UK Road trip

[neonpink]

Next year is my 10 year anniversary. My H and I love road trips and we have decided to do a road trip we've been wanting to do for years. We want to start/end at the very top of Scotland at John O'groats and drive up/down to Land's end at the very south. 

We are planning to spend some time in Edinburgh, and hopefully catch a premier league game in one city. That depends on the 2019 schedule that hasn't been released.  I will also have to make a stop in Cardiff to visit some friends. My H and I have only been to London.


Any other amazing stops or cities we need to consider for this trip? 

[dutchgirl678]

That sounds like a great trip. How much time do you plan to spend on it? Last year we went to Scotland with our family for a week. There is enough to see over there alone .

We loved:
- Inverness and the nearby Battlefield of Culloden
- Urquhart castle at Loch Ness / Fort Augustus
- Aviemore / Cairngorms with a visit to the Highland Folk museum
- Pitlochrie
- Stirling castle
- Edinburgh

We also went to other areas but they could be further out of your way. Eilean Donan castle and Isle of Skye were amazing.

In England I have only been to Yorkshire and London. Definitely visit York! And maybe Fountains Abbey and the Yorkshire Dales.

Have you seen Ewan McGregor's travel show where he traveled that same route by motorcycle? He continued on further south after that. It is called Long way down.

[jamaicam]

My parents did the Narth Coast 500 a few years ago and loved it. It's a trip around the north of Scotland. Have a look at that and see what you'd like to incorporate.

I'm sure you know, but roads in rural areas (especially the north of scotland!) can be slow so allow a lot of time for those.

WOuld you stick to one coast? If you are doing Cardiff, that would imply the west coast and I am biased, but I prefer the East Coast (edinburgh, Northumberland, Yorkshire Moors etc).

[frlcb]

This sounds amazing - I have a ton of recs, we do some version of this (not as long) every Summer.

- love Loch Lomond. Stay in the Village of Luss, it is so cute
- North Berwick is an adorable beach town
- we love Edinburgh but honestly I think Glasgow is underrated. It is a cool city.
- On the drive from Edinburgh you need to go to Northumberland. So much to see there - Holy Island (Lindisfarne), Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle and Gardens, Hadrians Wall, Sycamore Gap, Seahouses and the Farne Islands, Beadnell
- The Lake District
- Yorkshire Dales
- York
- Cotswolds

[mrsukyankee]

I did a road trip up through England and Scotland.

We did:
- left from London (we live here), went to York, went to Edinburgh, Pitlochry (really, really cute small Scottish village), Lakes District, Leeds, Peak District National Park, Cotswolds, back to London.

[neonpink]

Dec 13, 2018 12:39:54 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

That sounds like a great trip. How much time do you plan to spend on it? Last year we went to Scotland with our family for a week. There is enough to see over there alone .

We loved:
- Inverness and the nearby Battlefield of Culloden
- Urquhart castle at Loch Ness / Fort Augustus
- Aviemore / Cairngorms with a visit to the Highland Folk museum
- Pitlochrie
- Stirling castle
- Edinburgh

We also went to other areas but they could be further out of your way. Eilean Donan castle and Isle of Skye were amazing.

In England I have only been to Yorkshire and London. Definitely visit York! And maybe Fountains Abbey and the Yorkshire Dales.

Have you seen Ewan McGregor's travel show where he traveled that same route by motorcycle? He continued on further south after that. It is called Long way down.

I have seen that show, and the long way around too.  There is so much to see. 

[neonpink]

We are huge car people and have taken road trips through Spain, Costa Rica, Panama and route 66 here in the states. It's something we really enjoy doing.

We are planning on going over labor day weekend so the end of August early September.

[cajunmom]

We did the North Coast 500 last year (plus a LOT more, we drove over 2k miles), and this year went back but only stayed as far north as Ullapool, though we did do a day trip to Durness.

The time of year you're planning on going is a nice time usually, weather wise, but it's also the busy season so things will be more expensive. I posted a trip recap of our 2017 trip if you want to look it up on my profile, I would link it but I'm on my phone. If you have any more questions or want recs for Scotland let me know, i have tons depending on how much time you have and what areas you plan to visit.

FTR, we absolutely adore Scotland. Wish we could go back again in 2019 but don't really think we will be able to do it until 2022, for our 20th anniversary.

[gardengal]

Since you’ve gotten a lot of Scotland & southern England recs, here’s some for southwestern (Devon/Cornwall/West Somerset):

If you like touring old homes, consider joining Royal Oak. It’s the US branch of National Trust & gets you free entry. It can be very cost effective if that’s your thing. It also makes just popping in for a bit seem like a good idea. There are many not far apart in this area. It does not include any properties in Scotland though.

Exmoor & Dartmoor are stunning. Moors, wild ponies, hiking! It’s a great place to do audiobooks inspired by the area (we did Hound of the Baskerville). You can download guided hike audio for Dartmoor & suggested maps for both. We used Dulverton as a homebase & it’s a charming town.

Padstow is a great place to hit if you’re a foodie. We stayed at Rick Steins Bnb if they are still doing it.

We opted for the lizard peninsula instead of Lands end (southern most point vs westernmost). The nation trust has a great hike you can download directions for. Seriously stunning!!

Be sure to check out school holiday schedules. The tiny roads can get clogged. And I suggest a hard copy map for Cornwall. Our signal sometimes was lost

I think I did a review of my trip on year so you may want to search my posts on this board?

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

Dec 14, 2018 13:06:35 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Dec 14, 2018 12:20:44 GMT -5 neonpink said:

We are planning on going over labor day weekend so the end of August early September.

If you can be in Edinburgh for Fringe, it's really fun to check out. I honestly didn't think the crowds were bad, and there are so many performances on offer, it's actually a little overwhelming! www.edfringe.com/

The Military Tattoo is also pretty cool, if you can get tickets:

www.edinburghcastle.scot/whatson/military-tattoo

www.edintattoo.co.uk/

We went to the Tattoo this year, it was well worth it! (Fringe was cool as well...but man the regular merchants were not happy people!) 

Honestly, I cannot imagine driving in England/Scotland. Not because of the opposite side driving, some of the roads are so narrow and seem so difficult, especially in rural Scotland. 

Now I feel I need to go back. Tours are fun and all, and I know I have been to a few of the places on the lists others have (Pitlochry, for instance) but I cannot remember anything at all about it. Edinburgh was pretty unforgettable, as was the train ride we took near Ben Nevis. Absolutely beautiful country. 

[mrsukyankee]

gardengal, I agree with you on Cornwall. My favourite bits are the smaller coastal towns and the coastal walk. I hated Penzance but Mont St Michael is a worthwhile see.

[pittpurple]

I live in Edinburgh.
Top tip - rent the smallest possible car you can. So many places are just really difficult to drive through and parking can be even worse.
And if working out a timeline I would add lots of extra time to each leg for the inevitable getting stuck behind a tractor that will happen regularly in the rural parts! It is slooooow going once you get further north than Perth.

I don't know England well at all but for Scotland - I would pick a few sites and then do a route between them. So take a look at undiscoveredscotland and see what appeals and go from there. Would be worth planning on a day at the Highland games if it sounds appealing at all - the ones up North are particularly fun to watch.

scotlandwelcomesyou.com/scottish-highland-games/

There are tons of festivals around Scotland (and presumably England!) that time of year so there might be something that you would love - there's a Viking Festival in Largs in September that we keep meaning to check out and lots of book festivals, etc. Might help in choosing a route / timeline.