I have a couple of questions as we plan our U.K. itinerary. We are thinking about visiting Wells and Glastonbury en route from Bath to Dartmoor (we will be traveling by rental car). Is this a reasonable plan? (In his Britain book Rick suggest those two plus Avebury as a day trip from Bath, so I would have to think just the two would be fine.) Also, we are thinking of dropping the car at Heathrow after visiting Windsor castle. Does this sounds like a good plan or do things get too crazy around Heathrow? I have flown in and out of there many times and do not recall it as someplace that I would have trouble driving into and out of. (We had a nightmare experience trying to drop a car at Orly outside of Paris in 2010, accidentally drove into Paris itself twice trying to find the airport. I would hate to miss an exit and end up in a dense part of London, but based on maps and experience I don't see this being an issue. Can someone who's done it please confirm Heathrow is far enough out it's easy to drop a car there? I have driven a lot in Europe, including England and Ireland, so it's not that the whole notion of driving there scares me, I just don't want to repeat the Orly experience. Admittedly, that was due to lack of a good map for Ile de France and lack of adequate signage as we approached Paris.
Posted by
Galt, Calif., UK
214 posts
If you have driven before then you will be fine, Wells and Glastonbury are not far from Bath and are good stops. Wells Cathedral is tough to park near so you will prob have to park in town center and walk the short distance to the Cathedral. There is a path that leads to a hill behind the cathedral, cross over the road and climb to the top of the hill for fantastic views of the town. Car rental return is really easy at LHR, just take the Terminal 5 exit off the M-25 and you will be fine following signs to the car rental returns on the other side of Terminal 5 ( they are all along the northern perimeter fence of the airport) and the shuttles drop you at the terminals for transport into London.
Posted by
Gig Harbor, Washington, USA
1862 posts
Yes it is easy to return a rental car at LHR, especially since you are approaching it from the west. The only thing that we found annoying was getting a cab to come to the rental car return location, since we wanted to go into London and had a lot of luggage......Wells and Glastonbury are only about twenty miles apart. Both are small towns and it's not that hard to park, although you might have to walk a half mile or so. In Wells, be sure to go around to the left side and see the lovely row of old homes. In Glastonbury, don't miss the Tor as well as the Abbey.....Also worth a stop in that part of England are Salisbury and Winchester - it's very interesting to compare the two cathedrals.