My wife and I will be ending a cruise tour in Edinburgh on July 8th , 2015. We are looking to connect on a land tour that brings us back to London. We are open on schedule,. 6 to 8 days would be perfect but willing to adjust if we could connect with a tour group. We could go it alone but would prefer not to drive or deal with daily luggage issues. Would consider a private tour guide for at least part of time. Any recommendations ?
Gary
Posted by
New England
317 posts
Hi Gary,
I've not read of a tour that does the route you want. On your own, train from Edinburgh to London is very easy, just choose some stops along the way. 3 nights Edinburgh, 2 nights York, maybe a night in Ely (I saw the Cathedral from the outside, wish I'd seen the inside), or follow a map of the train route and find interesting stops.
I know that Rabbies does private tours. You can just write and ask the price. I've been pricing with them to try and organize a group trip. The prices divide nicely with a group, maybe not with just a couple. I've seen web pages for private tour guides on various web searches, so they are out there for you to find.
Ooh, I just had a thought for July 2015 .. do you like aviation? July 11 & 12, 2015 is the weekend for Flying Legends Air Show at the Imperial War Museum - Duxford. Here's the trailer for this past July's air show, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_tuG_SrW_Y
If you like the video, here are the frequently asked questions for all the Duxford shows, http://www.iwm.org.uk/faq-air-shows You'll want to work on accommodations in/around Cambridge sooner rather than later. The weekend fills up the area. A shuttle bus runs from the Cambridge rail station to the museum each day. As the promotional web page said, don't you want to treat yourself and buy a gold pass? Yes, the gold pass was a def. treat :-) WW2 aircraft flying over a WW2 air base, with a choreographed flying afternoon, doesn't get much better! I attended both days in '09, still trying to arrange schedule to get back for another.
In the area, along with Cambridge museums, the university, and the grasshopper clock (http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/about-us/the-corpus-clock/ )the Cambridge American Cemetery is also a place to visit (it's still on my "to do" list), http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/cambridge-american-cemetery
Cheers.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Hi Betsey
Thank you for all the information, we will check out Rabbies and others but agree it may be to expensive for just 2 of us. You have given us some great ideas and we appreciate the input.
Gary
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
I would agree that you don't need a tour. You can easily do this on your own either by train or by renting a car. (If you pick up a car after Edinburgh and drop it off prior to London it's completely doable to rent a car.) The reason's for a car vs the train is that you could check out the border area and Hadrian's Wall. Although, the latter is doable with public transit, just easier with a car. :) I would recommend seeing the Abbey's--Jedburgh, Melrose, Dryburgh etc. Also, if you are of a literary mind, Sir Walter Scotts home at Abbotsford is lovely. The Hermitage Castle in the Debatable Lands is quite stark and dramatic. I really enjoyed Hadrian's Wall as well. Hexham in England has a nice little Abbey as well and a great museum about the Reivers. Check out George McDonald Fraser's book The Steel Bonnets for some great background on this part of the UK.
Pam