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Planning a self drive tour of the uk next april

Planning a self drive tour of the uk next april

Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 04:34 AM
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Planning a self drive tour of the uk next april

Hi I have read many comments through out various threads about how hard it is to travel around uk. We realise that we will not even scratch the surface of what there is to see and do, but following is our planned itinerary, bear in mind most of it will be spur of the moment decision of what to see and where to stay. But any tips on the absolute must see and do is more than encouraged
Arriving early easter Saturday at Heathrow, collecting a car and zig zagging our way to Cambridge for our first night
Day two working our way to York for next stop over, spending the majority of day three checking out the sights of York before heading off to Edinburgh for the next two nights
Next we are off to Inverness for our last scheduled booking, from here we are winging it!
Hope to go to Skye and take ferry to malig and make our way to fort William depending on how often we stop to take in the sights we may end spending two nights along the way before heading over to Belfast ( do we need to book ferry tickets in advance? As this will making spontaneous travel a bit tricky)
A night in the Belfast area then off along the ocean road towards the giant causeway and overnight around Londonderry
Next we will cut through to Dublin and one or two nights before taking ferry to Wales
Through the Snowden NP and Breacon on beacon NP an overnight stop somewhere then last day to Southampton via bath.
We dump the car and take a 7 day cruise to the Norwegian fjords, lastly we will spend four days and nights in London before heading back to oz
Hope to hear from those in the know what are some great places to see along the way, places to stay and places to eat
Cheers from down under
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 04:49 AM
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I applaud you for driving, but you aren't allowing long enough anywhere to actually see the places you've chosen as pitstops/bases unfortunately. I would knock Ireland on the head completely and concentrate on mainland UK if it were me. I would consider 2 nights the bare minimum anywhere to give myself one full day to explore the location - you can see a fair bit of Cambridge and York in a day (each) as they aren't huge. I you were thinking of venturing out of the cities to explore the surrounds then you'd need at least one full extra day (ie 3 nights) to do that.

You most allow more for bigger cities like Edinburgh and large rural areas like the highlands and islands though. I might also jettison Wales tbh. You could have a really fab trip going up the eastern side of England, seeing Edinburgh, a good stretch in the Highlands, and then maybe arranging to drop the car at either Edinburgh or Glasgow and flying down to Southampton to maximise time.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 04:55 AM
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Btw the weather could still be iffy up north in April, so an alternative would be to concentrate on the south of England eg Kent, Sussex, then maybe head down to the west country eg Devon and Cornwall via Oxford (would give you a historic university town en-route), and Bath. You might not make it to Wales but seeing a bit of the borders area ie Shropshire/Ludlow etc would be lovely too.

Tbh, I would be planning this (or the Scotland option) for May or June if I had the choice to get a better chance of warmer drier weather
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 06:13 AM
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Here's what you have as your tentative itinerary.

Cambridge - 1
York - 1
Edinburgh - 2
Inverness - 1
via Skye and the ferry to Fort William - 2, including possible en route stop

Belfast via ferry - 1
Londonderry - 1
Dublin/en route - 2

via ferry to 'Wales' (Fishguard?) - 1
via Bath to Southhampton - 1

pick up cruise.

First: sightseeing and cuisine choices are secondary to planning a smooth circuit of your route. Your main objective I would assume is to avoid missing your cruise departure. On that note, what concerns me is that you have a lot of 'moving parts' in this itinerary - not just stops, but rendezvous with ferries to and from Ireland. You will have to add check-in time for each and every ferry, and time to debark the ferry at each arrival point - and that's assuming conditions are ideal and there are no delays.

I would think really hard about being 'off island' as in off the mainland of Great Britain, with only 2 nights to cover the distance between departing Dublin and your arrival Southhampton. (Skye is a little different, in a pinch you take the causeway and not the ferry.) I'm a faster traveler than many on this board, and even I would say that is a very risky itinerary - we won't even get into whether it's comfortable, or how much time would you have to sightsee x or y.

Just on the basis of the math, and assuming ideal transit conditions, the commute from Dublin to Fishguard via ferry would be a very, very full day, with an overnight in or very near Fishguard - and that's if there are no hiccups. Then there'd be another very full day from Fishguard to Southhampton - forget Snowdonia, it's nowhere near your route, and forget the Brecon Beacons, you won't have time - those roads are not commuting roads. You might have an eyedropper amount of time in Bath, I don't know. But ideally I don't advise arriving in Southhampton after a long drive, the day before your departure, especially as you have to drop the car, establish the particulars of your cruise rendezvous point, etc. etc.. I'd give Southhampton 2 nights - you can always do a day trip to Portsmouth, if you are bored for things to do.

I'd rework your itinerary to use those 4 nights in Ireland to make a more relaxed return from Scotland to Southhampton. This could include picking up and dropping the car in York, and just taking the train to and from York and points further south.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 06:31 AM
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sample (believe me, this is aggressive.)

Arrive in London, overnight at airport. Daytrip into town if you feel up to it after long flight - 1
Fly to Edinburgh - 2
Rent car, 4 nights in Scotland terminating in Edinburgh on the 4th night, and drop the car - 4
Train to York - 2
Train to Cambridge - 2
Train to Southhampton - 2
Total 13 nights.

If you want to do Wales and Bath, forget Scotland.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 06:39 AM
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I agree, you are trying to do far too much in one go. I spent a week in Ireland in May taking the overnight ferry from Liverpool and after a night in Belfast travelled up the Causeway coast and then down the Atlantic coast via Galway and back to Belfast. This took us a week and we only scratched the surface. You are also throwing Scotland & Wales into the mix, not to mention Skye. I would leave out Skye for a start and maybe the Irish leg. From Inverness head south and maybe depending on the weather stay near Loch Lomond in Scotland and then perhaps in Ambleside in the Lake District for a couple of days. Another great area is the Cotswolds from where you can visit Stratford and Oxford. We have done all these places during different road trips over the years but not all in one go. You could leave out the Cotswolds and go straight to Oxford and then further south to Windsor & Reading(all on the beautiful Thames). There is a fast train from Reading to Southampton so that could be an option to leave the car. Windsor is a wonderful small town to visit but I would not suggest staying in Reading as it is much bigger and has not got the charm. I have probably confused you more but it is very difficult to advise this sort of thing. Good Luck!!
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 08:03 AM
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I'll make it short and sweet . . this itinerary is beyond insane.

In fact it is nearly impossible.

And you will see absolutely nothing except motorways and a few scenic points through the windscreen.

Sue_xx_yy laid it out clearly -- but not entirely accurately:

>>Cambridge - 1
York - 1
Edinburgh - 2
Inverness - 1
via Skye and the ferry to Fort William - 2, including possible en route stop
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 09:09 AM
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Be super careful while driving. I landed at Heathrow, picked up a car, and drove to Wales. Mistake. I'd come off a long flight and it was pouring rain. Was Dec. so little daylight. The other drivers on the motorway were going SO fast that it was truly dangerous. Found out that because the cameras don't work well in that kind of rain everyone drives beyond the speed limits. Scary.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 09:09 AM
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Btw the weather could still be iffy up north in April, so an alternative would be to concentrate on the south of England eg Kent, Sussex, then maybe head down to the west country eg Devon and Cornwall via Oxford (would give you a historic university town en-route), and Bath. You might not make it to Wales but seeing a bit of the borders area ie Shropshire/Ludlow etc would be lovely too>>

This.

I live in the UK and there is no way I would think of doing even half of this in a fortnight [what we call two weeks.]

Firstly, you don't want to be driving on the M25 from LHR to Cambridge when you have just got off an overnight flight. You have no idea what the traffic will be like, how you will be affected by jet lag, how you will manage driving on the "wrong" side of the road, etc. Rather i would get the bus from LHR to Oxford [just as good as Cambridge if you want to see colleges] and stay there for at least 2 nights. Then pick up a car and tour the Cotswolds, working your way west possibly staying in Bristol [a great and sadly neglected city] and then heading either to Wales for a few days, or down to Devon/Cornwall.

Finally head back to Southampton via Bath and/or Lyme Regis or Winchester and the New Forest depending on the time you've got left and your interests.

Normally with just two of you, you could probably "wing" it on this sort of itinerary but you will be travelling during the school hols for the first week of the trip; after that B&Bs should be easy to find, but I would think about booking for the first week.

If you would like some more detailed ideas about how to organise this sort of itinerary, just ask!
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 09:58 AM
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"It actually is a couple of sleep deprived hours in Cambridge (driving to Cambridge after an overnight flight is foolhardy)"

+1 to that.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 10:04 AM
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"Cheers from down under"

"how you will manage driving on the "wrong" side of the road, etc."

Assume that they're used to driving on the "right" side of the road if they're from "down under".
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 10:12 AM
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I'll make it short and sweet . . this itinerary is beyond insane.

In fact it is nearly impossible.


The good news is that they probably won't get past day 1 as they'll be in jail or hospital (or both) having had an accident whilst seriously jetlagged
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 11:21 AM
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>

ok, hooameye, I missed that but the rest still applies.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 12:59 PM
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I missed that OZ bit as well. Now I at least understand the plan (doesn't make it better -- I just understand it more)

Texans, Californians, anyone from western Canada, and Aussies are all used to driving 100 miles for a nice lunch or 250 miles for an overnight. There ain't that sort of roads in the places you are traveling.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 03:53 PM
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I have no idea these days, it's been a while since I drove in either Ireland or N. Ireland. But at the time one couldn't cross into the Republic from NI. I realize that may have gone by the wayside.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 03:55 PM
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"...one couldn't cross into the Republic from NI."

...in a hired car.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 04:03 PM
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That isn't an problem -- everything else on this itinerary is, but not driving cross-border.

Dropping a UK car in the Republic, if allowed by the specific agency, would come with really hefty drop off fees, but that isn't the OP's plan.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 05:12 PM
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We drove a hired car through the Republic and NI in 2007 and 2010 and there was no problem.
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Old Oct 24th, 2016, 01:56 AM
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Thanks for everyone's input, this is exactly why I posted to gauge options if people in the know. I had already considered not going to Ireland for exactly the reason mentioned above, wasting precious time on ferries. I have already booked our first five. Ugh ts as I realised it was easter school holidays.
We arrived super early in the morning and chose Cambridge as first port of call as it would not be too far out of London if we were tired after long haul flight.
And yes we are from oz and travelling long distance for a cuppa is the norm.
So thanks again for everyone's ideas of places to go. Now back to the drawing board. Thanks from down u der
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Old Oct 24th, 2016, 01:57 AM
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Sorry for spelling mistakes typing on iPad on the move not great
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