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UK travel Sept 2015

My wife and I and three adult daughters traveled with Rick Steve's UK book recently.

After visiting the British Museum, which was great, we traveled by rail to Bath, staying at the Crescent Guest B&B for 2 nights. Rita, the host was very helpful getting us to the free walking tour of the city, which was great.

We were able to tour the Roman Bath Museum that day which we all found fascinating.

The next day we took the private Celtic Tour of Stonehenge, Avery, and 2 picaresque English villages. The tour guide was knowledgeable,
Personable and gave us great information.

The next day we traveled to Haltwistle, outside of Carlisle and stayed at the Ashcroft B&B recommended by Peter Carney, who was recommend by Rick as a guide for Hadrians Wall.

This was the high point of the trip. Ashcroft is the best B&B in the UK, the hosts Geoff and Kristine were extremely helpful, the breakfasts were perfect, but most of all, Peter Carney is a great guide, very knowledgeable and personable. Anyone interested in the Wall and Roman occupation of Brittainia should make their way to Peter.

By the way, The Black Bull Pub has great food, drink and local conversationests. We dined there both nights and one of our party said they wanted to go live there.

In general, all the pubs and resuarants, and B&Vs had great food and drink.

The next day, Geoff took all 5 of us to the train station and chatted us up until our train arrived. What great hosts.

We ended our trip in Edinburgh which was enjoyable but only if you like rain and cold weather. Edinburgh is probably better in May.

The Rabbies Highlands Tour was enjoyable but too long.

We traveled throughout the trip by rail using Rick Steve's advice and found it easy and pleasant.

Jay Boylan

Posted by
3816 posts

Thanks for the trip report, will keep info for future trip. Was in Edinburg this past July and it was chilly and rainy....I believe this is their weather all year round.

Posted by
1069 posts

" and chatted us up"
Interesting!!! Don't think you meant what it means over here though. :-)

Posted by
2398 posts

You are more likely to have rain and colder weather in Scotland than further south in the UK. Having said that, summer 2015 was a poor summer all over Britain. Right now (Oct 14th, 2015) , it is dry and cool in Edinburgh whilst the south-east of England is having dull weather with showers and a cold wind off the North Sea.

Posted by
4151 posts

Thank you so much for this report, especially the Hadrian's Wall part. I may be following in your footsteps in May, so I Googled Haltwhistle, the Ashcroft and Peter Carney for more info.

Can you tell us the reasons for staying in Haltwhistle rather than Carlisle?

Posted by
2 posts

We booked the Ashcroft house based on Peter Carey's recommendation. He and the B&B were great. Halt whistle was delightful. And the area has one of the best sections of the wall. Peters tour included Vindolandia, a roman fort which is a must see.

Posted by
4151 posts

Thanks for responding. It sounds great, and the Ashcroft has some reasonable prices for a solo traveler. I'll have to research Peter's offerings to see if I can join a group and manage one of his walks or if the bus to Vindolanda and walking on my own will work better.

Thanks again.