6 Nights, Cambridge to York by public transport

One of my favourite areas of the whole UK is the north Norfolk coast- I suggest having a look at that. There are lots of nice small villages on either side of Wells-next-the-Sea, and Blakeney and Cley are lovely.

Castleton has pretty good bus services- hourly to Chatsworth and Blue John, also regular services to Bakewell, Edale Station and Sheffield.
This year red routes (don't even think about stopping) have been introduced on the Man Tor roads, plus parking charges and more double yellow lines in Castleton as the County Council's patience has snapped with the car dependent culture.
So it is, and has been for many years, possible to rely on public transport there.

Ely is so close to Cambridge that the one can substitute for the other.

Kings Lynn would make a good base for North Norfolk- well under an hour from Cambridge by hourly train, and a direct bus to Peterborough for York hourly. That can be, and is cheaper, booked as a through ticket from Kings Lynn bus to wherever.

Ely is 14 minutes by train from Cambridge, hardly worth moving base if you are in Cambridge. Even Sandringham is easy as a day trip from Cambridge. Norwich is probably stretching it slightly - but what about Kings Lynn, once England's biggest port and part run by the Hanseatic League, who left their old buildings. Be warned, Ely is notoriously difficult/impossible for luggage which can't be taken on the cathedral tour.

Peak District could be a little out of place in this scenario - but not impossible. Rail routes are limited to a commuter line from Manchester to Buxton, which is the wrong direction for Cambridge, and a line passing through the Hope Valley connecting Manchester with Sheffield, which is slightly easier but most of the stations aren't quite in the village they serve. There are also local buses from Derby via Bakewell to Buxton basically following the A6 road. Castleton has a local bus from Sheffield and there are various small buses (more like large hotel shuttle vans) squeezing their ways down various routes in between all the bigger villages. Cambridge to Sheffield can be done with just one change of trains but take around 3 hours, Derby is half an hour less. To this you need time to find the onwards buses and then maybe an hour of travel. I'd say aim for somewhere on the Castleton bus route because you need to be back in Sheffield to move to York - or Buxton and onwards by train to Manchester for connection to York. An American's view of visiting Edale in the Hope Valley (he started from Manchester) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ud9-geNDvs

Is there an unstated, implicit and shared suggestion here that one should choose either King’s Lynn/Norfolk OR Derbyshire/Peak District? (On the assumption that both Cambridge and York are definite stops and that all four is too much.). In other words …

King’s Lynn and beyond toward the Norfolk coast, then on to York via Peterborough

Or

from Cambridge or Ely on to Bakewell, perhaps, for Castleton or Chatsworth or the Peak Dist./ Edale

——-

Might there be wisdom in dropping York and proceeding from Cambridge to King’s Lynn/Norfolk Coast, then Bakewell and environs, then directly to the Lake Dist. via Manchester … and skip York altogether? Still with a 6-night, 7-day framework.

Sorry, I hadn't picked up that this was a 6 day mini trip.

I think 4 bases in that time is probably too much relocation

I have no unspoken assumption that York and Cambridge are givens. If you binned York the trip would flow better.

If airfare is not booked you could potentially look into flying in to Norwich via Amsterdam or may be Stansted via somewhere in Europe.

I think you could then stay in Norwich or Kings Lynn. That bus from KL to Peterborough originates in Norwich. There is also the coastliner bus.

You may also find the Anglia Plus one day rail ranger, or 3 days in 7 flex rover ticket useful.

There is an hourly Norwich to Liverpool train via Ely, Peterborough, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester.
Also Norwich to Cambridge hourly.
The hourly Trans Peak Derby to Bakewell to Buxton bus connects at Buxton with the 199 express bus to Manchester Airport for trains to Penrith and Windermere.
Also the trains Buxton to Manchester Pic for the lake district but in my opinion the 199 is the better option.

So what I am proposing is two centres- North Norfolk and the Peak District, each for three nights. There are arguments in favour of and against bases at each of Castleton, Bakewell or Buxton in the Peak District. Just because Castleton is the convention on the forum doesn't necessarily mean it is any better than the others.

If I remember rightly you are 'cycling Fred'- we also have a Fred in SFO, so I'm not 100% sure. The Peak District has a very good cycling infrastructure using old railway lines.
I've written before about those- may have been an earlier iteration of this plan or may have been for someone else.

I think you wrote some of the superb posts on Mardee's Seattle thread.

Stuart,

Thanks. Quite useful thoughts, though we’ll be arriving in Cambridge via morning train from London.

This is one 6-night stretch of a greater 30 day trip to England.

You’ve helped with the general course of this already … and the Lake Dist. in particular

This stretch is between London (c. 7 days, incl. day trips to Greenwich, Bletchley Park & Richmond/Kew/Hampton) and Lake Dist. (4 day, 5 night cycle). From the Lake District, Stratford (2 days), cycle Cotswolds to Bath (5) and finally Bath to Canterbury (5, with 3 of the days by car).

Still ebbing and flowing. Bath, once out, has now found its way in. And now, perhaps, York - once in - finds its way out.

Can’t do it all. To me, it’s a combination of both slow and more brisk travel … but slow travel is rather undefined. (I was just observing on Google Maps that Stratford-on-Avon to Baddesley Clinton and Father Henry Garnet’s “priest hole” is over 2 hours by train - including 45 minutes of walking - but not much more than one hour by bicycle.)

Hope to get a good feel for England, rather than simply London+day trip (5 prior trips, from 1960 to 2010, ranging from a stop-over day to a week). To enjoy history, countryside, culture, homes & gardens, pubs and people.

So many choices and decisions. Do we go to the “priest hole” or Warwick Castle as a day trip from Stratford? Probably won’t decide that one ‘til we’re in Stratford and see what we feel like … and the weather, perhaps.

• Seattle fred

That has to be the first time the priest hole at Baddesley Clinton has been mentioned on here.
On the issue of cycling Cambridge is on National Cycle Route 11, which you can take in either direction - North to Kings Lynn largely along the Dutch built rivers and drains of East Anglia (but via various nature reserves and Ely) or South to Stansted Mountfitchet (next to Stansted Airport).
It depends what you are looking for as to whether North or South is the more interesting, but in classic tourist terms South is probably the better direction.
At Stansted Mountfitchet you can even glamp in the village Church - an unusual experience.

I like Baddesley Clinton a lot - it’s an extremely attractive little National Trust property with nice grounds. I saw the priest hole but I guess I’m someone who’s seen a lot of priest holes (ha - that sounds filthy…) and so it’s interesting but not the main thing I remember Baddesley Clinton for. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area and want to get a feel for what I might describe as low-key England.

The York-Lake District journey is one that does not always flow very well on public transport at first glance, but if we knew which day of week I'm sure Stuart could find an interesting scenic bus option! The Peak District is similar to the edges of the Lake District (lower peaks, no lakes...) so the complexity of the combined journey from Cambridge/Kings Lynn and then onwards to York may not be a good use of time and money. So I would drop the Peak District from this intinery - and get creative on the York-Lake District journey!

Just one worry, you are renting the bikes as needed and not dragging them around the whole tour?

I’m hoping to explore “low key” England as Golden Girl describes it, as well as scenic, historic, grand and every day England. A book I read last winter on the Gunpowder Plot intrigued me - esp. about Henry Garnet.

Stuart, right you are … first mention of Baddesley Clinton in my posts, though I may have asked about priest holes. I’m still exploring, surfing the net and learning.

me.crewe, I still know woefully little about the mechanics and time involved with all kinds of rail and bus travel. If the York-Peak Dist route is a challenge logistically, perhaps it is all the more reason to drop York and head to the Lakes through the Peak Dist for a few days and then get a train from wherever (Bakewell? Whatever base makes sense) then through Manchester to Penrith for the Lake Dist. I do know that public transport from the Lake Dist. to Stratford-on-Avon will make for a VERY long day. And I’ve decided that whatever bike tour we take through the Cotswolds will terminate in Bath, to avoid a long public transport trek out from the Cotswolds.

Bikes through local vendors, wherever we choose … but probably just two locations: Lake Dist. (Saddle Skedaddle) and Cotswolds (there are options), though yesterday I saw a one day (6 hours, guided) possibility from Winster to Bakewell to Chatsworth (with 2-3 hours at Chatsworth) and back.

They say there’s enough time for the house, or the gardens. What I don’t know is if they will agree to self-guided, so we could maybe have 8 hours and take 3 to 4 hours for both house and garden at Chatsworth. That vendor (Peakepedal) says they do both guided and self-guided.

And so, Peak Dist and the grandeur of Chatsworth vs. York?

Hand raised—I vote for the Peak District! 😂 (And Chatsworth!).

Seriously, I do. For what you're looking for, Fred, I think it would be a much better choice than York. I enjoyed York, the city, and the cathedral is beautiful, but the city will be filled with tourists and very crowded. I think the Peak District is more evocative of the real England. And Chatsworth would more than make up for missing York Minster.

As I've mentioned before, I really liked Castleton a lot. One of the reasons I liked it (outside of its charm and location) is because there weren't a lot of American tourists there. It was mostly British folk who were there with their families or friends, or by themselves, doing a lot of hiking and biking and so on. I went to Bakewell after I stopped in Castleton, and of course it wasn't helped by the fact that it was market day, but the town was so packed and so crowded that I didn't stay very long. I had been there before back in 1996, and it is a charming place, but I wouldn't want to stay there. But As you noted upthread, I did have a car, which made it a lot easier.

I went to Chatsworth and just walked around by myself. There are guides everywhere to help you if you have any questions, and they're very friendly. And there is no requirement that you take a guided tour there. At least there wasn't when I was there, which was in 2024. It's a magnificent house and well worth your time to see.

I did get to see some of the gardens, but I had to miss a lot because it is so huge. I hope to get back there again someday, but you can easily see the house and some of the gardens in three to four hours. And if you like art, they have some incredible art there, and some of it's not labeled. I spotted a Rembrandt and a John Singer Sargent painting that had no identification, but I recognized their style and knew it was theirs. It's just really an amazing place.

I enjoyed Chatsworth house without a guided tour-and I'm someone who usually likes guided tours.

York to the Peak District is not that logistically difficult- hourly direct train to Sheffield (just over 1 hour) or Derby (around 90'minutes) for bus forward.
York to Penrith would be train to Leeds, train to Kirkby Stephen or Appleby, then bus forwards. Various other rail routes exist, via Newcastle or Preston or Lancaster or Carlisle (staying on the train beyond KS/Appleby).
Once a week there is even a route via Darlington- train from York to Darlington then bus all the way via Barnard Castle.
For the first time in at least 30 years you can do local bus all the way from York to the Lake District . However it falls firmly into the camp of just because you can doesn't mean you should.
In the same way as just because you can take local buses from Tacoma to the Canadian border at Blaine doesn't remotely mean you should unless you are a you tube creator such as The Transit Bandit or certifiable like me.
If you stayed at Bakewell or Buxton it would be bus changing at Buxton to Manchester Airport then train to the Lake District, from Castleton bus to Edale, then train changing at Manchester.
If you are over 55 then a fully flexible rail ticket from Edale, Buxton or Manchester Airport to Windermere on Northern rail trains costs £18.40- no railcard needed.

I forgot to mention that each room at Chatsworth has pockets on the wall that hold really nice, large brochures that give all the history of the room and explain a lot of the items there. They're very thorough and give you a lot of information. You can just take one and read it while you're going through the room and then drop it off on your way out, then pick up the next one.

Chatsworth is in my view the finest stately home in the whole of the UK, no question. The Peak District is also a good place for cycling and not too heavy on steep climbs (unlike the Lakes!). There are a few long off road trails on old railway lines which make for a fine ride and they do run fairly close to Chatsworth.

To get from there to the Lakes the easiest way is probably a bus to Buxton. Buxton would also be a pretty good choice as a base - it's a nice small spa town with a railway line into Manchester and I assume a decent bus network further south.

As you are looking for low key England, a different Derbyshire idea for you.

Yesterday I was in Derby, visiting the Cathedral. It may be a modern Cathedral, dating from 1927, but the Church itself is centuries older. It has significant links to the Chatsworth story, also Florence Nightingale, and a rare surviving Consistory Court (not as impressive as Chester which technically can still be used).
In fact they have a Florence Nightingale service today.
Also, like Ripon Cathedral and Hexham Abbey, a hidden truly ancient, Crypt chapel.
Altogether a bit of a find.
For me it was part of my personal pilgrimage around all the Cathedrals of the UK, so a bit different to how you will approach it.
If there early on a Saturday try to get to the rare surviving Bridge Chapel.
However what I didn't know is that the City is included in the UNESCO world heritage listing for the Derwent valley, up to Matlock.
The Museum of Making in the former Silk Mills is rather an interesting place. It wasn't on my Agenda, but was added on a whim, glad I did. I was then running late home so had to totally reroute.
Of course the many attractions of the Derwent Valley itself are it's chief glory.
Chatsworth and the Peak are still easily reachable from Derby or somewhere like Matlock.

Oh, and by the way in Derby Market Hall there is a made in Derbyshire stall. They include products from one of the Bakewell pudding shops- Bakewell Pudding, Bakewell Tart and even Bakewell Cake. I can't remember seeing the cake before, but the pudding and the tart are definitely two different things.
The various shops in Bakewell vie with each other as to which is the oldest or the original, but it is sort of accepted that the pudding came first, later evolving into the tart.

Also, on a different tack, see if you can get to a well dressing somewhere - it is as much Derbyshire as Highland games are a Scottish thing.
Exactly what *travelling like a local" is all about.