Originally Posted by
Jenbel
Yeah but the A1 really isn't that lovely, nor is the A19. The M6/M74 has a nice hour and the best services in the country - mmmm cake, and then quickly descends into monotonous Midland motorway madness.
4.5 hours for me from York to Perth - and 4 hours from York to LHR, hence the estimate of 8...probably 7 is more like as I forgot to take off the EDI-Perth 45 mins.
However, the point still stands that to do a one day trip to Edinburgh, and to decide to drive one way just doesn't compute. You'd be 7-12 hours on the road - depending on how many stop offs you do. The journey in the opposite direction would take 4-5 hours. And you need to sleep 6-8 hours... that's pretty much an entire day, and you haven't been able to spend any time in Edinburgh!
That's what I was thinking, too.
Originally Posted by
emma69
My theory was based on the fact that flying is quicker (so you save 3 hours flight v train) plus you don't have the extra hour or so from Heathrow into London first (4 hours saved) which would mean the 7-8 hour drive back down is no more in real time than going from Heathrow into London, then train up to Edinburgh - i.e. if you work the timings correctly it should result in the same time able to be spent in Edinburgh. If the OP gets in Thursday morning, presumably by the time they get to Edinburgh it would be afternoon, so I thought they would be fly up Thurs am, afternoon in Edinburgh, overnight at a hotel, morning in Edinburgh, then drive back in the afternoon, with a stop or two, arriving in London the Friday evening.
Coming back down, you could leave in the afternoon, stop off at a couple of places (eg Berwick) and then do the rest of the more boring bits (Midlands down) in the dark. If two people are travelling, one could sleep for a couple of hours while the other drives.
Good point here, too.
However, the driving idea just isn't going to happen. It would take too much time, but the main reason would be that I would have to do all of the driving (knowing my traveling companion as I do) and I'd want to watch the scenery rather than the road. Also, I may be very tired after all of this traveling. That, combined with trying to remember to drive on the left (which I have not done before) and looking at the wonderful scenery at the same time is a recipe for disaster. Sincerely - as I do not want to cause any traffic incidents for all of you nice people who must travel some of these same roads, I believe I'll pass on the driving idea. Thank you for the suggestion, however.
Right now, I'm leaning toward flying up on arrival day-Thursday from LHR (trip insurance idea in mind, thanks!), staying overnight, and taking a reasonably late in the day train to London the next day. We don't want to arrive at midnight, but late enough to ensure that we've had a decent amount of time in Edinburgh before departing. There won't be a lot of time for wandering outside the city, probably, but I hope we'll get a nice taste of it at least.
Still pondering the possibilities...and grateful for your help!
