<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by RGreenPC:
I am getting a feeling that renting (oops hire) a car may not be my best bet - except maybe the trip from London to Edinburg -
</font>
Consider the time/cost of each mode for where you want to visit. Scotland you need a car but down south their are other options.
If you know exactly when and where you want to travel then first class rail travel is cheap .. just need to book a couple of months in advance (ie Paddington<->Bath 40GBP FC ..
www.thetrainline.com 3 month APEX fare). Travelling FC by rail and bags are little problem .. plenty of space and help with them, plus the carriage you are in is closest to the barrier.
I still would say that doing a 1,000+ mile round trip from the capital to Scotland is not a good idea if only from a cost perspective although I do appreciate the touring aspect of the journey.