BooFit

I am planning a trip to the UK in late May/early June. After we (me and my husband) have visited Edinburgh we will pick up a rental car, drive around Scotland, and then drive south to the Lake District before travelling to London.

I am having difficulties with this matter: should we drive to Heathrow from the Lake District (we hope to arrive in Heathrow around 3pm), or should we return the car at either Lancaster or Preston and take the train?

From my online research it appears that Avis in Lancaster is about a 20/25 minute walk (uphill to the station). Hertz are much further, almost at M6 junction. I am not sure whether the situation is similar in Preston (i.e. the car rental drop-off locations being not too close to the train station).

In terms of journey time taking the train, say from Lancaster to London, would be around 5 hours:1 hour to drive from our accommodation in the Lakes to Lancaster, another ?20 minutes to return car, 20 min to call for a cab to take us to the station, 15 minutes' waiting at the station, around 2.5 hours on the direct train to Euston plus time for cab from Euston to our accommodation in Hammersmith. How long would the drive from the Lakes to Heathrow take - around 6 hours?

There is also the fact that we would be loading and unloading luggage 4 times if we were to take the train as opposed to twice if we simply drove to Heathrow direct and get a cab or prebooked car to pick us up there to take us to our accommodation.

The train would get us into Euston in London. Would it be easy to arrange a pre-booked cab to wait for us at Euston? It appears that we could arrange for a pre-booked cab to pick us up from Heathrow.

Please help -I would very much appreciate your advice on this matter!! Thank you!

Gardyloo

I would keep the car the whole way.

The drive time from the Lakes to Heathrow will really depend on where in the Lake District you start. I'd imagine 6 hours will be plenty, allowing some time to stop for fuel for car and/or humans.

MmePerdu

Keeping the car and dropping it at Heathrow seems the more straightforward option, traffic aside. I prefer the train in general, but in this case, driving appears the logical choice.

bilboburgler

I'd drive, you are not going to London you are going to LHR.

janisj

The motorways between the two can be horrendously congested in parts. But if you are staying in Hammersmith do - you have a 3PM 'deadline'?

I'd personally drive but depending on where you are in the Lake (I'll use Keswick just for an example) count on a minimum of a 6 hour drive and it could take longer.

jamikins

It once took us over 8 hours to drive from London to the Lake District due to an accident on the highway...parking lot for hours. Personally I would never drive that distance if you have a hard deadline.

hetismij2

If you decide to drive then have the return time for the car a lot later than you hope to arrive, just in case you meet delays, and arrive later than you hoped. You wouldn't want to be stuck with an extra day's rental thanks to some jobsworth clerk.
I would drive, but that's just me. Motorway all the way (M6, including the toll section if you like, M40, M25, M4) no stops, no hold ups is around four and a half hours. Scenic route would take longer, but less chance of holdups. It depends somewhat on how hard your deadline is.

BooFit

Thank you Gardyloo, MmePerdu, bilbobugler, janisj, jamikins and hetismij for your helpful comments!

We don't have a deadline of 3pm (just hoping to get to our London accommodation in Hammersmith from LHR before the rush hour traffic in the city). In any event, the train fares (Advance First class) for both of us won't be cheaper than a day's rental. I was just hoping to choose an option with lesser hassle and was worried because I have read on another forum that the roads driving to Heathrow from the Lakes would be horrid.

When should we start off from the Lakes? Would an 8am start be better than a 9am start? I am thinking about the sort of traffic we would be likely to run into. Would the M6 be choc-a-block south of Lancaster and Preston, especially when approaching Birmingham? After the M6, which roads should we take to get to Heathrow? hetismiji, you mentioned the M6, M40, M25 and M4 and also said the scenic route has less chance of holdups. What is the scenic route? How long would it take? How would we pay the M6 toll?


We will be staying in Ambleside when in the Lakes. Were thinking barring traffic accidents, we should be able to do the distance within 6 hours (with stops for fueling, humans and maybe a quick bite if necessary). Also read somewhere that the roadworks on the M6 have largely been cleared (compared to say 2014).

We live in Hong Kong, and are used to driving on the left side of the road. (In North America, both in USA and Canada, we have done a number of road trips and driven for over 6 hours per day quite often, and that was on the 'right' side of the road!)

Thank you for taking the time and patience to help us plan!!

janisj

I'd do the M6 > M42 > M40 and from quite far out on the M40 you'll see signs directing you to the Airport. At LHR you do NOT want to go into the airport property. You'll have to do some zigging and zagging off the M25 towards T-5 and then get to the North Perimeter Road where the cars are. But it is pretty straightforward. If you'll have a GPS, let it take over from the M-25.

Rubicund

If you drive into Manchester, the Avis office is 250 yards from Piccadilly Station. The train into Euston takes a shade over 2 hours from Manchester.