Pilates

Hi there,

I am trying to finalize our basic itinerary for Britain. We have 3 weeks and two days of travel time. No rental car for us. Trains with the occasional bus trip will suit us well. Most important to us will be the West Highland Rail train ride and the other popular rail that is between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh.

I have an itinerary of the destinations that I want to visit and I have 3 days left over to fill. We are only securing accommodations in Bath (our arrival destination) and London (last 5 nights). We travel in the shoulder season because one can usually find a place to stay almost anywhere. That way if we don't like a location, we'll depart after one night. If we love a spot, we can stay an extra night or two.

This is my first time to Britain. My husband was there ages ago. I am putting the whole trip together for us both. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. Here is what I have so far:

Arrive Monday at LHR at 16:00 . Train to Bath.

Bath - 3 nights

Cotswalds - 2 nights

Keswick (via Penrith) - 3 nights
(Depart Lake District and head toward the West Highland Rail to Mallaig)**
Armadale (or somewhere on Skye) - 2 nights
(Ferry to Kyle of Lochalsh then train ride to Inverness)
Inverness - 1 night
(Bank Holiday starts-one week school vacation too)
Edinburgh - 3 nights

York - 2 nights

3 nights OPEN

5 nights London

** Leaving the lake district and training all the way to Mallaig is an <i>eight hour</i> train journey. THEN we would need to catch the ferry from Mallaig (last one of the day) to the isle of Skye and THEN we'd need to find a place to crash. It all sounds like too much. I would rather spend one night somewhere between the Lake District and Glasgow so that we could get an earlier start on the West Highland Rail journey. Maybe we should stay in Glasgow, I don't know. Maybe there is some cool town on the rail line between Penrith and north of Glasgow. I'd like to find ourselves in Mallaig around 13:00 instead of close to 6 pm.

I thought about staying in Whitby one night, only because a friend of mine did. They took a bus to Scarborough and took a walking path back along the sea and amongst the sheep to Whitby. He loved it.

Thanks for any and all input!

bilboburgler

need to look at buses in the cotswalds. York going east is a bus called the blackprince if you want to get away from Hull you will need this

Hooameye

Where is this "Cotswalds", is it the same place as the Cotswolds??

Pilates

bilbo: Are you referring to Whitby/Scarborough? My friend told me that he took a bus to get there. He travels like we do, off the cuff.

Hooameye: Point taken. Terribly sorry. I will try to be more careful with my spelling.

Hooameye

Pilates,
Glad you took it in good heart, I see it spelt that way so often on this and other travel forums I used to wonder if there was a guidebook somewhere that had the incorrect spelling.

Regards.

azzure

Mmmm...this looks like my dream trip. Hope you keep us posted on your itinerary and write a trip report after.

Pilates

Homey, Thanks ;-)

Azzure, thanks for the encouragement! I think I will, considering that half the fun of writing a TR is re-living the trip. I anticipate a wonderful time!

sheila

It is a long journey from Penrith to Mallaig. basically, leave Penrith at 9.45. Arrive Mallaig at 17.43. Ferry leaves at 6pm (this is the bit I was surprised at. I thought there was a later one).

But that day is not pressed. You have a comfortable hour to get from Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queen Street.

If it were me, I'd spend the night in Arisaig. There's a train at 9.30 that gets into Mallaig just before 10 giving you plenty time to check in, then mooch round the very limited bit of Mallaig that is worth seeing before you get the 11am ferry to Skye.

I would mildly point out, that they opened a bridge to Kyle in 1995, so you won't be getting a ferry off the island.

Pilates

Sheila, Perfect. Thank you. That is exactly the type of information I was looking for. I can shift everything over one day by adding Arisaig. I like the idea of settling in for a meal and a good nights sleep before taking the much shorter journey to Skye.

Palenque had suggested Portree on Skye, which looked like a nice place to stay. Arriving early on Skye would give us a lot more time to poke around and decide where we want to stay. And oh yes, I do remember now seeing that bridge in Kyle of Lochalsh photos. We'll have to rely on the bus and that might limit us to only one night on Skye because Friday starts the bank holiday and I hear buses and taxis are hard to come by. We might find it difficult to cross over that bridge on Friday and therefore have to get to Kyle of L. by Thursday.

That still leaves me with two nights before we finish our trip in London. Anyone think Whitby is a good idea?

annhig

Whitby is a very atmospheric place - think fishing harbours and Dracula - but very touristy after Skye.

however, i think that you are shortchanging yourselves in some of your other destinations - you could happily add a day to all of them and not get bored, apart perhaps from Bath, Inverness and London. In particular, I would add your spare days to the cotswolds, Keswick, and Skye [that's a long way to go for 2 nights].

have a great trip,

regards, ann

Pilates

Hi Ann: Thank you. The way we travel, I can always leave the days open for us to "wing it". I would <i>like</i> to stay 3 nights in Skye, but as I wrote earlier, I don't know if the bus schedule will comply with our schedule because of the bank Holiday. In addition, would you happen to know if Skye a busy destination during the end of May bank holiday/school vacation week? I have us arriving on a Wednesday in Skye. The holiday starts two days later on Friday. We were warned to be OUT of the Lake District or Cornwall during this holiday, but I don't know if the same holds true for Portree for example. Thanks.

historytraveler

Where do you plan on staying in the Cotswolds? It's not particularly train friendly.I haven't looked at train schedules, but I assume you can get from the Cotswolds to Penrith without backtracking?

How do you expect to get around Skye? It's not a place where you can look around for somewhere to stay unless you do have a car. Skye without a car is awkward if not difficult. Again with your limited time schedule, I would not plan on using the local bus system, and I wouldn't necessarily expect a bus to be waiting for you when you arrive at Armadale. You'll certainly need to check bus schedules and make sure they align with your arrival time. Armadale is very small and you wouldn't want to be stranded there.Your best option would be to pre-book a taxi to take you to Portree, if that's where you decide to stay. They will also do a private tour around the island, hitting the usual tourist sites. It's more expensive but with so little time on Skye, it's the best way to go...really.

One more caveat, the shoulder season has recently become a popular time to travel, and you may find it more difficult than you think to get accommodation. It'll really depend on what month ( May and September are especially popular) you travel in and, of course, where you plan to stay.

I really don't think you have time for Whitby.

Pilates

hi ht: "Where do you plan on staying in the Cotswolds?". I haven't decided yet. Stow on the Wold perhaps via Moreton in Marsh. I can definitely see staying an extra night here to ensure plenty of time to see Blenheim.

"How do you expect to get around Skye?" I was hoping to use a bus to get us to Portree but your point about coordinating the bus schedule with the ferry is well taken. Even better, I would <i>really</i> love the idea of someone picking us up for a one or two hour tour before dropping us off at a B&B in Portree. That would be great! We took a few long distant trips with different private drivers/taxis when we went to Italy for a month which worked out really well. The same person could perhaps pick us up 3 days later and drive us to Kyle of L so we can catch our train to Inverness. I would imagine that I could ask a B&B proprietor if they could recommend someone to meet us in Armadale, unless you have a suggestion in finding a driver. My ears are open!!! Thank you.

historytraveler

I have a couple of taxi/private hire ( basically the same thing) options I can recommend. There is an excellent detour one can take from Armadale to Portree through Tarskavaig, Tokavaig and Ord which would give you a good introduction to Skye, the Sleat Penisula and a less touristy part of Skye. One of the best things about hiring a driver is that you can cover a lot more ground and they will also give tidbits on the local gossip as well as provide informative commentary that would otherwise be missed. A private hire will give you the best value especially with limited time in such a beautiful spot.

www.scotland-info.co.uk/skye-tours.htm

www.nicolsonhire.co.uk


You'll also enjoy train ride from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness. Scotland at its best.

Pilates

ht: Awesome! You are so kind. This would be such a wonderful arrangement. We will definitely hire someone to do this. Thank you for the suggestion and for the driver referrals.

Now it is revised to:

Bath- 3 nights
Cotswolds- 3 nights
Keswick- 3 nights
Ansaig- 1 night
Portree- 3 nights
Inverness- 1 night
Edinburgh- 3 nights
York- 2 nights
London- 5 nights

SWEET!!!

Pilates

Hi Sheila: I just re-read your post and read this important note that you wrote that I did not catch the first time, "But that day is not pressed. You have a comfortable hour to get from Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queen Street." THANK YOU for that! I did not realize that a change of stations was in order.

Thank you again for bringing that to my attention!! (I can see us now sitting idly by in GC while waiting for a train that would never come!)

historytraveler

Regarding the station change in Glasgow, if you are traveling light and it's not pouring down rain, you can walk from Glasgow Central to Queens Street Station. It's about a ten/fifteen minute walk at best, if you know where you're going. Otherwise take a taxi. You should have time for a coffee or snack. The snack area is right in front of the platforms so it's easy to sit and relax a bit while watching for the platform number of your train to come up on the boards.

Pilates

ht: Ok great, that is good information to have. Thank you. I'm taking an iphone so I am going to see if I can download a bunch of apps that don't require data for maps of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London.

flanneruk

I wouldn't be too precise abut your Bath/Cotswold split at this point.

There's no one central point for exploring the Cotswolds by public transport. Bath has a few buses to the SW Cotswold towns: the closest things to transport hubs in the NE are Chipping Campden, Moreton in Marsh and, at a pinch, Charlbury.

Plot out a vague route first: public transport options are at www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/?page=Transport. Activities, itineraries etc at www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk.

Rule No 1 in the Cotswolds: Less is more. Don't waste time discovering the hard way that once you've seen one thatched cottage, you've seen them all. Look at one or two towns, then get your boots on and look at the landscape on foot. Just follow the first footpath sign you see and keep walking. You're never more than a mile or two from a decent pub.

Pilates

Flanner: very good. Thank you for the advice and the links!

I just heard back from one of the B&B's in Portree. She is booked. Of course she only has 4 rooms. I have noticed that (according to Trip Advisor) there are 50 B&B's in Portree but most seem to have only a couple of rooms. It has been suggested that we check with the TI when we arrive. If we're able to secure a driver who will drop us off somewhere on Skye and then pick us up, we won't have to necessarily stay in Portree. It does look lovely though.