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London to Scottland

Hello All-

My wife and I are headed to London in early July. We arrive in London early on the 4th and leave the morning of the 8th...a short but hopefully sweet trip. We are thinking of catching a train (as soon as we land in London) up to Scotland and staying one night and back to London on the next evening. We own horses (my wife rides, I do very occasionally) and I love single malt Scotch. I'm looking for advice:

  1. Is the overnight trip to Scotland sound feasible and worth it (being the trip is so short and all)
  2. Where should we go in Scotland? I'm thinking somewhere in the South...somewhere with Scottish Ponies and Scotch! Perhaps something out in the county, B&B??
  3. Where can I purchase a train ticket?

Thank you so much for you time!! I have a friend who is playing in the Live Earth concert at Wimbley Stadium and on a whim booked tickets to London last week. I can't wait!

Thanks.

Charles

Posted by
389 posts

Hey Charles, I can't imagine a trip that short! If I were trying to run up and back I'd either a) fly to Edinburgh or Aberdeen or b) take a night train so as not to lose a single minute of active time. The night train is do-able, but costs more than the low cost airlines that fly between London and Scotland.

The ponies and the scotch should be available in many places. Check out www.scotlandwhisky.com/ and from there you should be able to look at accommodations with the riding symbol in their advertisement. Good luck.

Posted by
3428 posts

It is a 5 hour+ train ride from London to Edinburgh- the most get-at-able Scottish city. And you WILL want much more time than what you have planned. But you could do it just to get a taste. I agree that it would be better to fly. We have done that before. July is a great time to be in Scotland- in fact my husband and I will be there in mid-July. If you want suggesstions/ideas just let me know.

Posted by
505 posts

It's only about 4.5 hours to Edinburgh, but it does depend on whether there are railworks or other diversions. Still faster than the airports given that you have to leave time to get to the airport, through security etc. However, the cheaper train (or plane) tickets are probably not available anymore for those dates.

I know plenty of people who have done overnight trips down to London. If you leave early in the morning, you can be in London by noon. But you are probably best spending that time in London - you can get Scotch there, and I'm not sure there's any place to really see 'Scottish ponies'. There are horses around, but nothing particularly special - the only Scottish breed I know is the Shetland Pony, and the Shetlands are a whole trip on their own.

Kate

Posted by
3 posts

I'm starting to think we should just stick to London and the surrounding areas. Thanks for your thoughts!