Durham is a really nice place, here are some pics of the cathedral incase you don’t get to see it (careful, they are big)
The cathedral viewed over kingsgate footbridge (next to the student’s union)
The cathedral main window from a closer view
If you happen to be here when I am around, I can certainly offer a pint or two (seems like you could almost drink your way around the UK courtesy of dopers 
).
If you’re planning on visiting Cornwall make sure you take a detour and have a look at Dartmoor as well - it’s beautiful. I live in Plymouth, which is right to the south of the moor, and am always up there walking. It really is a beautiful part of the country 
There are any number of reasons why I love this place, and you guys are prime examples.
From the looks of things, I might be better off figuring out how my “places to go” clump, finding several central points to stay in, and doing buses or something out of them each day. Maybe I should do a zig-zag up the spine of the island? Obviously, I need to spend a bit of time with maps and a good tour guide book. Off to the bookstore! Not that I need an excuse.
I’ve booked a flight with Virgin Atlantic into Heathrow on the 14th of May; they tell me I get a nice little bag with things like a toothbrush and paste in it, so that’s one less thing I have to buy there.
From there I’ll probably tube to London and a place to stay for the next few days. Brackley is, I think, a day trip from there, as would be Caimbridge and maybe even Oxford (different days, obviously). Then a swing down to Cornwall for a day or two, then another up towards Sutton Hoo and Dover (are they near each other? gonna have to check the map!), then across to Wales, passing through Stonehenge on the way, and up to Scotland, and come back down through York, Salisbury, and anything else I can think of, winding up back in London.
Now to get the passport and some shoes made–I’d like to do a bit of walking, and while the shoes I have are okay for short walks I’d hate to do long ones in them. (I’ve a small foot with high arches, which makes finding a shoe that fits properly difficult.)
If at all possible, I’d like to meet each and every one of you (don’t want much, do I?). I’m not much for beer, but I’ll happily drink soda while you have your pints. My e-mail is in my profile, so anyone who wants to get in more direct contact with me, can.
Oooo! There are places where I can get access to the 'net, right? I’m not planning on bringing my laptop; it’s OLD, it’s heavy, and I don’t want to have to reconfigure it at every hotel or bed & breakfast that might offer access from rooms.
BTW, Rayne Man, thanks for the corrections :o --I knew I was forgetting something, and obviously it was looking up geographic info. I’ve always been bad at geography. Isn’t there a Doper on the Isle of Man?
I can’t believe I’m doing this. On the one hand, I’m like a 6-year-old right before Christmas with joy and anticipation. On the other hand–I’m a little scared. I’ve never done anything like this before, and this is the first time in my life that I’m flying overseas by myself. Books. Need to bring books. And ship them back parcel post, yes. . . .
Sorry. Dithering. Also bouncing with glee. Oh, man, oh, man.
Yep, you’d better check that map a suitable option would be from London to Sutton Hoo then across to Cambridge (Ipswich-Camb is little over an hour), then on to Wales. Stonehenge is more on the Cornwall route, as is Salisbury. In fact, as I think about it, I’d probably revise the schedule into a general anticlockwise route as follows:
London - Sailbury (Stonehenge is close by) - Cornwall - Wales - Scotland - Durham (it’s on the route) - York - Cambridge - Sutton Hoo - London. Dover is in the other direction from everything else, so it’s a separate trip from London.
Oh aye. Aside from Internet Cafés, most towns (and these days, I suppose, quite a few small villages) have free internet access available at the local public library.
In some places, however, you need a library card to use their internet PCs. Maybe if you ask the librarian nicely…
Unless it’s Alderley Edge, which is in Cheshire.
Despite its fame in certain quarters, there really isn’t a great deal to see or do in the village. The Edge itself is worth hiking up for the views over the area, but that’s really about it. At least the place is conveniently on the local Crewe-Manchester rail line.
It’s Alderly Edge I mean, yes. And the view is what I’d be going for. Much as I love art and architecture, I don’t want to spend the entire time indoors!
And I’m back from the bookstore with a huge Michelin map of Britain and two of Rick Stevens’ guide books, so I think I’ll go spend some time with those.
[hijack]
Not being the OP, I won’t attempt to take you up on this for my own visit in June… but is The Turf still one of the best pubs to hit over there? And is there any remaining history of the old Morrell’s Brewery remaining at The Brewery Gate? (I know that the latter has gone gay recently but that doesn’t matter to me). [/hijack]
No way, so do I! I thought I was the only one! Whereabouts are you?
I’m in St Judes - just off Salisbury Road. Where are you?
Things are starting to gel, if only in my mind. I’ve spent the last couple of days sticking pins in a map of Great Britain, trying to see where things clump or maybe have a usable central point, and then revising (and revising) my list of things to see. So far this is what I have.
[ul]
[li]Arrive Heathrow 20:00 (this is good–I thought the ticket agent had said 23:00 or so, and I was wondering if I could find a decent, inexpensive hotel that had a front desk open 24 hours a day)[/li][li]Based out of London, where it looks very much as if I’ll be staying for almost a week, depending on how long the in-City site-seeing takes.[/li][list][li]HM Tower of London[/li][li]British Museum[/li][li]British Library[/li][li]Tower Bridge[/li][li]Changing of the Guard[/li][li]many s/h book shops (I’m actually looking for a particular book of nursery rhymes I had when I was little. It was purchased while we were in England. My Mom gave it away, and I want a replacement.)[/li][li]Sutton Hoo (day trip)[/li][li]Cambridge or Dover (day trip)[/li][li]Oxford (day trip–Steve Wright is the guided tour offer still open?)[/li][li]Brackley (day trip, tentative)[/ul][/li]garius, paulbeserker, if you could give me some sense of how long this would take, it would help my scheduling a lot. garius, if your tour guide offer is still open, I’d love to take you up on it. And perhaps paulberserker could join us at some point?
[li]From London to Exeter/Tintagel–tentative, as I have a feeling this is an overnight trip if I want to see both the castle and the Cathedral. Jennyrosity, do you have any ideas on how long I’d need to spend in either or both so that I can enjoy them without feeling rushed?[/li][li]From Exeter to Bath, with a day or three in Bath to see the Baths, Wroxeter/Viroconium, Glastonbury, and Avebury/Stonehenge.[/li][li]From Bath to Hay-on-Wye (thanks, GorillaMan!) I expect I’d have to overnight again, just to be able to see all the stores![/li][li]From Hay-on-Wye to Bangor [/li]Base myself in Bangor to see[ul]
[li]Bangor[/li][li]Conwyn[/li][li]Angelesy[/li][li]Mt. Snowden[/ul][/li]Sorry, SentientMeat, but right now I don’t think Cardiff is in the cards. 
[li]From Bangor to Durham[/li][ul]
[li] Durham Cathedral[/li][li]Housesteads Fort[/li][li]Vindolanda[/ul] [/li]The last two should cover my Hadrian’s Wall fix. Should that be a whole day, or should I overnight?
[li]From Durham to Edinburgh[/li]I definitely want to see Mary King’s Close and the Royal Mile. Edinburgh Castle may be added depending on time and expenses. Hey, SpaceDog, would you care to join me on a Mary King’s Close tour? I’d love the company. Or perhaps I could just meet up with you and Meurglys on one of the evenings?
[li]From Edinburgh to Inverness[/li]Loch Ness, of course, and Urquhart Castle.
[li]From Inverness back to London[/li][/list]
My low-end estimates are 7 days in London, 2 days in Bath, 2 days in Hay-on-Wye, 2 days in Bangor, 2 days in Durham, 3 days in Edinburgh, and 1 day in Inverness, for a total of 19 days not including travel. This leaves me (gracious!) with 11 full days for traveling between my main sites.
My high-end estimates are 7 days in London (still), 2 days in Exeter/Tintagel, 3 days in Bath, 3 days in Hay-on-Wye, 3 days in Bangor, 3 days in Durham, 4 days in Edinburgh, and 2 days in Inverness, for a total of 27 days not including travel. This leaves me (eep!) with 3 full days for traveling between my main sites.
Anyone who can help me refine time estimates would be profusely thanked. If I also happen to meet up with you during the course of the tour, I’d also give a backrub. I give good backrubs.
I’m still having trouble estimating travel times between sites. It seems that with British Rail all privatized, there’s no easy way to discover schedules and fares between stops anymore. Still, since I’ll be spending at least a week in London, I should be able to get better information from the Tourist Information places, right? And then I can make arrangements for travel and lodging. I think I’ll also be getting the 8 trips/2 months FlexiPass (should just cover the major trips). What I can’t determine yet is if I’d be better off getting point-to-point tickets for my London day trips or if I should get the Days Out from London pass (4 days in 8 days). And I expect the London Visitor’s Travel Card for bus & tube is a Good Thing[sup]TM[/sup].
I cannot believe I’m doing all this planning.
To plan journeys by train look at www.nationalrail.co.uk, they can tell you train times, durations, number of changes and fares .
You have to go to the V and A ( Victoria and Albert) in London, it is the BEST.
You might want to reconsider hiring a car.
I had thought about renting a car, but I’m uncertain about adapting to both a right-hand drive car and a keep left road at the same time. Not only that, but renting a car for 3 weeks could run £600 or more, not including the gas, CDW insurance, and quite possibly taxes. (3 weeks because having a car in London strikes me as pretty useless.) Rail works out cheaper, and I don’t have to worry about missing my turns!
If you would like, we can certainly throw together at least an impromptu Londope in your honour, but be warned that it can be dangerous to get between paulberserker and a full pint glass.
Be aware that some of the sites mentioned are pretty much in the middle of nowhere, far from the railways. Stonehenge has the double whammy of being far from the railways but right on a major road intersection (you’d think the Druids could have found a better spot to build it). Very annoying. Also, is Hay-on-Wye on a rail route? Certainly getting from there to Bangor will be a journey and a half.
For London sightseeing, you might consider taking one of the hop-on, hop-off tour buses (open-topped or otherwise); they go by all the main sights, and your ticket is good for a day (or 24 hours or something like that). You can get off the bus to see what you want, then back on as you like; or you can just take a quick snapshot as you go by.
[Clark Griswold]
There’s Big Ben, kids! Houses of Parliament!
[/CG]
Do NOT attempt to see everything in the British Museum. I mean this. Your head will explode. Check the maps and special exhibitions index before you go in and pick a few rooms which look interesting.
Did you know you can go into Tower Bridge? There’s a fee, but there’s a little museumy thing in it, and you can walk across the upper walkway (or so I’ve heard).
Bath is a lovely city; I recommend it highly. And when on your personal Steve Wright-guided tour of Oxford, be sure to stop by that pub by New College (IIRC). Steve’ll know the one.
On another note: beware pickpockets and other light-fingered sorts; try to keep wallets and vauable whatnots in inner pockets, and all bags fastened and in plain sight (and that means not hanging your bag on the back of your chair unless you’re by the wall). You don’t have to be excessively paranoid, but sensible precautions are recommended; I myself have foiled several pickpocketing attempts by these methods.
I think you’re right not to bother with a car. It’d take longer to get places than by train, and you don’t get to look at the scenery! I think with most of the journies you’re planning, you should be able to get the first train of the day, and arrive by lunchtime leaving the rest of the day free.
Another point - on the National Rail website linked by hybrid-dogfish, check the ‘service alterations’ page. Engineering work tends to be done at weekends, resulting in trains being replaced by buses, which is something to be avoided if at all possible. That page should let you know everything that’s happening.
For the Scottish leg, Edinburgh to Inverness by train takes around 3+1/2 hours. Urquhart Castle is a good bit down the side of Loch Ness but there is a good regular bus service which takes just over 1/2 hour, so it’s an easy trip from Inverness…
To see more scenery, you could continue the same bus route down to Fort William, which takes another 1+1/2 hours or so. But this would mean carrying all your luggage about, I suppose…
Fort William isn’t that great, IMO, but it’s right beside Ben Nevis and you’d get to see some of the west coast. A train back south to Glasgow (through more scenery!) takes about 3+1/2 hours. From there, you can either come back to Edinburgh (50 mins, by pretty frequent train, or slightly cheaper bus (1 hour)), or take a London train.
Most evenings, except Friday, and any time on a Sunday would be good for me.
I work within 1/4 mile of the Castle/Royal Mile so meeting up should be fairly easy.
Mike
I would never get between anyone and their beverage of choice. I’d love a chance to meet the Londopers; it’s kinda fun to be the excuse for a party! The only thing that concerns me is . . . well, I’m allergic to tobacco smoke. Do the pubs have non-smoking sections, or is that a US peculiarity?
I’m in luck. There’s a lovely tour going out of London on 20 May that covers Avebury, the West Kennet Long Barrow, Silbury Hill (?), and last Stonehenge–and we get to go INTO the circle!! I am so booking this, right now.
I don’t know. There must be at least a bus route, though. This is one of those Tourist Information questions, obviously. If I can’t work HoW in, I may have to skip it and go straight (as possible) to Bangor.
Good idea. I’ll certainly do that.
Much as I’d like to spend the entire week there, I can’t. I figured on the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek rooms, and then rooms 41 and 50 for Sutton Hoo and some Roman stuff.
No! I hadn’t heard that. How cool.
I’m getting a money belt, amongst other things. And what you describe is pretty much what I already do here. We’ve our share of snatch-and-grab folks.
