touring UK by car
 

I am in the very early stages of planning a summer trip to UK (10 - 14 days). Would like some info. on touring by car. Beginning in London (stay for a few days). Rent car and travel to Wales, then would like to go to the Scottish Highlands, but don't know how feasible that is by car - given the roads and the terrain.

Any info would be appreciated.

The roads and terrain are just fine - what your problem is a lack of time.

Driving in Wales and highland Scotland are easy as pie - no traffic to speak of. If your trip ends up only 10 days and you want to spend even just 4 or 5 days in London you would only have 5+ days to drive through two add'l countries.

So let's start w/ the max -- 14 days. Have you been to London before? if so you know how long will be enough for you. If not, you probably need to spend a minimum of 5 days in London just to see some of the major sites.

Then I'd take the train or fly up to Edinburgh and spend one day/night there. then pick up a car and head NW into the Highlands for about 3-4 days -- I'm not going into detailed routings because you need to tell us what sorts of things you like to do/see.

Then head south into Wales w/ probably an ovenight stop enroute somewhere in the Lake District. 3 or 4 days in the Lake Dist/Wales and back to whichever london airport, drop the car and fly home.

This is a way to see a bit of all in a short time. The train or plane up to Scotland will be a huge time/stress saver. And you could do the whole thing in reverse order -- London > Wales > Lake Dist > Highlands > Edinburgh, then fly back to London to fly home.

Thanks! I have been to London before, so am more interested in the Scotland/Wales part of the trip. The suggestion to fly or take train to Edinburgh is one I hadn't thought of, and will definitely save time.

OK - How important is visiting London? Do you have some sites you definitely want to see or is it just a stopping off place enroute to Scotland/Wales?

I'm not trying to talk you out of London (I go there a couple of times a year) but if you weren't really going to do much there I have a slightly different suggestion. Fly into either LGW or LHR and immediately fly up to Edinburgh. Stay a night or two there. Then head out on your highland itinerary, then south to Wales. This would give you a lot more time to explore.

But if you do want some time in London, drive back to LHR from Wales, drop the car and take the train or tube into London for a day or two before flying home.

emt. in March 03 we flew from Boston to Glasgow, did some of Scotland, drove south, stayed in the Lake district for a couple of nights before heading for a few nights in North Wales, then to Oxford for two nights before taking the bus into London for 6 nights. Total time was 14 days.

Except for the nights in North Wales these were all repeat visits.

The trip south is easy because you travel mostly on the motorways.

I prefer to visit London last because if push came to shove I'd rather sacrifice time in London.

bmibaby (www.bmibaby.com) does cheap flights between Cardiff and Edinburgh.

I did something very similar to what you are planning. The travelogue (including route and pics) is here:

http://members.fortunecity.com/green...landwales.html

We rented a car from London, went up to Nottingham, Whitby, Edinburgh, Inverness, Skye, Oban, Glasgow, Carlysle, Caernarvon, Shrewsbury, Bath, and back to London in two weeks.

It was on the hectic side, for certain. We usually drove 2-4 hours each morning and stayed at a different B&B each night. While it was fun and exhilerating, I wouldn't do it if I could plan over again. We missed too much by driving when we should have been enjoying.

Hi.

I agree that a better option is to take a train north and rent your car there. (This will also avoid the need to drive out of London while getting the hang of "left" driving.)

The scenery in Scotland and Wales is spectacular. The back roads are narrow (frequently single lane) but they have areas to pull over when passing an oncoming car. The more important highways are superb and fast but they, too, are very narrow with unforgiving stone walls lining most of them.

The major highways are excellent; broad and fast. We frequently traveled at 90 mph just to keep up. Exhilerating!

BTW: Learning to drive on the left is a snap as long as you are not in a big city. You'll get the hang of it in an hour or two. BUT...I strongly recommend shelling out the extra cash for an automatic transmission.

Finally, it was a special treat for us to discover Beddgelert in Wales. As lovely a spot as you find in your travels. Book a room at The Royal Goat Hotel. They have a web site; check it out.

B.V.

You're welcome.

Please, may I be yet another person to warn about speeding. Not only do I not want to be the person you collide with at 90 mph on the wrong side of the road, but there's a good chance you'll get caught. There are speed cameras everywhere. Leaving the country won't help because the fine will be taken from your credit card.

Oldie, please re-read my message. We traveled at 90 "to keep up". Going slower would have been the greater danger. Further, this was on one of the major express roads. Being in the "wrong" lane would be virtually impossible.

I know you meant well.

Don't let Pilchard scare you off. DO NOT "travel at 90 to keep up" -- despite what anyone says! On any motorway where folks are traveling at 90 mph - YOU SHOULD BE NO WHERE NEAR THE FAST LANE. Leave it to the speed demons -- it is supposed to be used only by those overtaking (passing) but many drivers just put it in 5th gear and tear along. but in the offside (slow), amd middle lanes no one will be going 90. And there are speed cameras all over the country.

And if you are not on a motorway, going 90 will definitely nab you a speeding ticket because that is where most cameras are set up. Just drive at the speed you are comfortable - if it is too slow for those behind you they will overtake at the first opportunity.

I agree with a previous poster who advises that you fly to Scotland and pick up a car and then fly to Wales and pick up another car. Also agree that Bmibaby (Bmibaby.co.uk) have excellent midweek fares from Edinburgh or Prestwick to Cardiff.
One note of caution is that even though the roads in rural Wales may be quiet, the M4 in the South and A55 in the North (being the main arteries) are horrendous with the M4 section between Newport and Cardiff anongst the most congested in the UK. They are planning a toll road in the future to ease the traffic around Newport, but that's a few years off.
I also realise Pilchard's point about keeping up at 90mph (although if you want to go slower, just get in the slow lane!). Watch out for white vans parked on motorway bridges as they usually contain speed cameras. Also North Wales Chief Constable (Richard Brunstrom) is the most over zealous speed finer in the UK. He fines motorists for doing 1mph over the limit (including his daughter) - yet only 1 in 16 of his burglaries are solved.

The idea of flying from Scotland to Wales and renting two different cars is certainly something to consider.

But you will probably end up paying a good deal more for the cars. Cars are much cheaper for rentals of one week or more. If you end up w/ say a car for five days in Scotland and another one for 3 or 4 days in Wales you'll could pay almost twice as much as for one 10 or 11 day rental.

And if you want to see north Wales - the drive from Cardiff up to the N. coast is almost as far as from southern Scotland.

You would save a little time but it would cost you . . . . .

Thanks to everyone of all the input. In doing some further research, I am afraid of trying to do too much in too short a time. If we could only visit ONE spot (in addition to a few days in London) - would it be Scotland or Wales (and surrounding areas - Bath, Cotswolds, etc).

What do you think????

FYI - we are two female school teachers, in our 40's - not into hiking, but do like history and unique shops/restaurants, and general exploring around.

Thanks a lot.

OK - to preface this -- I do LOVE Wales -- especially the castles and scenery of northern Wales and the beaches on teh west coast.

But I think you'd find a lot more to see/do in Scotland. (BTW - I agree that you would be better off cutting back to one area, but answered trying to explain how you could squeeze in both in you short time frame)

I looks like you are talking about a week give or take (besides a few days in London). You would have enough time to spend a couple of days in Edinburgh and 4 or 5 days touring. My recommenadtion would be to either:

1) head north from Edinburgh along the coast, inland along the river Dee, across to near Inverness and then south back to Edinburgh

or

2) head west through Stirling out through Glencoe to the Isle of Skye and abck to Edinburgh.

Each of these routes would give you LOTS of different scenery, castles, villages, etc. The first one (north of E'burgh and along the Dee) would let you see more castle than you could even imagine, falconry centers, whisky distilleries, etc. The second route is more islands and mountains - fewer castles and villages but amazing scenery.