Driving from Bath to Edinburgh

Try Michelin.com for routes and travel Times. That site will usually provide several choices. Also Rome2rio.com is helpful.

Via Michelin says 7 1/2 hours if you drove nonstop, which would be ridiculous, by the fastest route it offers. That takes you right past the Lake District, among other worthwhile stops. The website commonly underestimates actual drive times under actual conditions. So it's helpful for planning but only as a guide. A slightly longer route takes you up the east side of England past York, Newcastle, and other worthwhile stops.

I guess if I had to get all that way by car in just a day I could do it, but I'd hate to call it part of a vacation. Give it at least a couple of days to account for traffic, necessary stops, and fatigue. Better, if you can, give it a week or two! :-)

It depends on the time of year, the day of the week and the time of the journey. There are lots of roadworks on the motorways at present with 50 mph speed restrictions, which adds to the journey times.

The AA and RAC websites are both saying c 6h 45 for this journey early on a sunday morning. With traffic and accidents, it could take anywhere from this to 9 hours without stopping. I would estimate 7.5 to 8 hours unless you are travelling through the night.

I can do Glasgow - South of England and vice versa in just over 6 hours.

That is with minimal stops, clear roads and a heavy right foot. This is not what I would recommend to someone on holiday. Budget around eight hours to allow decent breaks on the route. It should be remembered part of this journey, the M6 from Birmingham to Preston is one of the heaviest used sections of road in the UK outside London and the South East.

Thank you so much for the information!!

Bath to Edinburgh is a long way to drive - it makes sense if you actually have stopovers & vist places of interest en-route.

You could fly with Easyjet from Bristol to Edinburgh:>http://www.easyjet.com/en/

OR you could take the train (fares are cheaper for advance booking. Split tickets at Cheltenham & Birmingham may work out cheaper). 1 change needed in Bristol. It is usually quicker if you make another change at Birmingham (New Street). www.nationalrail.co.uk

Also, I would add that it is not that hard to rent more than one car on a trip. The trick is to make sure each rental is long enough to make sense. I'm not sure that you could train it much faster. Someone was checking that out recently on the forum and I think it was close. I think if it were me, i would drive, but stop somewhere on the way north. And, BTW, you might want to take a break and check out Hadrian's Wall and places like Hermitage Castle in the Borders. By taking two days not only do you get to explore the place where you spend the night, but you can check out some other places as well on the drive north. I thought Hexam has quite interesting as an intro to the Borders, but Carlisle has a good castle.