ahmedhaff

Thought I'd ask this one separately.

(My post on our itinerary is : http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35031563)

We have to drive down from Inverness to Manchester on August 1st. This seems like a 6 hour drive - I am thinking of leaving Inverness a day earlier and stopping for the night somewhere along the way. That way, we will have seen one more place, albeit for half a day, and have broken to drive into two managebale parts.

We wouldn't really like to be in city. The couple of options I have researched are:

St. Andrews
Ayr
Dumfries

Would love to hear your views and suggestions.

isplumm

Hi,

What about somewhere like the Lake District? It is about 90 miles north of Manchester. It is further south than Dumfries, but you get some excellent views & maybe get out & stretch your legs. Maybe the north end would be better - say Keswick or Ullswater? Do a cruise on Ullswater?

Mark

ahmedhaff

Thanks Mark - we will be going to the Lake District for 3 nights after Manchester. Hence, the search for a spot in Scotland. Perhaps even a Castle Hotel - am researching one in Stirling right now.

Maria_H

Stirling would be a good spot - the Lake District is only about an hour and a half from Manchester and you are going there later anyway. When we travel up to Scotland (from near Manchester) we usually aim on stopping somewhere just north of the line between Edinbugh and Scotland - usually at a cheap and cheerful travel inn. The trip from there to Manchester is a straight forward motorway drive.

isplumm

Ah - I did look at your schedule - didn't see Lakes in there.

Are you staying in Manchester at all? Cause if not you could stay in the Lakes the extra night & catch the train down - from Oxenholme (near Kendal) it is about 1.5 hours, from Carlisle 2 hrs.

Assume you are going to see a footy game, so you could get a cheap day return.

Mark

isplumm

Ok,

So I now have looked at your schedule - seems to be a lot of driving down to Manchester, then Alton Towers, then back to the Lakes, then down to London.

Anyway I suggest you look at stopping somewhere near Dumfries. If you look at a map, you will see that to the west of Dumfries is the Scottish coast. There are a number of small villages with nice harbours on that stretch of coast - so that might be an option?

I guess that from reading your other post, you are not able to change your schedule - it would be better to drive to the Lakes, stay for 3/4 nights - during that time catch train to Manchester for footy game, then do Alton Towers, then London.

With your schedule at the moment there will be a lot of driving on dull motorways.

Mark

alanRow

<<< it would be better to drive to the Lakes, stay for 3/4 nights - during that time catch train to Manchester for footy game, then do Alton Towers, then London. >>>

Exactly what I suggested when they posted the first time - saves them a days worth of driving

janisj

assuming you didn't like the train suggestion I made on your other thread -- St Andrews makes no sense at all. You'd have to do too much to-ing and fro-ing. Ayr would also be quite a detour and add a lot of drive time.

Dumfries makes a bit more sense. But the most logical stops would be Moffat, or near Carlisle and seeing Hadrian's Wall

isplumm

If you can not change your plans, what part of the Lakes are you staying in?

If it is the South - actually you mention Ambleside, so I suppose it is, then how about visiting somewhere like Sedbergh - this is a nice town on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales - but quite close to the M6 (main route from Carlisle to Manchester).

Of course like other posters, think you are loosing a lot of time by driving to Manchester, down to Alton Towers and back to Lakes. You are having to do the M6 bit past Preston & Manchester twice - one of the busiest bits of motorway in the UK!! You will get long delays!! I know because I regularly have to drive this route - a right pain.

Mark

ahmedhaff

Thanks everyone,

I would have to loved to base in Lake District and train to and from the footy match, but the match is at 8:00 PM, hence I thought it might be better to stay that night in Manchester.

I might train to Alton Towers and back (the hotel in Manchester is willing to extend parking for free) and then go to Ambleside. I will be buying a family railcard when we arrive in Manchester and see if I can get decently priced train tickets.

janisj - I did research the possibility of taking the train from Inverness to Manchester. trouble is that my car rental suddenly becomes a lot more expensive plus the cost of train tickets. Moreover, the train involves 2 to 3 changes - with kids an luggage, that seems like a challenge (guess who usually becomes the porter in these situations?)

I guess I am trying to strike a balance between having to zig-zag across motorways and the convenience of having a car at destination.

Anyway, I have narrowed this down to Stirling and Dumfries. I will research Moffat and Carlisle. The castle in Stirling seems nice enough (http://www.airthcastlehotel.com/), but will cost 215 pounds - seems like that's true of most such places. A B&B it will have to be. Any suggestions on B&Bs in Stirling or Dumfries?

wasleys

ahmedhaff,

Why not pop into Northumberland to Haltwhistle and see the Roman Wall, then head through the North Pennines via Alston back to M6?

Michael

caroline_edinburgh

First, I'd say driving Inverness-Manchester would take us more like 8 hours, not 6.

Since you are going to the Lakes after Manchester, I'd agree with the previous poster - avoid one of your proposed ?3/4 drives up & down the M6 and drive from Inverness to Manchester via the east coast - down to Edinburgh then the A1, stay the night in Northumberland, drive the next day to Manchester via the A1/M1/M62.

You could stay in a pretty coastal village, on Holy Island or in Durham - a city but very small and pretty.

caroline_edinburgh

P.S. Suggestion - go to the www.theaa.com & look at the route from Inverness to Old Trafford via Seahouses.

meks

If you are thinking about staying in the Dumfries area or looking for a castle to stay in then have a look at the website http://www.celticcastles.com/castles...mmodation.html it is about 15 minutes drive from Gretna Green and may suit your requirements.

wasleys

I wasn't suggesting going via the east coast (in fact I would advise against it) but by the direct route to the border near Carlisle and popping into Wall country from there.

ahmedhaff

Thanks all - we eventually decided on spending the night in Moffat. We are booked at the Annandale Arms. Seems like an alomsy midaway spot.

We leave tonight - excitement oozing out from everyone (we discovered that my 10 year old son had packed his entire cricket kit, naturally assuming that a visit to the Old Trafford and Lords is best executed in full regalia).

Cheers and thanks again everyone

sheila

Just in case you're reading this and haven't booked- try the Black Bull in Moffat.