Input requested for trip to Wales and Scotland

I absolutely loved York, and want to visit another walled town, which is why I chose Chester. Harlech, Conwy, and Caernarfon are must-sees; Flint and Rhuddlan are part of the ring, but I'd still be leaving Beaumarais out, unless it would be easy to fit in, but I'm wondering if that is too many castles! I will be using public transport, as I am traveling alone and really don't feel confident enough to navigate on my own. Second part of the trip is a mini break in the course, from July 17 - July 22. As part of the course, we'll have four days in Edinburgh prior to the break, so Scotland will be where I spend my break. For a change of pace, I was thinking of going for something more relaxing than fast-paced travel. The Isle of Skye looks lovely and peaceful, but the only problem is it seems you really need a car to explore it properly. I'm wondering if it would be better to take an organized tour, such as Rabbies or Macbackpackers, but I do like the freedom of solo touring. My interests are: castles, ancient sites (standing stones), nature walks (but not hardcore hikes), museums I would love any ideas or suggestions for North Wales and definitely need some advice on where to base myself in Scotland. (In full disclosure, I do have a guidebook for Wales, just recently decided to stay in Scotland for the break and haven't grabbed a book yet).

I don't know if I agree with any of it, but here's some random thoughts (none are biased in any way, I promise): Chester sucks, why you'd be going in and out of there a bunch of times is beyond imagination the Lake District is a tangent away from everywhere else and totally off the theme Flint isn't worth a glance Rhuddlan's only a little better and to go there from Conwy is backing up Megalithic Portal is the supreme guide to standing stones anywhere Edinburgh is a place with an airport the castles of south Wales are equal to those in the north rail doesn't work very well to get right up against the castles in the south Harlech ties with Chevalier as the best castle in the world - - you can only get to the first one these days the best stone circle in the UK is Callanish (Lewis) the second best stone circle in the UK is Brodgar (Mainland) Fat chance of finding out where I live. I'm tired of finding rattlesnakes in the mailbox.

If you are interested in standing stones and want a bit more quiet, then you could fly up to Orkney. You can stay in Kirkwall and take tours to the sites which are not that far. Or got for real peace and rent a car on the island for a few days. The Ring of Brogdar on the Island is really wonderful. Unlike Stonehenge you can walk among the stones. Nearby are the Standing Stones of Steness and Maeshowe. Check out this website for heritage info on Orkney. Another thought would be to take the train up to Inverness. Spend a day visiting Culloden and the Clava Cairns stone circle. You can get to both via public transit. Then either head west to Plockton and Skye on the train or head back south and stay in Dunkeld and go for lovely walks Tayside or in the hills. You can listen to music at the Taybank. Pam

Hi Bonnie, I don't know anything about Wales so I'll leave it to the crumudgon. However, I have been to Scotland. I would not recommend the Isle of Skye. It is okay, but way down the list of great places. Yes, you would need a car for there, and it would be far better to have one for anyplace in Scotland. If you don't have sightseeing time during your studies, I would definitely spend a day or two in Edinburgh. If you see it prior to the break, then I would suggest Sterling first followed by Inverness. Sterling has two wonderful castles, Stirling castle and the Monty Python Holy Grail castle. To get to Inverness, you would drive through Pitlochry and get a taste of the highlands. The cairn is okay and Cullodon is an open field. However, Cawdor Castle is wonderful; a very livable place with geraniums in every room. For scenery, Lock Ness is quite wonderful. While driving around it, we had our only highland cattle sighting. If you stay in Inverness, eat at the River Cafe.

The curmudgeon has been adomished by Mrs. Curmudgeon, told that he has no stinking couth, and reminded of the three hours he spent in the pencil museum in Keswick. Stick the Lake District back in. He was also told that his opinion of Chester sucks. Stick that back in. I'm aholdin' on to my opinions about Harlech, the stones, and the Megalithic Portal, matrimonial harmony be damned. Nuts!

Ed – I really value your opinion! I think will go with your wife's suggestions and keep in Chester, and I'm a little ambivalent about the tour to the Lake District – it is totally off theme, I discovered it when looking at what was in Chester, and having never been to the Lake District, I thought it might be a nice taster to see if that would be somewhere to visit in the future. Based on what you said, I'm thinking of skipping Flint and Rhuddlan, and with those days free I could add in a nature walk from Conwy. Callanish looks beautiful – I'm adding that to my research list, and thanks for the tip on the Megalithic Portal! Pamela and David– Thank you for those great suggestions, it's great to at least have a direction to get started with research – no matter what I'm definitely going to have a plan a trip to Scotland only in the near future to get to all these places I know want to visit. I do need to find out how much free time I'll have in Edinburgh; it seems I'll have the afternoons frees, but I'm not 100% certain I have a ton more research to do, I'm sure I'll be back with some more questions and itinerary refinement - thank you all for your help!

I think you've got something really workable now. I suspect Pam and I are the only serious humpers, at least as far as the UK goes. One of these days I'd like to tag along behind her and see where she goes under the pretext of cleaning her boots at night. The problem is that we each seem to have our own little corners and there's nobody to argue with. So sticking my neck out alone on the Conwy nature walk idea: If you walk downstream from the bridge/castle along the left bank you can turn the corner at the bay and walk along the bay / Irish Sea until you're half-pooped. If you get to the next headland you can see, you will have walked about three miles. If you quit just before it, you can hop the berm and walk a shorter distance back through the beach parking lot and the caravan park, coming out at the marina you passed in the first mile. Go much further and you have to walk the beach back or use the little path beside the freeway. Don't try to walk through the railway tunnel - - it's tight and dark and might be full of trolls. This is a flat walk with the usual crabs and littoral vegetation. Within two miles roughly WSW there are a batch of stone circles and hill forts. You can hive them out on the Megalithic Portal. You can walk up the farm roads, but they're steep. Other than the crops, you'll see a change to upland vegetation but nothing bigger than rabbits, partridge and maybe a pheasant. The British have an open land policy which means you can walk into the fields and pastures, hop a fence, whatever, as long as you don't dork with the animals or tromp crops, and put gates back the way you found them.

The third idea is more a spot than a walk. Take the bus/train out to Holyhead. It's probably an hour, but that's a guess since I either drive or walk. (Crossing the bridge over the Menai Strait makes the trip worthwhile in itself.) Once you get there you walk due west (but the roads wiggle) for about three miles until you see a lighthouse and a sea stack. Just before you get to the stack you'll pass a nature reserve. Once you get there you'll see a little bridge out onto the stack (I think it's called South Stack). The place is a bird rock and really amazing. According to rumors, literature, and Welsh liars, the place is replete with puffins. I've never seen one, and man, have I tried - - all over the world. Now for the hard part. Callanish is going to take some work. CalMac is the ferry line. To get to Lewis you have to take the ferry from Ullapool to Storonway. With the ferry schedule you'd have to spend the night (Heb Hostel is a neat place. Mixed dorm rooms are about twenty bucks a night. It's about a quarter mile from the terminal.) Buses leave from the terminal and go out to Callanish. That's all I know and it came from a gal I shared a dorm with. The ferry was steep with a car, I don't have any idea what the foot pax rate would be.

If you love walks and you are anywhere near part of Offa's Dyke, I recommend you walk along part of that. No one is positive whether it was built to keep the English out or the Cymri (Welsh) in. My great-grandmother used to tell stories about being a girl in Wales and throwing stones on the English soldiers while hiding behind the bushes on the Dyke. She was only 9 when she came to this country so I doubt the stones were very big or did much harm or even sure if the story came more from her imagination than actual fact, but she loved to tell it and as small girls we loved to listen. My sister and I were in Wales a few years ago and walked along the part of the Dyke where she came from (in Montgomeryshire) and really enjoyed it.

Yippee! Another brain in the mix. I was bore-sighted in one direction. The northern terminus of the Dyke Path is within inches of the Prestatyn train station (thirty minute cheap ride, maybe). The first mile is actually through mostly residential area, but you're so blocked in by vegetation that you won't know it. Once you're past the golf course it's all country.

Thank you again Ed and also Laurie! I've copied down the walks, and will just hope for at least one nice sunny day to spend outdoors.

"'Cullodon is an open field' is an odd thing to say" People travel for lots of different reasons and with different goals in mind. As Keith so aptly pointed out, many historic battlefields are just open fields to some of us. Maybe we're just visiting a particular country for it's scenic beauty and unique experiences (such as a 'heeland coo' sighting). It's all relative, a matter of style. Where one sees an open field, another sees (with his mind) and feels (with his heart)the history of a place. I do have to say that, even though I have absolutley no Scottish or English blood flowing in my veins, when I was walking over the field at Cullodon I was very moved. Mostly because before my trip to Scotland I did a lot of reading about the Highlands/Clans and their history. OK,OK I know this is a little off the track of the OP's original question but I had to say something.

To say that "Cullodon is an open field" is to forget its history. It is to forget the Scots pushed the English down to nearly London where the king had a boat waiting to take him to France. It is to forget the ragged and tattered Scots had fought long and hard, and wanted to return to their lassies, oat cakes and single malt. It is to forget the English pushed them all the way back to Cullodon and then murdered them to a man. It is to forget the museum there, and the little stone house that served as a field hospital. It is to forget the monument to the brave Scots, the memorial stones where the clans fell. It is to not have walked on the pathways through the native vegetation part of the park where the battle raged. It is to not have felt the terrible massacre set upon the Scots by the English who then occupied Scotland and still do to this day. "An open field", I don't think so. When we were there I picked some seeds from a roan tree by the MacIntosh clan memorial stone, started a tree from one of the seeds and gave it to an old friend of mine who's surname is MacIntosh.