London to Scotland

Rexxar

Rexxar

Rexxar

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Joined
13 May 2010
Posts
1,657
Not sure if this should be in GD...

Looking to plan a trip from London, driving to Scotland, and back, via the lake district

Looking for recommendations of places to stop and things to see along the way

Going to do this over 4-5 days to break the journey up...


Any recommendations appreciated
 
Scotland isn't small. You can't "do" Scotland in a few days. What are you interested in? Then we can advise.

Do you just want to drive to Wick and back, do you want to tour the Highlands, spend time visiting castles, see the islands, party like there's no tomorrow, play golf, fish the best salmon traps in Europe, hunt for Nessie...
 
Hades said:
Take your passport.
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On a serious note though, anywhere in particular in Scotland you're planning to travel? For serious "views" and stuff, you can do a lot worse than heading up the west coast north of Glasgow. There is little of interest south of there really.

Head up the A82 toward Loch Lomond. Some lovely view along the A83 towards Lochgilphead, then up the A816 to Oban. Keep heading North and you can hit Glencoe and Fort William. Never been to Skye myself yet, but you could head over there, I'm sure it's beautiful. Then return to Loch Ness, bit of Nessy hunting, before hitting up Inverness.

Then, if you want to go all in, keep firing North all the way to Thurso / John O'Groats. Extra brownie points if you take the ferry to Orkney. It's beautiful up there, if a little windy at times. But there is a place called Twatt, so epic sign pictures can be had.

Coming back down, the most scenic route would likely be the A9 through the Cairngorms and that. But you miss the East Coast (where I am), but there aint much to see really. There are all the fishing towns and stuff along the North East, and then arable land coming down through Angus and the like, but most views and stuff will be best off along the A9.

Finish off in Edinburgh to see the castle I guess. Maybe Stop at Stirling castle too if you have the time (see Wallace Monument and that), and you'll have done the tour really.
 
Sorry, should have said, going to Edinburgh for 1-2 nights & looking for places to stop off along the way, also stop offs on the way back down to break up the driving

Also wanting to spend a while in the Lake District & looking for "must see" kind of things
 
Tebay services are worth stopping off at if nothing else.

IIRC last time I was heading up that way at a slower pace we came off the motorway at Kendal headed off the A591, A592, stopped off at places like aira force then up to the A66 to rejoin the motorway.
 
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Most nice places to stop off are a little out of the way tbh

You could come off the M6 and go towards Kendal then onto Bowness on Windermere, that's a nice stop off, then for a nice drive head on up through the Kirkstone pass and down into Glenridding then around Ullswater with a quick stop off at Aira Force before continuing on to Pooley bridge and Penrith & back onto the M6 - or - head to Keswick then up to Bassenthwaite and on towards Carlisle or Keswick then around to the Honnister Pass, buttermere, Crummock water, Cockermouth etc

And that's just the lakes..
 
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Bakewell in the Peak district is a good area for a days break. You have Chatsworth house and the Monsal Trail (cycling) which imo are both worth seeing/doing, same with the cable car in Matlock.
 
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Yeah, if you're going from London then the train is a no brainer, unless there are about half a dozen of you. Get the couples railcard if you're going will your other half.
 
Squidger said:
Starting to think that the lakes might keep us busy as is & do Scotland by train at a later date!
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If your only going as far as Edinburgh, then your probably right. All the good stuff in Scotland is North of Edinburgh / Glasgow.

Probably wouldn't do Scotland by train either. All the best stuff isn't accessible by train.
 
JoeF1 said:
Would love to do this!
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Grab Lois and go with her! We went, took tea lights, wine, some food. Very nice ;) waking up to the view over striding edge and helvellyn is amazing. We were lucky to be on top of an inversion when we awoke.
 
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