James_P

We are spending the last 8 days of February visiting our daughter in Windsor. We are renting a car and spending the first 4 days traveling outside of London. We would take off Saturday morning & come back Tuesday night. I was thinking of driving to Edinburg in the AM on Saturday & sleeping at my daughters on Sunday night. Then going to Bath on Monday morning & see the Cottswolds on Tuesday & return to Windsor Tuesday night.
Would enough things be open in Edinburg on Sunday morning to make it worthwhile? Any feedback on my itinerary?

ron

This is a joke, right? You would drive over 400 miles, 7.5 hours plus stopping time on Saturday, and then do the same again on Sunday? In February?

janis

I am going to assume you are not a troll because your previous posts are infrequent but not totally absurd.

So as gently as I can manage -- your plan is, totally, without any doubt, absolutely, insane!

Look at a map - and remember you are talking about February when road conditions are very risky. But even in June when it is light until late, this would still be a nearly impossible itinerary. You wish to drive all day long to Edinburgh (you would leave in teh dark and get there in the dark). Then the next day drive all the way back to Windsor for the next night (again leaving in the dark and arriving in the dark). Then to Bath and the Cotswolds before driving back to Windsor again.

And trying it by train would only be slightly easier. You'd basically be on trains all day long up and back.

In 4 days from Windsor (in Feb.) you could do 2 days in the Cotswolds, then one day in Bath and the last day wandering back towards Windsor visiting maybe Salisbury/Stonehenge/Avebury.

flanneruk

Of course you can drive to and from Edinburgh in a weekend. Honestly. The fuss people make.

But it takes a bit of planning. With a couple of pleasant exceptions, it's a boring, congested, ride whichever way you go, so you may as well forget any interest in the scenery, drive as clse to flat out as safety considerations permit, and take the same route both ways (M4, A404,M40,M42,M6 Toll, M6, A74, A702).

Leave around 0530 on the Saturday and you'll get an almost totally clear ride to Edinburgh, arriving round 1300 or possibly even earlier. Leave early, though, and you can get there before lunch, allowing an afternoon's sightseeing. It'll stay light till after 1700

Going back, London-bound routes get terribly crowded on Sunday afternoons. The later you leave, the less this is a problem. By leaving as it gets dark, you'll miss most - possibly all - of the traffic, and will get back to Windsor round midnight. Leaving Edinburgh at lunchtime, you'll hit the problem for almost all the second half of the journey and may not get to Windsor much earlier.

All of which said, it'd be a great deal faster and cheaper to get a BA or bmi cheapo from Heathrow. In fact it'd be faster and cheaper to get a cheapo from any airport within 100 miles of Windsor (800 miles at 83p a litre is a lot more than the plane fare). Birmingham, Southampton, Luton, Gatwick and Stansted airports are all on the motorway system and less than 2 hours away. Even the one Saturday flight a day to Edinburgh from London City offers you an infinitely more scenic drive through the middle of an empty London than the tedium of the M6.

Either way, you can easily get a full day and a half in Edinburgh. You really have to be a complete wimp, or very enfeebled, to find the drive a problem. But you're not going to get anything out of the drive. For what it's worth, bits of the A404/M40 stretch, a lot of the last 80 miles of the M6 and most ofthe A74/A702 are quite - though not heartstoppingy - pretty. Save the scenery bit for your following two days.

James_P

Thanks for the replies. We are going to have 5 people in the car, so it tilts the economics away from train or plane. The trip to Edinburg is kind of a stretch. I just read "Notes from a Small Island" and there is a humorous section where he talked about people in Britain's response to any proppsed car trip. Their general response was that he was insane to try a trip such as he suggested in less than 7 hours. He took their warnings into account and got there 4.5 hours early. I realize the drive to Edinburg is 5 to 7 hours.

janis

flanneruk: I really don't see how they could have a full day and a half in Edinburgh. They want to leave Windsor on Sat a.m. and be back in Windsor on Sunday evening. They will have less than 1/2 a day on Sat and less than 1/2 a day on Sunday unless they plan on being on the road all through the night. Would you want to be one of the three people stuck in the back seat of this trek?

James_P: flanner is in the UK and his drive estimates are for someone used to the roads, driving conditions and right hand drive (I notice you asked elsewhere if you could rent a left hand drive car so it is a safe bet you haven't driven there before). I've also driven London to Edinburgh and even farther in one day - but not w/ much sightseeing planned that day. And in Feb sunset is about 5 p.m. in Edinburgh.

No, James, the drive from Windsor to Edinburgh won't be 5 - 7 hours. It is 400 miles and w/ five people in tow you will have to stop a minimum of twice enroute. Plus I assume you will want to eat something along the way.

So with any sort of evil weather conditions, which are quite possible all along your route, you should count on a minimum of 8 hours drive each way -- 16 hours of driving for maybe 8 - 10 hours of sightseeing.

taggie

5 people crammed in a European car for the long drives you propose sounds like my version of hell on Earth.
I think you should do only Edinburgh in your 4 days. Or do Bath/Oxford/Cotswolds. Choose one.