Good Place to return a rental

appears that would mean A2 through London

Is the M25 closed?

I agree with Camborne. Just take the M4, until you get to Slough and then you will take the M25 after Slough. There is no need to go through London.

Jamboree and Mardee-
Thank you for the replies.
I just input "Moreton-on-Marsh to Canterbury" on Rome to Rio and that was the route it told me to take. I assumed Rome to Rio was similar to Google maps in mapping the best route but I guess it isn't! Ha! I should've known. Would it be smarter to keep the car for ALL of this outside London or return somewhere along the route and use trains?

York to Moreton-in-Marsh
Moreton to Bath ("maybe" haven't decided to do Bath as a day trip from London yet)
Moreton (or Bath) to Canterbury/Dover
Canterbury to Dorset/Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis/Exeter to London

You have a choice of two routes - M4, M25, M26,M20,A28, or M4, M25,A2, M2.
The latter is slightly longer but probably quicker/easier.
You could drop the rental car in Canterbury, or at your departure airport.
Slightly confused about where Bath etc comes in to it.

Lin C- On Bath, I wasn't sure if I should do Barh while I had a rental car or just do it later as a day trip from London once we turn the car in and start our London portion. I honestly would prefer to turn the car in sooner rather than later but also know it would probably be quicker to drive to some spots rather than taking multiple trains. I really wanted the car only for Cotswolds but hubby wants to see countryside and doesn't think trains will offer scenery then there is getting around Dorset area. I prefer to look out a train window instead of having to be navigator -ha!

I appreciate your suggestions for roadways and which would be easiest. That helps me with my road Atlas in mentally arranging it all.

The order of places seems odd since both Bath and Lyme Regis are in the west and Canterbury and Dover are in the east. I have driven some of that and suggest: Bath, Lyme Regis, Dover, Canterbury. Look at a paper map or get Google maps working and figure out the best order of driving.

Colleen,

The Bath may or not be part of the drive. The reason I was thinking of dumping the car is because I had read the car drive from west to east that I would want to do would be a lot of small roads and longer than just taking the train. The West portion was what I was mainly thinking would need a car, because I had seen Dorset was limited in public transport. I used Google AI to geograph-it-out for me and that was the order it said I should do it. I assumed it knew more than I did about the point A to point B and there was a logic to why it was routing me to Canterbury/Dover then over to the West.

Be very careful with the two tools that you have chosen. AI is by no means a guarantee and Rome to Rio just tosses out garbage from time to time. Unfortunately neither of them are particularly reliable. Both of them look reliable and then send you down the rabbit hole from whence you appear who knows where?

The M25 is not what anybody would call scenic. Avoid the M20 if you can because of Operation Brock which means many many many miles of driving at a very slow speed on a contraflow in order for trucks to be brexited. Trains are almost always faster than driving in the very built up area of the SE of England.

You actually get some pretty decent scenery looking out the window of trains, and you see very few trucks and surrounding lanes of cars. and no traffic jams like I had 3 of today between Northamptonshire and Dover. The M11 was completely shut with many firetrucks and other emergency vehicles after 2 cars rolled over. And 2 other closures. 2:15 simple drive turned into over 5 hours (thanks Waze for making it as easy as possible). On a train sometimes you will be in a cutting, yes but sometimes you will be above the surroundings countryside and get fabulous views into the surrounding fields and distant hills.

Suggesting to use the A2 to get across London from the Cotswolds to Kent is plain downright loopy

Nigel- Rome to Rio, too? Ugh! I use it mainly for times from points A to point B and not routes but it is off on times? Do you have any apps /sites you would suggest? The problem with using my UK road Atlas is, as someone else mentioned as well as yourself, just because there is a road there, doesn't make it the best choice.

You are saying SE England is doable by train but what about over on the SW side where Lyle Refis, etc is at? I keep seeing on YouTube travel videos that i would need to use a rental car or Uber to get around. Is that not correct?

Yet another crazy outcome from Rome2Rio as nobody would drive through central London to get from one side to the other - they would use the M25.

It sounds to be like you are trying to get to widely dispersed places. How much time do you have?

Suggest you use streetview using this Google Map to see what the roads are like. Note that the most scenic areas are named in green. For the north - click & drag the map. (Live traffic flows are at the time you click the map - which might be night in Britain).

You are saying SE England is doable by train but what about over on the SW side where Lyle Refis, etc is at? I keep seeing on YouTube travel videos that i would need to use a rental car or Uber to get around. Is that not correct?

No that is wrong as well. There is a pretty good network of the so called 'Breezer' buses (many of which are open top). From Bath you could take a train direct to Weymouth and connect into the Breezer bus network there- X51/X53 hourly, a two hour ride The other access point if arriving from London is to take a London Waterloo to Exeter train as far as Axminster, step outside the station, and take an X51/X53 for the 18 minute journey. The buses leave at 15 minutes past each hour and are even timed to connect with the hourly trains. The X51/X53 are closed top double deckers.

To get to Axminster from Bath you would take a train to Salisbury every half hour, then change at Salisbury into the hourly Waterloo to Exeter train.

James- I have always used Rome to Rio when traveling for an time idea between places (how long it takes by train, by bus, by car,etc.) so this was a first for me to try to use it for the actual suggested route to take. I assumed since it was always right about times when I used it, that it would be similar to Google as Google maps has recently begun to do me dirty in the unknown areas (Don't ask about a Thanksgiving trip on Google that should've taken me 3 hours and ended up being 7 "diverting me for traffic") when I travel.
We are there for 17 days, but 2 h or 3 hr drives /travel are nothing for us living in Texas. It can sometimes take that long to drive 40 miles with traffic. We generally get up pretty early on vacation to hit the roads early and like to stay 1 or 2 nights max before moving on. Our vacation times are limited as small business owners and often scrapped last minute so we pack a lot in when we travel. I prefer to go by public transport on vacation if possible so I can look out the window and not at a map or help hubby discern what to do at a proverbial fork in the road or sit in traffic on vacation. Ha! He likes to drive. Hence why my original thought was to return the car once I was done with the car in The Cotswolds and rent later for the SW portion only.

Isn31c-I appreciate the bus recommendation. I hadn't thought of that. I will need to research this one now. Thank you!

I also have found Google Maps/navigation to sometimes come up with crazy route suggestions for ways I know of getting from a to b that are better.

Driving in the Britain is different to Texas in that you will encounter narrower roads as well as country lanes some of which were laid out in medieval times. On the other hand, the ‘M’ roads (motorways) are similar to Interstates.

Also consider using the trains to get about although a car is certainly more useful in country areas such as The Cotswolds.

If you click the following link and select the first map - it will show you the rail network.
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/maps-of-the-national-rail-network/