LynneandRoddy

My husband and I with my adult daughter have planned this road trip. We are starting from Liverpool (after a wedding) and ending up in Manchester for our flight home. My husband will be 70 for this trip and hiking long distances isn't reasonable for him. I am younger and more athletic and our daughter is in her 30's. She plays the harp professionally and so going to Cardiff is something she is excited about. We have read about the Snowdonia train and think it will be beautiful.

Sunday and Monday July 29 and 30 travel from Liverpool to stay in Cold Ashton, seeing Stonehedge, Avebury, Bath , Cardiff... July 31 travel past Hay on Wye to mid-Wales to stay in the rustic Llanwddyn cabin, on the way to Snowdonia train Aug 1 and 2 travel northwest to stay in Caernfernon in the fancy Gatekeepers lodge on Plas Dinas Friday Aug 3, the last night I would like to stay in Llandudno, or stay in Llangolen which is closeby on the north coast on the way to Manchester.... Or should we just stay in Snowdonia one more day?

On the way to Cold Asthon should we take the M5 or should we go though the Malvern Hills district? And through the Wye Valley. Will there be enough time?

janisj

>>July 29 and 30 travel from Liverpool to stay in Cold Ashton, seeing Stonehedge, Avebury, Bath , Cardiff… Stonehenge > Avebury > Bath and back to Cold Ashton is about 3.5 hours car time w/o a single stop so squeezing in the three sites is EXTREMELY difficult.

>>On the way to Cold Asthon should we take the M5 or should we go though the Malvern Hills district?

texasbookworm

It sounds like way too much, leaving no time to actually see anything. Bath deserves a day; Stonehenge needs at least half a day. And that's just after you actually arrive.

Whatever tool/app you are using to calculate time driving, you'd better multiply by at least 1.5. At least.

Then you have to allow time to find the site, park, pay, walk or transport some way to it. Plus check in and out. And then there's food/meals.

Giving just a quick glance at your ideas, I'd say, since you have to start in Liverpool and end in Manchester, with so few days, you should drop all the England part and just do Wales.

texasbookworm

Ha, janisj and I were posting at the same time

janisj

Just great minds !

Another issue - driving and parking in Bath is problematic. It can get VERY congested and take a lot of time to get into the centre and park, then drive back out again. But if you use the recommended park & ride lots on the outskirts, that can also eat up a lot of time -- so you just aren't allowing ANY time for Bath really.

annhig

hi LynneandRoddy,

welcome to fodors. I hope that we can help you with your travel plans, but I fear that unless I've misunderstood, in this particular case it might be a little difficult for you to do every thing you've planned. Part of the reason for this seems to be that you have not factored in the time it's going to take to get from one place to another, which in the UK can be quite a long time especially in late July which is peak holiday time here.

I find it helpful to set out an itinerary day by day, i.e.

Sun 29/7 - leave Liverpool and drive to Cold Ashton [had to look that up, I'd never hear of it.] Depending on the route you take it'll take you between 3-4 hours, plus any stops and with no allowance for traffic.

Mon 30/7 - Either - Stonehenge and Avebury, OR Bath, OR Cardiff. Can't do them all, not least because Cardiff is in a different direction to the others.

Tues 31/7 - drive back to Mid- Wales [couldn't find Llanwddyn] via Hay on wye - 2 hours to Hay + whatever else to Llanwydden. Say 3 hours.

Wed 1/8 - Drive to Snowdonia [3 hours] and stay Gatekeepers lodge, Plas Dinas

Thurs 2/8 - Stay Snowdonia, get train to top of Snowdon

Fri 3/8 - drive to Llandudno [not sure where Llangolen is; Llangollen is south of Llandudno but is about an hour's drive from the airport so I can't see the point in moving there]

Sat 4/8 - Drive from Llandudno to Manchester airport - 1 ¼ hours drive. Fly home. [time of flight?]


Set out like this, the end of the trip works, the beginning not so much. Ideally you would spend the whole time in North Wales, rather than driving all the way to Cold Ashton [why there in particular?] just to leave there after two nights. But as you only have time for one day trip from there and if you have to go to Cardiff [not sure about the harp connection, TBH] why not just go and stay there? It would make a lot more sense than going to Cold Ashton.

Hope that helps!

annhig

looks as if we're all of the same mind.

LynneandRoddy

I am so glad you all have given more realistic expectations for our trip. Thank you all so much!! We will rethink.

annhig

that's a very sensible approach, LynneandRoddy. We're still here to help once you've revised your plans.

Rubicund

Just a quick comment on your Saturday 4th plan. Ann has your travel time at an hour and a quarter from Llandudno back to Manchester Airport and this can be optimistic depending on traffic. The coast road (A55) is very unpredictable and for much of it's length is two lanes in either direction and any disruption completely snarls up the road. Ordinarily it's a smooth trip, but you also need to be aware that this is one of the most speed monitored roads in the North. The North Wales Police have a zero tolerance policy to even a mile or two per hour over the speed limit, so take care.

I''d allow at least 2 hours for the journey to avoid worries about traffic either on the A55 or M56.

LancasterLad

I got breathalysed by the Heddlu driving through Rhyl @ 0845 in the morning in Rhyl a couple of years ago!