London, Yorkshire, Cornwall in 9 days - are we crazy?

Yes Cornwall is too far in 9 days especially in fall when the days are way shorter. You are sensible to take the train and rent car when you are in Yorkshire. Your travel day to Yorkshire could take most of a day (check out of hotel, get to station, purchase tickets, train trip, get to hotel, meals, rent car). Make sure the hotel you book in Leeds or York offers parking.

Too far. Save for another trip.

London for most of the time, train to York and overnight, rent a car next day or two for the Dales, drive back to York and train to London, rest of the time (if any) in London. Cornwall is a long way, train takes most of a day each way, and driving is slow because of the terrain and few fast roads. Save it for another trip that focuses on the west of England.

And, yes, daylight will be scarce in those northern latitudes in late October. That won't matter much in London but it will in the countryside.

plus the 10th day to get to Heathrow for late afternoon flight home.

This makes it sound like you're willing to start in a distant city such as York and use the day traveling to London and then to Heathrow. I guess it depends on your tolerance for risk. I'd be concerned about a train strike or some other delay causing us to miss the flight.

Hi Anne -

At the risk of being accused of bias, I would agree that trying to fit both the Yorkshire Dales and Cornwall into the same trip in the time you have is spreading yourself much too thin and is unlikely to do much justice to either region. If you have decided the Dales are a must, then stick with that (bias now on full display). As a ‘native’ if there’s anything you think I might be able to help with or advise on, please feel free to ask, either here or by PM.

One final thing. If your flight home is late afternoon from Heathrow, I would definitely want to be at Heathrow the evening before the day of departure, and stay overnight. To attempt a trip from the north on the same day is too much like flying by the seat of your pants for someone as risk averse as me. Plus you may still be having to factor in the continuing rail strikes, so I would ease any tension that attempting same day as departure travel might incur by allowing yourself a little ‘wriggle room’!

Other than that, have a great trip!

Ian

P.S. Book your rail tickets in advance. If you buy as ‘walk ups’ on the day, they’ll have your eyes……

At first I thought your post was one I had posted earlier. We are in the UK now (for 14 days) traveling on the LNER from Edinburgh to York. We started with 4 days in London (if you’ve never been, the time will evaporate and you will wish you had more time, so much to see), then took the rail to Glasgow and rented a car. Then drove up to Oban overnight, spent the next day driving in the Highlands, and back to Glasgow. Took train to Edinburgh for 4 days, now on our way to York for 2, then back to London on Friday morning as we fly out on Saturday. So this gives you an idea of what can be accomplished. I push hard when I travel and I’m nearly exhausting my travel companions, but they are seeing a lot. The trains are wonderful, and if you buy first class tickets (recommend) you may get a meal on the train. The meals are very nice and plenty of food, as well as coffee, tea, water. Originally, a strike was planned for the day we were scheduled to leave York. I spoke to someone at the LNER ticket desk and he said that “some trains” will be running even during the strike, but you may have to take a later train and if a strike is announced you have to keep a close eye on time changes. It may be earlier or later. Trying to get back into London and out to Heathrow to fly out on same day is madness in my opinion. Maybe it would work if your train goes into Heathrow, but if you’re coming from York, I think you can only get into Kings Cross. Then you have to get to Heathrow. Figure 2 hours if things go well, 4 if there are issues. When we landed at Heathrow last week they had the tube down for maintenance and we had to walk a distance and get on buses to get into Kings Cross, where our hotel was. Cornwall - that’s an entirely different trip. Don’t even try it. You will see nothing except transportation.

I can't speak to your other locations, but I would want more time in London.

I would think about heading to Yorkshire upon landing, staying there 3 nights, then staying in London for your final 6 nights. That way you're in London for your last night and it saves you another transit day.

We spent 10 days in London in April with 2 day trips and were happy to have the time. There is tons to see!

Enjoy!

PQ

Sbritt that doesn't sound like a vacation to me, more like a military campaign...