London to Edinburgh train strike

What a drag with the train strike! Same thing happened to us last month. Arrival at LHR and then train to Winchester...nope, strike day. Two days later, train from Winchester via London to Canterbury, nope, strike day. I, too, had purchased all my train tickets cheaply in advance.

I looked into drivers at that point. Yes, it cost us $$ but it was worth it. I'd suggest you'd look into hiring a driver to accommodate all of you and drive you to a city you'd enjoy for the night to ride out the strike day. Or have the driver take you to Windsor for an overnight and then take the train from London to York or Edinburgh the next day. You'd have time to explore Windsor if you had the energy after your arrival. Or have the driver take you to a London hotel that is near the train you'd need to catch to take you to York or Edinburgh the following day.

We did the reverse of you. Edinburgh to York to Bath to London. Picked up the rental car in York after train from Edinburgh, drove around that area of England for a few days (Bronte parsonage; Warwick Castle in particular), dropped the car off in Bath and enjoyed Bath for two nights, and then trained to London for a few days.

The driver we went with from LHR to Winchester, an hour's drive, was with Blackberry Cars, and cost $140. I applied for refunds for my train tickets due to the "Industrial Disruption" and within a few days all train ticket charges were credited back to my card. Canterbury train station was completely shut down on the second strike day so training was not an option at all. Whew! I booked with Winchester Capital Cars to drive us the two hours from Winchester to Canterbury for 250 pounds.

You don't need a car to explore York, and you don't need a car to explore Edinburgh. So how about a train from London to York, stay in York for an overnight as it sounds like you'd like to experience York, then train to Edinburgh for a few days, then rent a car for your exploration. Would that work in hopscotching around the strike days?

You say you're not a bus person, but have you looked into taking a coach? They are far superior to any bus you might have been on in the US.

Try using Google Maps to find bus options. Put your starting place in, click on Directions and put your destination in. Click on the public transportation symbol that looks like a bus or a train coach. Be sure to adjust the dates and times to suit your schedule and to click on bus under Options.

Unfortunately, it takes about 5 hours to get from London to York with a change in Leeds. Then it's about 6 hours from York to Edinburgh via Leeds. That's a real local bus with 66 stops (!) from York to Leeds, but it only takes an hour. From Leeds to Edinburgh is about 5 hours.

You can go directly from London to Edinburgh without any bus changes if you leave early enough, but that takes about 8 hours.

Of course, there will be breaks along the way and you would go through lots of countryside, even though some of it may be along the equivalent of an interstate. I think that bus drivers have to take breaks or switch out and there's usually time for passengers to get out, use a toilet and get a snack every 2 hours or so.

At least that's the way it was in Wales last month when I took multiple buses on the west coast because that was the best or only option in some areas. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

And have you already reserved your car? Be aware that if it's for 5 people and all your luggage it will have to be much larger and more expensive than if it's just for 2. And a larger vehicle will be more challenging in most parts of England and Scotland.

Re: the Google Maps searching above, if you click on the car symbol, it will give you driving directions and depending on routes and traffic, estimated times could be much better than taking the bus or not. For example driving from Bath to York via Leeds could take between 3 hrs 50 min and 5 hrs 10 min. From York to Edinburgh has almost the same range, between 3 hrs 40 min to 5 hrs 10 min.

The freakiest experience I've had as a passenger in the front seat of a right hand drive car has been turning right against traffic, as opposed to turning left against traffic like we do in the US. The second freakiest is going around a roundabout clockwise. We go counter-clockwise.

Then there are the very narrow roads, often without marked lanes, where two cars can barely go by each other, or the winding ones with hedgerows so high that you can't see what's coming.

Google videos about driving in the UK. The best ones will be from the viewpoint of the driver and will give you an idea of what driving on the left side of the road will look and feel like from a right hand drive car.

In the meantime, this is a recently updated article about driving in the UK: https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/tips-for-driving-in-the-uk/

You may decide that regardless of cost, flying from London to Edinburgh is the best option.

Whatever you decide, take a deep breath and have a great time.

Lunch in York isn't really going to allow you to see much. The town is worth at least two nights, and the train station (if you're lucky enough to have that option) is a bit of a walk from the historic center. Trains are so fast from London to York and York to Edinburgh that I really, really wouldn't want to have to drive instead. My top choice would be to alter my dates, but since it seems that others have snapped up all the train tickets, I'd look into flying.

Glasgow and Edinburgh are very close together--the trip takes as little as 52 minutes by train-- and there must also be frequent, if somewhat slower, bus service, so check to see whether you can get a train to Glasgow. You might also check airfares between London and Glasgow.

If you have already booked tickets for the strike days then these are valid for the day before and one or two days afterwards (depending on company). No need to change for tickets on those days so it doesn't matter if these aren't available, or are expensive. Doesn't help on potential crowding though.

That would be a long trip if you had to stand. I don't have a clue how much of a risk that would be.

The strikes have now been called off (after the death of the Queen).