York & Scotland
 

My sister, brother-in-law and I will be traveling to Scotland next year for two weeks, with one week spent in Peebles and the second week on Skye. Our trip will also include an overnight in Edinburgh while attending the Tattoo (we hope!). We would also enjoy visiting York but as my sister, in particular, seems bent on visiting every abbey in the Borders region, I'm not sure how we can tie this all together and still enjoy ourselves! With the distance between York and Peeples we'd almost be better staying at least one night in the York area. One suggestion I had was that we save the Yorkshire area for a future trip. Any alternative suggestions?

I'm not clear - are you asking if York would work as a day trip from Peebles?? If so - no, it wouldn't work by car. You <i>could</i> take the train from Berwick-on-Tweed to York and have a long but doable day trip. York is compact and you actually can see quite a lot of it in one day. In a &quot;perfect world&quot; you'd want more time - there is sooooooo much to see in Yorkshire and northern England and 3 or 4 days would be nice. I'd try to add a few days to your trip to include Yorkshire. If that isn't possible, I'd probably leave York for another trip. But if you are dying to see it - the train would work.

Re the Border Abbey's - don't worry - seeing them won't take a week. In fact Melrose, Dryburgh, Jedburgh and Kelso can easily be seen in one day (though that could be Abbey overload and you might want to space them and other sites over 2 different days).

Janis,

Thanks for the reply. I think I'd like to spend a night in the York area so we can see the town and the surrounding area, including Hadrian's Wall and the fort. It looks as if it will be a 3-hour drive from Peeples to York. Does that sound about right?

3 hours - more like 4, the first half of the route is all single carriage way roads with limited places to overtake, then the last bit from A1 to York itself isn't fast either

Straight driving 4 hours would seem about right. But that is w/o <u>any</u> stops. W/ any detours, stops, sightseeing it very easily becomes an all day drive. A train would be MUCH quicker -- but of course you'd have to get to Berwick or somewhere to get the train. It is about 50 miles from Peebles to Berwick on Tweed, or about 25 miles up to Edinburgh - butt then you'd have the city driving/parking problems.

Are you flying into Edinburgh or London or ?? It might make more sense to do York by train from Edinburgh (or London) before getting a car to travel to Peebles.

We're probably flying in and out of Glasgow. I think I'd still rather save York for another trip. I don't fancy doing what would amount to two days of driving based on your responses, plus I like the time to enjoy the region - not rush through it. Thanks!