I would like to leave London late on a train, get to the Lake District, and the next morning take a tour, then be at the Liverpool Birkenhead ferry for an overnight ferry to Belfast. I believe the ferry leaves around 11 pm.
Is this possible? I will be taking public transport the whole way and have my Railpass and ferry reservations already.
I will be on a 17-day independent tour of England and Ireland, but hate to miss the Lake District, as it is reported to be so lovely.
The Lake District would be hard to do in a day trip as it is spread out quite a bit and much of the charm is hiking up on the hills to get a view of the lakes and the many villages are best seen with a private auto. I would instead take the train to Chester for your overnight. It has a wall you can walk on around the city. It has the famous Rows, with cute shops and pubs. It was the headquarters of the XX Roman Regiment; there are antique bath relics. It is possible to take the train to Conwy Castle on the train. Chester is not that far on the train from Liverpool.
Thank you. This sounds like a good alternative.
There are no night trains to the Lake District as the journey is too short and you would arrive in the middle of the night. Therefore you either need a one night stay in the Merseyside region or you need to stay another night in London and get the train north in the morning. What are you going to do with your luggage?
It’s confusing to call it the Liverpool ferry as it departs from the other side of the river, in Birkenhead, at least half an hour away by public transport. Stena’s website only tells you how to get there in a car which is a clue about how easy it is going to be as a foot passenger!
The two most obvious ways to spend the day are either in Liverpool (Beatles stuff, two very different cathedrals, Albert Dock, Tate Liverpool and the Maritime Museum or Chester (walk the walls, cathedral). I was in Chester a couple of weeks ago and Covid has hit the retail hard, with many vacant shops and restaurants. It had a depressing feel.
You need to check how far in advance you need to be at the port and allow plenty time to get there. Most routes involve a 10+ minute walk from the nearest transport stop, so you may wish to consider taking a taxi from Liverpool at that time of night.
Flying from London would be far less hassle!
Be aware, if the weather or seas are bad, the ferry gets canceled.
Consider flying......its faster and more reliable.
Thank you so much! I've decided to postpone the lake district in favor of not missing the ferry. I realized my mistake and am now flying back from Dublin to London.
I'm wondering when I should arrive in Liverpool to get oriented and arrive at Birkenhead by 9ish; again, I will have to rely on public transit.
Would there be anywhere to get a bite to eat?
I've never done it myself, but Rome2Rio shows the train from Liverpool Lime St. Station to Birkenhead Hamilton Square taking less than 10 minutes (not counting finding your platform etc., of course). On the map it appears to be a short walk to the Belfast ferry terminal, via Edgerton Wharf and Tower Wharf. If you walk, you'll want to examine street view to make sure the roads are reasonably pedestrian friendly.
You could also hail a taxi to the ferry terminal from the Birkenhead train station, or (might be easier, especially at night) directly from Lime St. Station.
https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Liverpool/Birkenhead
Any ferry terminal I've been in has some sort of coffee/tea and snacks available. Others on this forum who've been there can give further info about that.
Very helpful. I'll add in more time to find the additional train over to Birkenhead and then the walk over. Two of us are over 60 and one over 70, but all very young at ❤️. 😆😂
The Stena Line website says its a 15 minute walk from Birkenhead Hamilton Square station to the terminal
The train journey from Lime Street takes 7 minutes
Thanks for the information. We will need to allow lots of time for the journey to Birkenhead. It sounds like we won't be doing much touring that afternoon - depending on when we leave Stratford on Avon.
Thanks!
Do you have an entire day in Stratford-upon-Avon before you leave for Liverpool? I ask because I've been to S-u-A twice and never had enough time to see most of the places that interested me. There is a HoHo bus, which is excellent (running commentary from a guide, who will also answer specific questions for you), but Anne Hathaway's cottage and Mary Arden's farm are out in the countryside, so it takes some time to get to each and then you have to wait for the bus to come around again. The birthplace is right in town. When we were there most recently (2015), traffic in town was heavy so the buses were running very late. I'm not trying to give you depressing news, but just a realistic grasp of how much or how little you'll have time to see in S-u-A.
BTW, we ate at the Pen & Parchment pub, right around the corner from the HoHo bus stop (which also has a nice gift shop). You can't beat the location, and I have no substantial complaints, but I will say the food was nothing special.
This is great information. It is hard to imagine Stratford on Avon from the guidebooks. I arrive there in the afternoon and hope to go to a play and get a quick peek at the town. The next morning, starting early, I hope to cover the major sites. That's why I was going to arrive in Liverpool later in the evening. I can't get to Stratford earlier unless I skip Bath, Oxford, or the Cottswolds. Sigh.
