Travelling from Scotland to Wales

In My Humble Opinion
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In September, a close friend and I are celebrating our :eek: 40th birthdays by traveling to the UK to see the International Sheepdog Trial (SQUEE!!!).

The trial is in Cardiff, Wales and we plan on catching the last two days of it. Cardiff seems like a great place, beaches, castles, pubs. We found what looks to be a very laid-back B &B that looks great. We’re covered for about three-four days.

However, we would like to also see a few sights. Tentatively, we will probably have, not counting travel days, 4 more days of sightseeing. Our plan right now is to arrive in Edinburgh or Glasgow, rent a car and drive down the west side of the UK towards Wales, seeing what we’d can on a a relatively modest budget. Both of us are laid back and will be happy seeing 1-2 sites a day and then going to the pub.

So far, the Lake District looks like it might be convenient and gorgeous. Greyfriar’s Cemetery in Edinburgh, whichever castles are also convenient (seems like you can close your eyes and pick, almost.) also appeal to us. We both will be happy with pub fare and beer and don’t need much in the way of guided tours unless there’s something really awesome we shouldn’t miss. I am a bit of an English history and literature nerd - the only thing I’m not interested in over there is current royalty or the Victorians. Otherwise, I have always been fascinated by The Tudors (before the TV show of course :wink: and very early history - when the Romans occupied and before. I do believe we may end up a quick day in London depending on our flight plans.

Just fielding for ideas… what shouldn’t we pass up on our route to Cardiff?

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If you hire a car in Edinburgh, have a sat nav. Edinburgh is not that large, but it can be a bastard of a place to get out of.

By the Greyfriars Cemetery, I assume you mean the place where the owner is buried? The dog I think is at the front of the place. It is nice and there is a fine tavern as well- Greyfriars Bobby Inn I think it is called. I have a menu from the place. I asked a staff member if I could buy one and he donated it for me buying him a pint.

Enjoy!

We have members from Edinburgh here who can help.

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Conwy Castle is pretty cool.

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Your nearest bit of Hadrian’s Wall is always good for a look.

And Warwick Castle’s nice, if a bit out of the way (not too bad if you’re going via Birmingham).

Cardiff is good, too, and I like the folk life museum there with all the reconstructed buildings.

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The Lake District is very beautiful. However the roads tend toward the narrow, twisty and very very steep. It may take you longer to get where you’re going than you expect. I gather that this is true of many UK roads from a US perspective of course, but the roads of the Lake District strike us natives like that. See Wrynose Pass.

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Count on one full day of driving: it’s about 400 miles. Stop at Carlisle for Hadrian’s Wall. Chester was also a Roman town. Be careful to avoid the rush hours near Manchester and Birmingham.

And if you go near Hereford, beware the Hooligans. :smiley:

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When you’re in Edinburgh, come visit!
I’ve moved since Cicero visited me and I now work even closer to Greyfriars Churchyard - it’s probably less than 50 yards away!

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My wife and I went to Wales for our honeymoon in September of '11. Two of our favorite places were Raglan Castle and Tintern Abbey.

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Tintern Abbey is indeed lovely.

Also, ignore the comment upthread- Hereford is a very pretty place and the Cathedral is worth a look, along with its Mappa Mundi. ‘The Spread Eagle’ does a nice lunch there, too.

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I’ve sent you a PM, btw, LVBoPeep…

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Another option worth considering is driving down the East Coast from Edinburgh. Perhaps taking in Holy Island, Bamburgh, Newcastle, Durham. Then passing over the Pennines on the A66 and hitting the lakes from that direction.
It would be perhaps 50-60 miles longer but I think it may give you more to see. (I’d humbly submit the beach at Bamburgh as one of the most beautiful in the world)

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Thanks all for the suggestions. Sorry I didn’t reply as we were just checking out the Grand Canyon and got back yesterday :).
I think we plan on driving a couple of hours per day, stay at a new place every night until we get to Cardiff. I did suspect the roads into the Lake District might be a little bit daunting. We aren’t committed to it but to see a slice of them would be nice. Thank you very much Meurglys for the invitation, which we may take you up on and Turek for the images :).

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Please be aware that although it doesn’t look it, compared to America, the distances between places in the UK are deceptive, it can take a lot longer than you might think to go from A to B. From memory of doing a similar trip; Edinburgh/Glasgow to Cardiff would take a full day to drive (or as near as).

I remember some American relations being shocked that it took 3 hours to drive to St Andrews (to see the golf course) from Stirling. They’d looked at a map and thought “meh, 5 minutes”

Can’t advise on what to see or do though, been too long since I was there!

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Just wanted to toss another idea into the mix. You could easily spend four days just in Edinburgh, and you can get a one way flight with flyBe direct from Edinburgh to Cardiff for £40 each. You would miss out on the Lake District and sights in between, but you would also not have the hassle of driving - or the considerable expense of car hire and fuel.

I’m also in Edinburgh - let me know if you need any logistical info.

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In the Lake District, it’s easy enough to get to some very nice areas without braving any of the real ‘interesting’ roads. There is one advantage to the tiny ones though, if you’re used to driving on the other side of the road- you don’t need to remember which side to be on, just drive down the middle 'cos they’re only one car wide :smiley:

Chester is definitely worth a look if you’re interested in history- though quite a bit is recreated, there’s a lot of original Roman sites around- some easier to find than others. If you do go that way, I’d suggest driving from Chester through Wales would be a much nicer option than going back to the motorway then down via Birmingham- it really is easy to get stuck in traffic by Birmingham for hours, it’s sort of the country’s bottleneck, and there’s nothing interesting to see for most of the trip; just grassy banks.

Filbert- who attempted to go up the Wrynose Pass in the snow a few weeks after buying her first car as a teenager. :smack:

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Eh? Were they driving a tractor? It’s only 50-odd miles.

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Maybe the golf was on - there can be serious tailbacks…

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Not that many ideas yet, so I thought I’d add some, though a little late (sorry, hadn’t seen the thread, but think it could do with some more travel ideas).

Spend some time in Edinburgh, it is gorgeous. A tour not to miss is a look around the underground city. When the city expanded inside its own walls, they started building underground. Many buildings go down to several underground floors, vaulted and scary. Eventually a whole underground city was built, prostitutes and pickpockets galore, with underground streets running between buildings. It’s really interesting to see, and plenty of pubs as well :wink: In September you’ll just miss the crowds of the Ed Fringe.

On the way down, you might want to stop off at a nice whisky distillery? There are many interesting historical places, often very beautiful, with tours (I know, sorry, you don’t really want tours) and tastings. There’s Islay, an island with very interesting historical distilleries. It’s a little out of the way though.

I have to second the Lake District, beautiful place and very friendly B&Bs. You’ll get used to the driving, just make sure to ask for an automatic transmission (even if you’re used to a stick, shifting with your left hand is really different IMHO).

In the North West you might want to look into the history of the cotton industry. There are some really good books and some museums. I know you said you didn’t like the Victorians, but it’s still historically very interesting to see effects of the cotton mills, the industrial revolution etc. And then there are always pubs…

Wales can be lovely, or it can be really bleak (the towns). The countryside is beautiful, and there are plenty of castles to see. If you head out into the countryside there you’ll be likely to find some real-life sheepdog work.

I personally find Cardiff a bit depressing, I’d not spend too much time there and just go for the trials. If you’re a Whovian: it’s filmed on the outskirts of Cardiff in a place called Penarth. A pretty place, you might even run into a shoot.

Have you come any further with your plans?

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Thanks very much for the ideas and since we don’t even have the flight plan set in stone yet, please keep them coming :).

Edinburgh is likely going to win over Glasgow and I forgot about the underground tunnels and we would be down for that. We are going to be seeing the ultimate sheepdog work (ISDS International Sheepdog trial) so we aren’t worried about getting real life work in- it doesn’t get any better than that. The trial is held in the Vale of Glamorgan which seems like it will have at least a day or two worth of non-sheepdog touristy things.

Will definitely look into the island of whiskey tasting :D. That sounds awesome.

And by Whovian…do you mean Dr. Who? I’ve watched a few episodes and liked it but haven’t gotten very much into it. I don’t think we will be spending very much time in Cardiff itself, it’s just the closest major city for reference.

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If the plan is to spend a few days in Edinburgh, I’d suggest that you don’t bother with your rental car until you’re actually ready to set off on your drive. A car isn’t necessary in the city, and actually could be a nuisance. Unlike the shambles that is the Glasgow/west of Scotland bus system, the one in Edinburgh is pretty decent.

I’d be tempted, in fact, to head back to the airport and collect the car from there. It’s on the west of the city, which would be best for hitting the M8 west toward the southbound motorway M74.