RM67

Hi OP - I only suggested dropping the car off and getting the train back via Glasgow as many visitors seem to be slightly anxious about driving long distances - however, if you are happy to, hanging onto the car and driving down to the lakes from the Skye area is the easiest option by far. Take a couple of breaks en-route, maybe with a good lunch somewhere pcituresque and all will be fine.

RM67

Hi OP - I only suggested dropping the car off and getting the train back via Glasgow as many visitors seem to be slightly anxious about driving long distances - however, if you are happy to, hanging onto the car and driving down to the lakes from the Skye area is the easiest option by far. Take a couple of breaks en-route, maybe with a good lunch somewhere picturesque and all will be fine.

janisj

>>June 3rd/4th - have seen windsor earlier - is it feasible to do bath instead? then i can probably drop the car off in bath and train to London on the 4th<<

Bath is out of the way but certainly doable. If you do drive from say York to Bath on the 3rd . . . It will be a 5 - 6 hour drive but almost all motorway so not difficult. You could drop the car in Bath and take the express coach straight to Heathrow - what time is your flight out?

diptiraman

1:30 pm on the 5th

PalenQ

a nice easy day trip from the Lakes District by car is to go to Hadrian's Wall - or even could possibly stop by parts of the wall en route to the Lakes District - shoot over east a bit from Carlisle.

PalenQ

and if I cant, then I have to decide which one of the three to drop - Inverness / Lake Dist / York>

Many here have been underwhelmed by Inverness itself - to me an ordinary Scottish town - nice enough but no reason to make a special trip for just it unless you have some places in its vicinity to visit.

diptiraman

thanks palenQ. So should i make keswick my base for all 2-3 days i am in the area? - or kewsick 1/2 nights, then windermere?


hope to get in at least one good walking trail in the area - maybe a half-day one if possible - what is a good one to pick?

janisj

>>1:30 pm on the 5th<<

Heck, w/ a 1:30 PM flight you can easily take the Express coach in from Bath. The bus only takes a little over 2 hours There is a coach at 06:00 and one at 08:15. The 0815 should be fine.

>>hope to get in at least one good walking trail in the area - maybe a half-day one if possible - what is a good one to pick?<<

There are MANY -- <i>all over</i> the Lakes. What I'd do is first find your accommodations. Then we can help you w/ walks in the area.

diptiraman

great - that is a lot of progress.

let me do some work with regards to finding out about acco / car hire etc - then maybe i can come back to this thread for some more help fine-tuning each leg

thanks a lot - all of you

PalenQ

thanks palenQ. So should i make keswick my base for all 2-3 days i am in the area? - or kewsick 1/2 nights, then windermere?>

I based in Windermere because the train took me there but I like as a town Keswick a lot more and it seemed more centrally located and relocating is a pain - I'd stay in Keswick or other town that is centrally located but if you have a car it should not make much different those roads in this area can be rather slow-going at times IME of taking buses around.

diptiraman

>>So nights of the 24th in Glencoe, 25th/26th/27th on Skye.

28th somewhere in Ayrshire. 29th/30th in the Lakes<<

janisj - why do you suggest breaking the drive ar Ayr instead of glasgow? isnt glasgow on the direct route?

PalenQ

maybe a half-day one if possible - what is a good one to pick?<<

Well here is one really sweet one I did from Windermere:

Walk down to Bowness part of town, on Lake Windermere and take the antique chain ferry (pulled across the lake by a chain) and then follow the foot path up thru the woods to Hill Top, Beatrice Potter's House - that is the direct way and is about 2-3 miles or so but you can take one of the most popular and gorgeous walks in the Lake District - a circular walk after the chain ferry and wind around to Hill Top and Beatrice Potter's farmhouse and centre open to the public.

You can take a bus from there to Conniston Water, where some world-record water speed boat records have been set and return to windermere or keswikc by bus.

http://where2walk.co.uk/lake_distric...otter-country/

PalenQ

https://www.walklakes.co.uk/

Good site on walks from any town or village or hamlet

I was going to recommend the old railway trail east from Keswick - a lovely walk thru bucolic countryside with country pubs strategically located along the way! But they say the terrible storm of Dec 2105 has washed out one of the old railway viaducts and there is no way around it

well those were two walks I loved and there are many - all great IME.

Mimar

Another option for overnighting before your flight home is Oxford, a little closer to the airport.

It's complicated to drive into Glasgow and out again en route south; it will take more time than stopping in a small town.

janis recommended Ayrshire, not the town of Ayr, which would be out of your way. When I had this question, several people suggested stopping in Moffat. We broke up the drive with a night in Moffat, but you could just get a meal and rest a bit.

janisj

>>janisj - why do you suggest breaking the drive ar Ayr instead of glasgow? isnt glasgow on the direct route?<<


Driving IN Glasgow is a bear. It is a great city, but just driving in and out again the next morning doesn't make sense IMO. A lot of hassle for not much 'bang'.

I suggested Ayrshire so you could tick off yet another scenic area. Robert Burns sites, Culzean etc etc. if you break what could be one long day's drive, you can afford to take a little detour.

Culzean (pronounced sort of Culaine) http://www.stevensons-scotland.com/i...4/culzean1.jpg

Crossraguel abbey http://www.relevantsearchscotland.co...guel-Abbey.JPG

janisj

Oh -- didn't notice mimar's post. Moffat would make a good stop too. Less scenic but very convenient.

diptiraman

thanks - sorry for the break - i was offline for a couple of days

good sites on the lake district walks - thanks for the suggestions palenQ - cant wait

coming back to scotland - i now have

21 - land edinburgh
23 - edinburg-glencoe - spend night there
24 - drive to skye, spend nights of 24, 25, 26
27 - drive to ayrshire/moffat and spend night
28 - drive to keswick

Now - while moffat or ayrshire to kewsick seems like a really easy and short drive, the drive on the 27th from skye to moffat/ayrshire is about 280 miles / 6 hours. Is there any way to ease this? either a place to stop which is more of a midway point between skye and keswick? Os is this an easy drive in spite of being a long one and can be easily done

While i await inputs on this, will work now on the england half of the trip from 28th till the 5th

i am amazed at how insightful and helpful the tips on this forum are - thanks a million

Mimar

You can stop somewhere along Loch Lomond, maybe Luss or Balloch. This divides the drive about in half.

janisj

>> drive on the 27th from skye to moffat/ayrshire is about 280 miles / 6 hours. Is there any way to ease this? <<

As mimar says - Luss/Balloch/Alexandria would be good. That would shorten the drive on the 27th by about 90 minutes. Me personally -- I'd press on, but then I've stayed along Loch Lomond several times.

For a 'noob', staying along the Loch would be a good option.

diptiraman

perfect! - will now do the bookings for glencoe / skye / loch before moving on to england

any suggestions for stay are welcome

in Skye - should i just make portree as a base? - any specific areas i should be looking out for? - I normally like to park for the night around where the restaurants/ pubs etc are - so that dinner and beyond is not a drive away, only a walk

same question above for york - is it a city where one can drive into / park at a central hotel and then walk / bus around all the sights?


janisj - what is 'noob'? -