After London- Bath, Manchester/Liverpool, Lake District, Edinburgh ??

From London ...
Train to Edinburgh, stay 3 nights
Train to Carlisle. Pick up hire car. Drive to Lake District, stay 2 nights
Drive to Chester, stay 3 nights - visit Conwy/North Wales, Liverpool
Drive via Cotswolds to Bath, stay 2 nights
Drive via Stonehenge to Salisbury, stay 1 night
Drive to London (departure airport?). Return car. Fly home.

If you did follow djp_syd advice - I would do it in the reverse direction due to the sun! He has you going north (with sun behind you most of the day) by train. He then has you mainly driving south into the sun.

If on the Edinburgh to London (King's Cross) railway, I would definitely stop for an overnight at York.

Note that if you are going to Edinburgh and not further north, that you will not be seeing the best scenic areas in Scotland.

You mention Conwy/Conway. Yes Conwy is well worth a visit and is easily reached by train. However, as you are driving, you should also consider other places in north Wales as a base.

Cardiff is just an hour's drive from Bath. However, you might wish to consider a detour by crossing the M48 bridge over the Severn estuary and taking a quick look at Chepstow Castle & then up the A466 to see the ruins of Tintern Abbey.
http://cadw.gov.wales/daysout/tinternabbey/?lang=en

If going from Cardiff to north Wales, the A470 is a scenic route for much of the journey. (To reach Portmadog is about a 4 hour trip whilst Conwy would be nearer 5 hours).

I don't think that Manchester is worth a visit. Between north Wales & the Lake District, Chester is worth a stop.

April to September - the sun is in the northern sky
October to March - the sun is in the southern sky (believe me I felt it today)
Very curious - does it make such a difference when driving north<>south?
Surely the time of day you choose to drive is more of an issue.

Thank you everyone for the advice.

The worst thing is to be driving east into the rising sun early in the morning and west into the setting sun in the evening.

I much prefer to have the sun behind me. For example, many roads in Britain are going in an out of overhanging tree cover and hence, between shadows and brightly lit areas. Some cars have facias that reflect up on the windscreens because some manufacturers are too stupid to have non reflective colours/materials. The effect of such reflections is far worse when driving into the sun and practically non existent with the sun behind you.

You can also see the scenery better when the sun is behind you.

And let's be honest, how many days in a year do you have a bright sun in the UK?

lots. at least where I live. on my way to work the other day, heading west in mid afternoon it was very difficult - I was nearly unable to see even with sunglasses and blinds down. it can be a genuine issue.

In the East Midlands there is sun almost every day, some more, some less, year round.

I would cover Bath as a day trip from London then take the train to Manchester or Liverpool and hire a car there. Two nights means only one day anywhere, so I would add more time in the Lakes and another in Manchester or Liverpool.