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London to and through Scotland round trip with a car

Posted by on

Hello!

My family and I are coming to the UK end of July. We arrive and depart from London and have 9 days in between. We aren't planning on spending any days in London, but rather just see it as our starting point.

We were hoping to rent a car and drive up north to Scotland, focusing most of our time there, but still spending a day or two in the English country side (my mom's obsessed with The Vicar of Dibley and really wants to see some proper picturesque English country side).

We were initially planning on renting a car in London and making our way to Edinburgh, but as I read more forums I see that people are advising against such a choice - do you think that would be a bad idea?

Any advice on what route to take/where to stop would be greatly appreciated as we are not at all familiar with the UK.

For Scotland we were planning on doing Edinburg and Glasgow apart from that we would really love any suggestion you could give. We aren't really the "spend all day in a museum" kind, but we love history, nature and culture.

Thank you!

Posted by
8889 posts

The problem is London to Edinburgh is an all day drive (8+ hours), so that uses up 2 of your 9 days. It would, in hindsight, have been better to fly into and out of an airport in Scotland.
A good place to break the journey is York, half way. It is an old city with city walls, a cathedral, old streets and lost more.
If you continue north from York, after Newcastle to route gets more rural (no more dual carriageway), and you can see the sea. A short detour is Bamburgh Castle. Very photogenic: http://www.bamburghcastle.com/

Posted by
6113 posts

Do you actually want to see where the Vicar of Dibley was filmed (Turville near High Wycombe an hour west of London) or just see some English countryside?

Does 9 days mean 8 nights? It sounds as though your last night needs to be in London or at the airport.

Sorry. Hiring a car at the airport in London straight off a long transatlantic flight and then attempting a long drive on congested roads you don’t know is dangerous.

Option 1. Depending on when your flight arrives, you could fly straight up to Edinburgh (not Edinburg). Spend 3 nights in Edinburgh to see the sights, get over your jet lag and then hire a car. Drive south into England and explore the area around Holy Island and have a rural day in the Northumberland National Park. Stay in Rothbury, Wooler or Belford (The Old Vicarage here is a good B & B and fits your theme!).

Head to Glasgow for 3 nights or stay in the Loch Lomond area if you want to be rural. Fly back to London.

Option 2. Take the train to York on your first day and stay the night to get over jet lag. Day 2, hire a car and drive north, looking at the North York Moors or the Yorkshire Dales en route and stay Rothbury etc as option 1.

Option 3. Fly straight to Edinburgh and stay 3 nights. Hire a car and drive to Glencoe for 3 nights, exploring the Highlands, including a day on the gorgeous Ardnamurchan peninsula then have a night in Glasgow before flying to London for your last night.

I wouldn’t recommend hiring a car in London and driving it all the way to Scotland, as it’s a long, tedious journey, particularly the first 3-4 hours out of London.

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