We are thinking about three weeks in September of 2020. We really want to spend a week narrowboating on the Leeds Liverpool Canal between Skipton and Foulridge England. The boat hires start Monday or Friday there.
The ruins, both Scandinavian and Neolithic in Orkney have also caught our attention.
Is this a reasonable itinery?
Saturday: Fly to Edinburgh
Sunday-Tuesday nights (3 nts): Edinburgh
Wednesday: Fly to Kirkwall and stay through Saturday (4 nts)
Sunday: Overnight Ferry to Adberdeen Rent car and stay in Perthshire through Wednesday doing castles lakes and hiking (3 nts in Perthshire)
Thursday: Drop car and train from somewhere (?) to Skipton
Friday to Thursday (7 nts): narrowboating.
Friday: Exit boat and train Edinburgh, Glassgow, Manchester or other airport city.
Saturday: Fly Home
First, are we giving too much time to Orkney?
Second, what about after Orkney? We have also thought about these alternatives: (1) flying from Kirkland to Glassgow and spending the time slated for Perthshire in Oban; (2) flying back to Edinburgh from Kirkwall and taking the train on to Newcastle to do Hadrians Wall before Skipton; (3) flying from Kirkwall to Glassgow and immediately taking the train to Skipton for a Monday start narrowboating and then spend to remaining Monday to Thursday doing York and Hadrians Wall or heading down towards London. Are these better ideas?
We like a mix of cities, hiking, ruins, and villages. I remember Edinburgh and Hadrians Wall fondly from a trip 30 years ago. My husband has never been. Neither of us has been elsewhere in Scotland. We both loved Wales and Chester last September. We've been in London three times in the last seven years.