Itinerary help...northern England & Edinburgh
 

It's time for the Texas Trio to plan our return to England. You may have read my trip report from 2016 of our first trip to England. Now for part two, we will be visiting northern England plus Edinburgh. The trip will commence in the summer of 2019. I would like your opinion of our itinerary.

Friday June 28 - Arrive in Edinburgh; drop off luggage at b&b; explore
Saturday June 29 - Edinburgh
Sunday June 30 - Last day in Edinburgh
Monday July 1 - Drive to Holy Island of Lindisfarne, explore; make our way to the Carraw B&B in Hexham
Tuesday July 2 - Hadrian's Wall
Wednesday July 3 - Hadrian's Wall; at the end of the day, travel to York to our B&B
Thursday July 4 - York
Friday July 5 - York
Saturday July 6 - Chester
Sunday July 7 - Liverpool for Beatles tour
Monday July 8 - Fly home

Changes, critiques, opinions...all are welcome. Thanks!

My own view is that the Northumberland coast merits more time - not just Lindisfarne but also Bamburgh and Alnwick. And I would include Durham in a heartbeat and do a Hadrian's Wall day trip from there.

Map - https://goo.gl/maps/aQB3oefBGVn

Schedule (overnight locations listed) -

28-Jun Edinburgh
29-Jun Edinburgh
30-Jun Edinburgh
1-Jul Bamburgh via Lindisfarne
2-Jul Durham via Alnwick and Housteads Fort
3-Jul Durham - day trip to Hadrian's Wall
4-Jul York via Fountains Abbey
5-Jul York
6-Jul Chester
7-Jul Liverpool
8-Jul Depart from Manchester airport

Bamburgh -

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...13d2205baf.jpg

Alnwick -

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0c29a63f80.png

Durham -

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b54d2c8cc4.jpg

Is flying home from Liverpool (or Manchester) a must? Have you booked your flights? If not, I'd probably do a R-T in/out of EDI and not travel farther south than (possibly) Durham. Your plans between July 4 and 8 are very rushed and you'd have no time for the Dales or even Chester really. There is a LOT to see in the Borders and Northumberland.

Something like 2 or 3 nights in Edinburgh, at least one night in the Borders, two would be better (for just the Border Abbeys if nothing else, but lots more, especially places like Traquair House), one night on Lindesfarne,

So:

28-Jun Edinburgh
29-Jun Edinburgh
30-Jun Edinburgh
1-Jul Borders - somewhere near Melrose or Kelso
2-Jul Borders - somewhere near Melrose or Kelso
3-Jul Lindesfarne
4-Jul Northumberland -- Bamburgh or Alnwick
5-Jul Northumberland -- Bamburgh or Alnwick
6-Jul Hexham or somewhere else along Hadrian's Wall
7-Jul Somewhere in the western Borders area (Moffat or Biggar or Peebles)
8-Jul Depart from EDI airport

Of course -- if you have already booked none of this is relevant. But I just think you are cutting every thing too short.

Thanks Gardyloo and janisj!

No, we haven't booked anything. It's not a must to fly home from Manchester but we want to see York. Possibly, we can skip Chester and Liverpool. I just looked up Traquair House...wow, that's awesome!

Should we skip Edinburgh and do northern England & York? I need to rethink our itinerary.

Should we do Edinburgh and northern England skipping York, Chester, and Liverpool?

>>I just looked up Traquair House...wow, that's awesome!<<

You can even stay there -- and IMO very reasonably priced for the experience.

>>Should we do Edinburgh and northern England skipping York, Chester, and Liverpool?<<

A couple of things to think about: 1) Are you limited to 11 days on the ground? If you can extend it to 14-ish days on the ground you could easily include Edinburgh, the Borders, Northumberland, York, a bit of the Dales, and fly of of MAN (still omitting Chester/Liverpool)

2) What are the chances you will travel to the UK again in the future? Because Chester, Liverpool, North Wales, the Peak District and/or Lake District would make a good 10-ish day trip.

The obvious point to make is that Lindisfarne is an island and is connected to the mainland by a causeway which is covered for roughly half the day by sea. So you need to check if the tide times will allow you to visit - and get off - safely

Agree that you should stay east for this trip. Also recommend Durham, from which you could visit Whitby and Robin's Hood Bay. Unless you are hiking you only need one day for Hadrian's Wall.

I do recommend staying one night ON the island. The day trippers will be gone and the island is a pretty unique experience. Getting on and off is really not a problem since the causeway open/closed times are listed well in advance -- very easy to plan ahead. Northumberland County Council

You can’t go wrong with anything that is being suggested. Northumbria is beautiful, Bamburgh beach rips strips off Grace Bay as one of the best beaches in the world.

We have stayed here

ladythorne

and

Budle Hall B&B | Bamburgh Bed and Breakfast Accommodation | Northumberland Coast

both have classical English c18th architecture, family run and a really warm welcome.

I would defintely skip Chester and Liverpool unless you want to do the Beatles thing. I’d also skip York in summer, it’s a zoo, unless that isn’t an issue.

I’m sure Singapores airline still fly Houston to Manchester direct , if that helps ? Best airline in the world. Be aware that the roads north of Newcastle are usually fairly quiet. The A1, M62 around Leeds, M62 near Manchester and the M60 around Manchester can at times be diabolical. Just build possible delays into your travel times and check travel updates on the days of travel.

Last year I picked my parents up from Manchester airport, a 40 mile journey for me, they were returning from Dubai. My 40 mile trip took longer than their flight from Dubai on a Monday morning!

We were just in Northumberland and Scotland this summer. I also would recommend Bamburgh, Alnwick, Warkworth or a walk to Dunstanburgh over Lindisfarne.

Rather than Hexham, stay in Corbridge, just a few miles east. Corbridge is smaller and more charming, and still very close to the wall. We stayed in Corbridge for 5 nights and did day trips to the Lake District, the castles I mentioned and also Prudhoe castle, about 15 min from Corbridge, and Newcastle. (We have visited the Roman Wall many times and wound up doing other things this trip). We drove down from Edinburgh and visited Dryburgh and Jedburgh Abbeys - not enough time for Melrose this trip. If you drive from Edinburgh south I would highly recommend a lunch stop in Jedburgh at the Caddy Mann - it is fabulous.

I would not miss York.

We went to York in late June 2016 and did not feel like it was a zoo. We wished we had stayed longer. Edinburgh Royal Mile however felt like a zoo.

Some of that has to do with day of week. We toured York on a Friday and noticed the Royal Mile crush on a Sunday.

>>We went to York in late June 2016 and did not feel like it was a zoo. We wished we had stayed longer. Edinburgh Royal Mile however felt like a zoo. <<

June is not high season really. I am surprised Edinburgh was that busy. Well, it is always busy, but not zoo-like crowds like later in summer. Neither York or Edinburgh should be chockblock until later. British schools don't let out until about the third week of July, which is another reason it is better to visit in early summer if possible.

I was a bit surprised, too, Janis. I expected it more in London.

We went to the Castle first. We didn't wait long to get tickets, and did the tour and ate lunch there. When we left, it was quite crowded. As in, the sidewalks were quite full, it was hard to get through. Later it rained, and that cleared them out a bit as everyone ran into shops. We did see St. Giles, but We all just found it a bit wearing. No one wanted to walk to the other end of the Royal Mile. We took the bus back and were done there.We all were glad we stayed up in Leith. It's a nice area and much more mellow.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions! I’m on vacation in Colorado so that’s why it’s taken so long to reply. When I get home, I will read the replies more thoroughly and work on our itinerary. Thanks again!