Britain itinerary- and a logistical problem

Rachel, welcome.

I have a fair amount of specialist knowledge in this area as I work on British trains and used to live near Coventry and worked in Coventry, as did my wife.

I need to a ska couple of questions before I can dig in deeper.

Have you looked at the actual times that the trains will take for each of your journeys, including where you will need to change trains?

You are listing number of days. Usually it is easier to consider where you will be sleeping and think in terms of number of nights. Many places you are listing as two days. To get two full days you need three nights. Are you talking in those instances of 3 nights/2days, or 2 nights with one full day and partial days each end?

You Mom wants to see the Cathedral of St Michael in Coventry. Which one? The remains of the bombed out one or does she want to spend time in the new one next door? What does she expect to do for two or three hours in Coventry? Something specific? I may have an idea for you, depending.

What do you want to see in Oxford?

If you could fill in some of the gaps it would help us help you.

BTW - I get that she wants to see Cardiff (Dr Who? or some other reason?) but how did you equate the amount of time there to the amount of time in York?

If you can help with the why and what, we can help with the how (and a fair bit of the what)
Looking forward to seeing your answers

I appreciate your offer to help!

To clarify the travel plans- yes. I've looked at the train schedules and have an idea of how long it takes to get from point A to point B. Some of the journeys are very short (Bath to Cardiff), others are much longer (Cardiff to York).

The way the trip is planned right now, we will be traveling on day 2 (AM train from London to Bath), day 4 (AM train from Bath to Cardiff), day 5 (Caerphilly Castle), day 6 (AM train from Cardiff to York), day 8 (AM train from York to Oxford) and day 10 (AM train from Oxford to London). And one more day while in London to see Windsor.

Why Cardiff? Several reasons. 1- because of the BBC studios and Dr. Who. 2- because mom did not get to visit Wales at all the last time she visited Britain, and she wants to make up for the mistake. 3- we both want to see Caerphilly Castle. Yes, Windsor is bigger. Yes, Caernarfon Castle is cooler and in north Wales which is more picturesque and where the Welsh language is stronger. But we want to see Caerphilly all the same. So one day of that 2 days in Cardiff is to see Cardiff (there's plenty to see and do in 1 day), the other day is to see Caerphilly and to relax, shop, do laundry or whatnot. I can understand why it'd cause someone to question my sanity to give as much time to Cardiff as to York, but there's method to my madness (we'll actually be in York longer, even with the long train ride).

Why Oxford? T.S. Eliot, Lewis Carol, C.S. Lewis- and most of all, J.R.R. Tolkien. We want to see the school he studied in, the pub he partied in, and the grave he's buried in. I want to attend an evensong service at Christ Church or maybe Queen's College (one of the days is a Sunday). We both want to look around and tour this university campus we've heard about our entire lives. I want to see the Ashmolean Museum. I think we would be able to do all of this in Oxford in about a day and a half- it could be done in one really exhausting day, but I'm trying to be considerate of my travel companion and keep the pace a little slower than I would go if I were on my own. Which left half a day to account for.

A good hunk of that half day would be just traveling from York to Oxford- it's a 3 or 4 hour train ride. Which is why I thought it'd be nice to take a break from that long ride, hop off the train at Coventry and stretch our legs a bit. We want to see both the ruins and the new cathedral. I'm sure there's other things in the town that we -could- do, but the cathedrals were really the only things mom is insistent upon. I figured we would be able to have lunch in Coventry and visit the cathedrals, get back on the train to Oxford, check in at a B&B and be there in time to have dinner at the Eagle and Child and enough daylight left to visit the grave- it closes at 8, sunset is closer to 9.

But what to do with our bags?

There used to be luggage storage at the bus station in Coventry (Pool Meadow) and from what I can tell online there still is although this is 3rd party info. This unfortunately is the other side of the city centre from the railway station. However you could travel there by taxi, maybe even by bus. Instead of going on to Oxford by rail you could get a coach instead from the bus station; there is one at 15:15 that might fit in with your plans.

That is an interesting idea. I generally only think of busses as in-town transportation, too slow to travel between towns for my trip... but Coventry to Oxford isn't too far. It's not an ideal plan- but it may work as a backup plan.

I've come up with a couple of thoughts.

10 minutes before Coventry, coming from the north is Birmingham International station which not only serves the adjacent Birmingham International Airport but also the adjacent National Exhibition Centre.

The NEC is linked by covered walkways and moving sidewalks, and has cloakrooms for each of the 20+ halls. See http://www.thenec.co.uk/visiting-us/facilities/. If something was on, and there is almost always something on in several of the halls, you can leave bags for £1 each. It would involve backtracking 10 minutes and a few pounds in train tickets but when you collected your bags your train to Oxford would leave from Birmingham International 10 minutes before it would have from Coventry.

At the same station is Birmingham International Airport which is linked to the station by a free rolling cable car which goes every 2 minutes and takes 90 seconds. There is a left luggage facility which would be more convenient but more expensive at £7.50 per piece. See http://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/useful-information/facilities2/lost-property.aspx.

Another thought is to hire a private car at Coventry who could have your bags in their boot (trunk), and who could run you over to the cathedral and wait for you while you visit the cathedrals and lunch. That would likely be the easiest and may not be terrifically more expensive than the other options. If you could say if you just want to pick up sandwiches or sit down for lunch I can help with some of the choices. Just around the corner from the cathedral is a Nandos South African/Portuguese grilled chicken restaurant which I would choose if I had a few minutes.

Almost all of formerly beautiful Coventry was destroyed in or just after WWII (local wags say that what Hitler started - with all the bombing raids - the town planners finished) so the brutalist architecture is pretty awful with just a couple of medieval pockets remaining. I wouldn't use the bus when going to Oxford, the train is so fast and much more comfortable.

You don't have to use the facilities where the left luggage counter is, whether that is the airport, the NEC or the bus station.

I suggested the coach only to save time not having to cross Coventry again, although you are of course right that it takes rather longer. There is only one train an hour from Coventry to Oxford - then again there are only two direct coaches a day.

Thank you for your suggestions! You have been very helpful. And we'll have to check out the chicken place- sounds yummy!

Just throwing it out there for our resident experts, but would it be possible to check in bags at a local hotel? I remember when I was travelling, I was able to check in bags for a fee at hotels even though I'm not staying there per se.

Leaving the luggages at a convenient hotel might be a way out. I can't think of a convenient hotel though. There is certainly not one near the Coventry station - certainly not one that I would suggest, and if my memory is right the the only one near the cathedrals is a Britannia Hotel and I wouldn't trust them with my worst enemy.

Rachel,
I live in Franklin, TN. and am also planning a trip to Britain, with a very similar itinerary. I just started planning and have lots of questions. It sounds like you are months ahead of me in planning. Would you mind contacting me at [email protected] to compare notes and plans? Thank-you, Bill