Hello!
My wife and daughter and I will be spending some time in the Cotswold's and the Lake District in early August. I am planning on renting a car to use in the Cotswold's and also planning on renting a car in the Lake District. I was originally planning on taking a train from Oxford to the Kendal but am considering not taking a train for more flexibility. Would it be crazy to rent one car and use it for both, driving from Kingham to Kendal?
Kind regards,
Spencer Morse
I see both sides of the coin.
On the one hand, one car that you know and have developed a relationship with can be very handy at both ends of the journey. And it is much less hassle than fueling and turning in and hiring two different cars.
On the other hand, what "flexibility" do you want? Are you intending to stop at Little Moreton Hall or Biddulph Grange, or will you just grit your teeth, roll up your sleeves and plunge into the horrible experience that the M6 is, with all the other fun motorways, all the way from Kingham to Kendal? If you do choose to drive, I'd expect Fosseway from Stow-on-the-Wold or Moreton in Marsh up to the M40, then M42 north to the M6 Toll (get a bank loan) to M6 or M42 west to M5 to M6; then M6 all the way to Kendal.
The M6 is simply a disaster and horrible to drive. When you reach one of the many construction areas (where they are slowly slowly installing what the government optimistically calls "Smart Motorway" which is fancy way of saying remove the hard shoulder for all liane running and install variable speed gantries to issue tickets) you must reduce whatever speed you have to the posted road works speed which is STRICTLY enforced by those cute yellow poles which have speed averaging cameras. Most places it is down to 50 mph, but several now are 40. Don't get upset when heavy trucks pass you - they seem invulnerable. The tickets are high. And there is heavy traffic on the entire journey once you are off the M40.
So it really is personal preference.....
Hi Spencer -
You are obviously clued up enough to realise you will need a car to see both The Cotswolds and The Lake District properly and there’s much to be said for hanging on to the one car and using it in both locales.
Nigel is right however, the transition between the two places won’t be much fun, especially if you take the most direct route as detailed by him up the motorways. He’s right that the continuing roadworks make the trip up the M6 in particular, tedious at best and static at worst. And yes, do observe the marked speed limits even if you feel you could wind down the windows and pick flowers from the motorway edges (hint: you can’t, don’t try that!). You will get a ticket(s) and they know how to charge if you risk exceeding the speed limits - the cameras are sneakily placed!
Personally, I’d keep the car and grit your teeth and gird your loins and make the trip up the motorway. If you think you can avoid all this by cutting across and heading up through Wales, well you can, but having done it myself i can advise it will take you forever - no real major roads and plenty of 30 mph speed limits through the village/urban areas. And of course with the possibility of rail strikes in August, that’s another reason for hanging on to your hire (rental) car.
Hope your trip is great, even if the U.K. motorway experience proves less than stellar.
Ian
On our own trip last month we elected to break up the trip between the Lakes and the Cotswolds to allow us to avoid the motorways and meander a bit. In our case the enroute stop was York - we were able to spend time exploring Yorkshire Dales NP and the Peak District NP along the way - made for a slower but much more enjoyable driving experience.
We did the Cotswolds and Lake District in 2017 as well as other places in the north and southeast of England.
When driving from the Lake District past Manchester and Birmingham, we found the traffic to be terrible, but not as bad as driving on the M25 or anywhere within 40 miles of London.
