drive? Then up into Scotland, allowing more time on each leg than you planned.

janisj

Oh, and a 17 day road trip like your title says is an entirely different situation. But (not counting your arrival day) you are really only talking a 10 day road trip. So you can't be that overly ambitious.

jamikins

It depends if you want to see anything other than the road. I would choose 3-4 places as s base and actually see things. As you have it planned you will just see s lot of roads.

tailsock

Wales seems to be the oddball out and should probably be trimmed off your list (especially if you're visiting just to say you've seen Wales)

karanmehta

Thanks for all the great advice!!

I think that seems to be the only way out - we will cut out Wales from the itinerary. The main attractions for us in Wales was the A470 scenic drive through the two national parks - but guess we'll get ample of such scenery at the lakes and in Scotland too!

Windsor castle on Day 1 looks difficult as we will not have enough time. We want to spend an entire day in Windsor strolling through the castle and the town. Our last day seems good for it as out return flight is from LHR at 9:30 PM.

The two days saved in Wales can be added to Bath and Glencoe. So we reach Bath on 9th June evening (after visiting Stonehenge) and spend the entire next day (and night) there and then push off to the lakes on the 11th.

I feel driving up to Bath on Day 1 should not be a problem as we anyways don't have a very long flight and will have ample day time to cover it.

How does this sound now?

thursdaysd

You don't think nine and a half hours is a long flight? Especially when you have to get up early to make a 6:30 am departure. Much safer to take the bus (National Express) to Bath.

karanmehta

Thanks for the suggestions!

With Wales omitted, I think we can remove Bath also entirely as it would help us to focus more on our priority areas (Lake District and Skye).

We had mainly put Bath as it was a shorter drive from London and was on the route to Wales so we could just go there and relax for a day before starting the long drive through Wales.

One alternative now is to reverse the itinerary and take a train to Edinburgh on Day 1 and then move onwards to Skye, Lake District and finally London. So the plan goes like:

Edinburgh (3 nights): Travel by train from London so no need to drive for the first three days of the trip. Then take a car on the fourth day and proceed towards Skye.

Portree (3 nights)

Glencoe (1 night): As a pit stop between Skye and Lake District

Lake District (4 nights)

Then we can drop the car in one of the main cities nearby (Liverpool or Manchester or any other?) and take a train to London.

London (5 nights): We can do one or two day trips from London as well through public transport.

How does this look now?

RM67

I think this is a good itinerary.

Only thing to bear in mind is that if your flight is delayed it makes your train connection problematic as that's a long distance route (by UK standards) and you will have reserved seating. Either build in a big gap between touchdown and departure from Kings Cross. Or consider flying onto Scotland, though the same issue applies with connections if not booked through on one ticket. Better still stay one night in London on arrival then head north the next morning.

janisj

>>With Wales omitted, I think we can remove Bath also entirely as it would help us to focus more on our priority areas (Lake District and Skye).<<

That is what I was going to advise -- but you came around before we had to beat you over the head

Reversing the order makes huge sense . . . BUT >>One alternative now is to reverse the itinerary and take a train to Edinburgh on Day 1 << doesn't.

Taking the train would involve crossing ALL of London to get to Kings Cross for the train.

You will already be AT LHR, so fly up to EDI (or GLA depending on the final itinerary you settle on).

northie

Thursdayd- lots of us in other countries esp India , Australia , New Zealand don't consider 9 hours a long flight . We say 15 hours is a long flight and that's only the first part of it for us down under to Europe - LOL .

thursdaysd

northie - you have my sympathy - I did fly back to the US from Sydney one time. However, for those of us on the US east coast, nine hours is a long flight, especially if it is overnight in economy.