Cornwall, Scotland and London possible in one trip?
 

My husband and I are taking our first (and maybe last) trip to the UK this summer. The focus will be attending the British Open at Troon, and we plan to stay in Ayr for one week (Saturday to Saturday) with another couple to attend the Open on two days (Tuesday and Friday), with day trips to St. Andrews, Edinburgh and other area sights. My challenge is that I have always wanted to visit Cornwall as well, so am trying to do both somehow, as well as at least a couple of days in London. The only other hopefully must-see is a stop in York. Other than the week in Ayr, I am hoping to manage it without renting a car.

I can figure an itinerary that sort of works, but I can't seem to get it under 16 days, which feels like a lot. 14 would be better. One question is whether weekend travel in and out of London is as taxing as it is here in the States (I live in the Seattle area). For instance, one option would be to go from Ayr to York on Saturday, spend Saturday night in York, and return to London on Sunday, but I didn't know if heading back in to the City on a Sunday afternoon is madness or not. Also, would I need advance booking on a train seat for a Sunday York to London trip? Kind of a flip alternative would be to leave London on the previous Friday (on the way to our week in Ayr), and try to do a stopover in York, but I didn't know if everything would be insanely full trying to leave the City on a Friday.

Finally, for Cornwall, is it crazy to try to do it without a car? We are thinking to stay in St. Ives, which looks so beautiful, for two or three days, and while there somehow get to Penzance, Mousehole and Lands End. It looks like there are ways to do that without a car. But, perhaps it would be better to stay in Penzance (closer to the other two) with a trip to St. Ives. Other than seeing the beauty of the area somehow, we just want to relax, enjoy the seashore, do some walking (and maybe cycling?) and soak up some Cornishness. Since it is a fair train ride from London (6 hours? Paddington to Penzance?) I was thinking we would want/need three nights in Cornwall in order to have two full days. Thoughts?

I appreciate any and all suggestions!

There's nothing particularly taxing about travelling at weekends (except Bank Holidays) providing you have your transport sorted. The Open takes place at peak holiday time so accommodation and transport will be at a premium. It's not compulsory to buy train tickets in advance but you should, simply to save money.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Your challenge is travelling between four geographically dispersed regions as efficiently as possible. Thinking outside the box to fit everything in, you could:

fly into Manchester, train to York;
train to Ayr;
fly from Edinburgh to Newquay and pick up a hire car.
Fly from Newquay to London, and then home.

or

fly into Glasgow or Edinburgh;
train to Ayr;
train to York
fly from Manchester to Newquay and pick up a hire car.
Fly from Newquay to London, then home.

http://www.flybe.com/

>>with day trips to St. Andrews, Edinburgh and other area sights.<<

Troon to St Andrews is a difficult day trip. It is more than 100 miles and more than 3 hours each way if you hit any sort of traffic at all.

Troon to Edinburgh is easier (but difficult by car because of the driving in the city centre/parking issues). By train it will take a little over 2 hours w/ a change at Glasgow.

If you want to limit your trip to 14 days (including your travel days) and have a full week in Ayr you are down to 4 or 5 days for London, York and Cornwall. Just not feasible because of the long distances. If you can increase to 16 days it is still awfully rushed. 16 days minus 2.5 days traveling to/from the UK, minus a full day traveling from anywhere in Cornwall to Scotland, and two other half days to York and to London -- you are netting 11.5 days -- 6.5 are in Ayr.

If you want to include Cornwall (using sofarsogood's travel options) I definitely increase the trip to 3 full weeks.

OR - do JUST Cornwall and Scotland and skip London and York.

Have you thought of using the Night Riviera sleeper from London to St Erth with connecting local train to St Ives?

This is not only time-effective, and saves a hotel bill, it's a unique experience too. See www.seat61.com/Cornwall-sleeper.htm for details, including photos & a video.

You can book it at www.gwr.com

weekend trains, everyone just books the train seat, there are always parts of the trains where there are no reservations, it just might be a bit uncomfortable and so reservations are the answer.

If it were me, I'd do Cornwall by car no matter what. You can use buses and trains and last year we helped a fodorite who wanted to stay out of cars and tours and found all the best bits for her. The tool was http://www.traveline.info/ which joins up all the public transport bits except for aircraft.

I've taken the train from Edinburgh to Plymouth (change in Birmingham) and it's far from onerous, takes about 8 hours. There's similar timing from Glasgow, which would be more convenient from Ayrshire.

But that said, and some might think it rather daft, I see no reason not to drive. You could go from Ayr to York in around four hours, spend the afternoon and evening and part of the next morning (enough time to see the Minster and walk the Shambles) then drive to, say, Exeter (around five hours) which puts you on the threshold of Cornwall. Toodle around Devon and Cornwall for three or four days, drop the car at, say, Plymouth, and train to London, 3 or 3 1/2 hours, done.

Scotland, - 7 nights, York 1, Travel 1, Devon/Cornwall 3, London 2, total 14. More nights would be better, but it's doable. Personally I'd cut out York and use that day for someplace less inundated with tourists, such as picturesque Hereford, which is on a more direct route from Ayrshire.

The car would allow you to visit and stay in smaller villages, hence cheaper lodgings, would be far easier logistically, and probably cost less than the cumulative train fares.

You an actually do Edinburgh-Plymouth without changing at Birmingham.

That full week in Ayr (I assume you're renting a house or apartment) makes the whole plan dicey. Edinburgh and particularly St. Andrews are at a distance from Ayr. Edinburgh would take 4+ hours driving (total) plus the time to find parking and get to the city center. Drive time to St. Andrews is 5 hours, too long for my taste.

If, instead, you flew in to Edinburgh, spent some time there, with a day trip to St. Andrews, then moved south, it's all easier.

But I suspect the rental and the golf tickets are fixed in stone.

Well, it's time to decide what's really important and skip other attractive detours. Hopefully you'll enjoy this trip so much, you'll want to come back and see all those places you had to cut from your itinerary.

Wow, thank you so much for all the input, that is exactly what I was looking for. I agree that the week in Ayr is the sticking point, and I have come back to that more than once as being the problem. But, you are correct that that part is in stone. The only good thing is that the rental there is fairly inexpensive, so if we went someplace else midweek (St. Andrews or Edinburgh) and even spent the night, it's still not bad.

I will investigate all your suggestions and again thank you so much. There is no doubt that I will want to return (I have wanted to since I studied abroad in 1982!) but, time and finances being what they are...you know how it goes. Thanks again, any and all additional tips accepted gratefully.

My daughter, sister, and I did a three-week trip to London, York, Edinburgh, and Penzance in 2014. If you are at all interested in reading my trip report, do a search for it here. It is titled Five-Star Trip on a Three-Star Budget.

here it is http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...tar-budget.cfm

Ayr to York by car is a Google Map time, the real human time will be between in the area of 6 hours and will vary a lot.