Aussies on tour in Britain
 

Hi there,
Would appreciate any assistance on our trip to Britain June 2007. Hotels, B&B's etc..
Here is the plan for my husband and I.
Fly out of Melbourne end May stopover Singapore and into London. Catch a flight (Easyjet???) to Newcastle and we will be picked up by my cousin and onto Alnwick for approx 5 days. I have picked a few places to visit while up this end.

Now, this is where the fun begins. Hire a car (suggestions) travel across to the Lake District stop of at either Windermere/Grasmere onto Chester for the night (B&B or Hotel suggestion) next day onto Caernarvon castle, Betsw-Y-Coed,Llangollen and to Shrewsbury for the night (B&B or Hotel suggestion)onto Stratford upon Avon, Warwick Castle and down to Bath for the night (B&B or Hotel suggestion)next day check out Bath and onto, Glastonbury, Wells catherdral, Salisbury and onto London for 7 days staying either Copthorne Tara or Wetherby Place Apartment in Kensington.
We have selected things do while in London and of course during our trip down to London we will try and fit in what we can just wondering if the itinery can be done, or maybe it might be better to travel onto stratford for a couple of days?
Coming from Australia our dollar is terrible and we do need to watch our spending but do not want to be staying in a hovel either. Anyway appreciate any suggestions.

Regards Deb

"Catch a flight (Easyjet???) to Newcastle"

Unless you can now fly from Melbourne to Stansted it isn't a good idea as you need to allow several hours of transfer time plus it doesn't work out cheap.

Either book a flight from the airport you are arriving at in the UK or take the Tube to Kings Cross (takes about an hour) & take a train to Newcastle (3 hours).

If you book a few weeks ahead you should be able to get tickets for 10GBP each giving a total cost of 15GBP & a journey time of under 6 hours from touchdown

www.gner.co.uk

You do realise that it's an hour from Alnwick to Edinburgh BTW

Deb

As AlanRow says it would be very inconvenient to take Easyjet.

I would check the price to Newcastle from Melbourne, I've found in the past that its often the same price as London and then try to get the return leg from London.

An alternative route to Newcastle could be via Amsterdam with KLM/Malaysian Airlines but this would be via Kuala Lumpur. Once again on the return leg you could go London - Amsterdam - KL - Mel

Geordie

You can probably do the Chester-Caernarvon (thank you for spelling it properly, BTW) - Shrewsbury day, though you're not going to have much time to see much of Chester (though, apart from a tour round the walls, there isn't that much to see.) If you're going to Caernarvon via Betws-Y-Coed, do allow longer than the RAC site predicts for the journey, and make sure you leave Chester on time.

The day I think you'll struggle with most is the Bath-Glastonbury-London one, where you're doing a lot of driving on slow, speed-limited, roads and you're planning an awful lot of going into towns - an astonishingly time-consuming process in England

I'd say leave Glastonbury out, unless you have a very specific interest in Arthurian or Joseph of Arimathea legends (in which case leave Wells out, because Glastonbury's pleasures take quite a while to get round, and however nice Wells is, you've other cathedrals to see)

You'll kick yourselves if you only spend a day travelling through the Lake district and another day in Wales. Please plan to spend at least one night in each - you will see so much more. Windermere or Grasmere would make excellent choices, and in June you would easily find somewhere to stay when you got there. [and if it was raining, you could just keep driving!]
You wil never see Stratford, and Warwick in one day [unless you aren't planning on stopping at all]; personnly I would miss otu both [too touristy now] and from Shrewsbury, you could go via Malvern and Ludlow [both beautiful little towns] or through the Cotswolds [Stowe on the wold, Morton in the Marsh, Cirencester] to Bath, which is well worth at least one night. Again, if you don't book ahead you can stay where you like, and you'll be bound to find somewhere in June.
I agree that Glastonbury is not a "must-see", and you will want to spend as much time as possible in Wells and Salisbury.
You could get lists of Hotels and B&Bs in advance from tourist boards or over the 'net, which should give you an idea of cost.
Good luck!

I am not clear on how much time you have between Alnwick and London but it does seem a bit rushed. Also you will be very tired after that flight (I am Australian) and also remember the distances look short in UK but the driving time can be quite long comparatively. The Lake District is wonderful and worth several days at least - we stayed in Keswick and both those towns you mentioned are lovely - Grasmere a bit quieter perhaps. We loved Shrewsbury and have always wished we had stayed longer than 1 night there. Bath is one of my favourite places in UK with a lot to see. I would be tempted to pare down that schedule a bit - depending how long you have.

You've received lots of good info so far. Just a couple of add'l comments:

1) Definitely listen to everyone about getting to Newcastle.

2) The whole itinerary after Alnwick is a problem for me. You have long drives through terrific countryside w/ lots to see and enjoy, and a series of one-night stays. You aren't leaving enough time to actually visit/enjoy anyplace. (On some of those roads you will be lucky to average 35-40 mph - especially in the Lakes and North Wales.)

If it were me - I'd drop at LEAST one of the areas/stops, stay 2 nights in one place and have a bit more time to actually see things.

It would be hard to choose, but I personally would probably drop the Bath/Wells/Glastonbury leg. Bath is an easy day trip from London by train so you could still see it. Then you would have a least a tiny bit more time for the Lakes/N Wales.

I can't believe you are missing out cardiff and a chance to tour the famous rugby staduim? Stop over in Shrewbury! that surprised me better places to stay if you acn't get cardiff in SDouth Wales you should as the person abve suggested try a night nice part of Wales.

One thing I did forget to add is do you know what date in June 2007 yet.Glastobury festival will be on Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th June. It areally it is a no go in that area on the days up to and after. Thousands of people trying to get in an out. Just make sure you plan you trip with this in mind.

I have really stiired something up here! I will be flying with Singapore Airlines and was advised by my cousin to catch a flight to Newcastle, thats why I mentioned Easyjet (don't know of any other local airlines) I will be Ieaving Alnwick around the 7th June. I did know Edinburgh was an hour away but for some reason was advised to go into Heathrow? I think my itinery was inspired by my Trafalgar Tours trip taken 2 years ago (on the bus off the bus). I have been to most of the places that I have listed. But my husband has not been and I enjoyed that part of the country. I travelled by myself last time and was in London for a week travelling in and out. I just need to be a bit more attentive with the other half, not as adventurous as myself. Sad :-( But hopeful this will stir up the travelling juices and we can do alot more. Might have to go alone?? Many thanks for your suggestions and I guess I will revise it. We can spend only three weeks so thats why it was so tight. Keep up the chatter I love this site!

Deb

DO NOT EVEN THINK OF EASYJET. The train is better if you canot book thro to Newcastle. 1 day driving throu the lakes is a non starter especially as you intend to stay in chester, take a day trip to the lakes while in Alnwick then drive throu Yorkshire daLES to Chester and stay 1 night there and another night in north Wales.
Drop Shewsbury and go straight to Stratford for a 2 nights. While there you can do Warwick and the cotswolds.
Bath can be a day trip from london

I think I like a bit of everything there. Thanks again everyone. I think I need to move over there for a while, tooooooo much to see.

Deb

It's at least two hours from anywhere in Edinburgh to Alnwick, and on a bad day a lot longer.

So if we're starting off on the assumption that your cousin knows a bit more about getting to his own house from Heathrow than posters on this board, you need to fly to Newcastle from Heathrow. Which only BA fly.

It may not be too late to reroute to NCL via Amsterdam: changing at Singapore or KL, then at Schiphol, is infinitely easier and nicer than at Heathrow. But if it is, you really need to book that domestic flight NOW, since there aren't many and they can get astonishingly pricey.

If you're horrified at the price, the train is likely to be the only realistic alternative. But play with options at the National Rail website to try to get the best deal, and check on the operator's (GNER) own site for any possible web-only offers. And do this NOW too. Thinking about Glastonbury vs Keswick comes later.

I have received some pretty interesting info! I will speak to my cousin about how she travels to Alnwick although she did say she flys into Newcastle and gets picked from the airport. She flies to Oz on average twice a year and she is here at the moment, just tying her down is the hard bit. She is up in the Northern Territory at moment. I am looking at propping at a couple of places on our way to London and staying a couple of days at each and venturing out from there.
Thanks guys & girls I will chaeck out other mail to get ideas as well but the info in general is great abit like reading a book!

Deb

"t's at least two hours from anywhere in Edinburgh to Alnwick"

I must know a short cut then, it was 1h30m on Saturday, about 15 minutes longer when it's busy