I would appreciate any suggestions on transportation -- car rental vs train. We are arriving 9am on a Saturday at Gatwick, with reservations for a week beginning that night in the Lakes District, then a second week in the Cotswolds. We had planned to rent a car and drive straight to Loweswater. (we've been to London before and don't plan to go into the city) How long do you think that drive will take? theaa.co.uk shows about 350 miles. Will the traffice be horrible on a Saturday? Then we plan to drive to Cotswolds over a day and half, stay for a week. Our departure flight leaves at noon out of Gatwick. Can we drive back from Tetbury, drop off the car and make our flight? Does this drive plan sound do-able? A rail pass for 4 days (is this the least # days you can get?) for 2 is almost as expensive as the car rental. Any advice or hints would be greatly appreciated!!

You'd be on M roads all the way which are like freeways all over the world - boring - it would be a hard push but possible - but what about jet lag??

Kayboo: Even for regular UK drivers - to be able to hop off an overnight flight and drive all the way from LGW to the Lakes would be VERY, VERY difficult.<BR><BR>If it were me, I would have booked my flight one day earlier so I would have a day to unwind in or around London before driving north. But what's dodne is done.<BR><BR>You sort have done it backwards - a day and a half LGW to the Lakes makes more sense than a day and a half from the Lakes to the Cotswolds. So now what to do? <BR><BR>1) You could &quot;eat&quot; the first night in the Lakes. By that I mean - drive as far as you can, spend the night and then get to your cottage on the 2nd day.<BR><BR>2) You could take a train to Manchester, pick up your rental car there.<BR><BR>3) or probably your best bet might be to fly to Manchester, and drive from there

Janis, Thanks. I found this board only after I made the ressies. Wish I had done it differently, but your suggestions help. Thanks again!

I agree with Janis. Mapquest put the drive at 6 hours 28 minutes. If you're lucky, you could shave an hour or so off that, but if you're travelling in the summer (especially if the weather's fine) it could take a lot longer.<BR><BR>My preferred option (given that you're locked into the Gatwick flight) would be train to Manchester, stay overnight, then drive up to the Lakes on Sunday morning.<BR><BR>For places to stay and things to do in Manchester have a look at www.manchesteronline.co.uk/tourist/<BR>

Yep, I've done that. Like janis says, it's a much easier trip out of Manchester. I drove from Gatwick airport to Grasmere in about 7 hours once, and about 5-1/2 hours the next time. The first time I tried to make my way from Gatwick Airport to west bound M4 trying to avoid the M25 (M23?) north into London and by taking back roads. Oops.<BR><BR>The traffic probably (I've driven between Keswick and Cockermouth 4 or 5 times . . . so take this with a grain of salt) won't be so bad from Keswick westbound. It's south bound from Keswick that seems to jam up quite a bit. Don't miss the Pencil Museum! (Har!)<BR><BR>If you decide not to stop along the way (as janis rightfully suggests) take the M6 to Penrith then west into Keswick and on to Loweswater. You miss some beautiful scenery by not entering the Lakes from the south, but the northern route will cut a considerable amount of time off your trip.<BR>