UK members (esp Scots) help me plan my trip

[AnnieA]

I'm trying to decide between late spring or early fall. Plan to fly in and out of London for the trip. Lincoln is on the itinerary because of several genealogical connections. Looking at lodging prices, I think heading straight from London to Lincoln and taking a few extra days there to recuperate from jet lag is the wisest course. Then will head back to London for a few days, then take the train from London to Scotland where I plan to spend the bulk of my time. Total trip time 2-3 weeks.

Will spend most of my time in the Highlands and Islands in Scotland since I also have several documented paper trails linking to that area, so that's the weather advice I need. Know it's unpredictable there and rarely gets truly warm--esp for a visitor from Mississippi! So for that part of Scotland, which is best? Late spring or early fall?

 

[hollydolly]

That's quite a trip Annie, what do you actually want to know most about? ...what time of the year are you thinking of going?

Lincoln is a little historical Cathedral city ...very different to London.. and depending on which part of London you're travelling from, it's at least 120 miles. That may not sound much , but the traffic and roads here are very different to the USA very much narrower and more congested, so travel by road would take anything up to 3 and a half hours , or by train directly from London to Lincoln around 2 and a half or 3 depending on the time of day or day of the week. !!

Remember you'd also first have to get from the airport into the city to catch a train.. which would mean tubes (underground trains) from Gatwick . or Heathrow depending on where you're landing. Gatwick airport is not in London, it's in West Sussex/ Surrey county border 30 miles outside. You would catch the Gatwick express train from the airport which is a non-stop train into London runs every 15 minutes and the journey is approx 30 mins , then you'd need to catch another tube if not more than one, to get to a mainline station to travel to Lincoln...

Al.l sounds a bit daunting I know but as long as you have the Apps on your phone, or a good clear itinerary of how to get from one station to another you should find it quite easy...

As for accomodation in Lincoln, I don't know of any, but a quick google will get you something central if you're not driving, and if you are hiring a car, then book accomodation a little further outside of the city for better prices.. .

 

[hollydolly]

Now as I haven't lived in Scotland for decades, I am not up to speed about travel times etc between the cities and towns by train... (no tubes apart from Glasgow) to worry about in Scotland. , so all travel would be by road, overland train or plane.

@Capt Lightning , although an Englishman, lives in Scotland and would be more help there... and also @Mike is a Scot like me and lives down here in the south but closer to the Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and would perhaps be of more help there too...

Whereas, although I live about 2 hours from Lincoln... I'm closer than the guys!

There's also a poster here who lives in lincolnshire (county).. but I won't mention their name unless they wish to come here and help. Hopefully they'll see this and might be able to suggest some good accommodation in Lincoln!!

I'm sure between us all we'll get you a lovely trip...

 

[hollydolly]

Gatwick express Train....

 

[AnnieA]

That's quite a trip Annie, what do you actually want to know most about? ...what time of the year are you thinking of going?

Either late spring or early fall. Most of the trip (appx two of the three weeks), I'll be in Scotland. Want to do some genealogical research in Inverness, and also want to travel to the Hebrides. I'd love to make it to the Orkney Islands, but am not sure about time.

For Inverness and the Hebrides, which would be best? Late spring or early fall?

 

[RadishRose]

@AnnieA , Just stay away from Thomas Cook travel agencies-



I think I'm looking forward to your trip as much as you are!

 

[hollydolly]

Either late spring or early fall. Most of the trip (appx two of the three weeks), I'll be in Scotland. Want to do some genealogical research in Inverness, and also want to travel to the Hebrides. I'd love to make it to the Orkney Islands, but am not sure about time.

For Inverness and the Hebrides, which would be best? Late spring or early fall?

well for the outer Hebrides you'd be best going in late spring.. .. also remember that regardless of what time of year you go way up there..Orkney, Hebrides etc, there's hardly any trees , so you're open to the wind and if it rains as well it can be pretty unpleasant so the best times are probably May and June.. (although latterly as I mentioned on another thread, climate change has created a little more heat in the far reaches of Scotland than they're used to..)

here's a link for you Annie, to help a little....

https://www.bradtguides.com/destina...d/outer-hebrides/when-and-where-to-visit.html

 

[hollydolly]

..and another....

https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/island-hopping/

 

[hollydolly]

Do be aware that it's quite a distance between Inverness and Orkney, separated by ocean... so if you're driving or going by foot, or coach you need to get from Inverness to Scrabster port , and then onto the passenger ferry to Kirkwall... , all of which will take a lot of time, appprox and hour and a half to get to the port and then over 4 hours on the boat to Orkney.. !! so you can see it would use up a lot of your time to get there and back again...

I would always recommend that you fly from Inverness or Aberdeen airport a 45 minute flight... but in all homesty Annie, if it was me and I was in the same position as you with only 2 weeks in Scotland , I would not spend 2 days making a trip to the Orkney Islands unless you have to for any reason...

 

[AnnieA]

Do be aware that it's quite a distance between Inverness and Orkney, separated by ocean... so if you're driving or going by foot, or coach you need to get from Inverness to Scrabster port , and then onto the passenger ferry to Kirkwall... , all of which will take a lot of time, appprox and hour and a half to get to the port and then over 4 hours on the boat to Orkney.. !! so you can see it would use up a lot of your time to get there and back again...

I would always recommend that you fly from Inverness or Aberdeen airport a 45 minute flight... but in all homesty Annie, if it was me and I was in the same position as you with only 2 weeks in Scotland , I would not spend 2 days making a trip to the Orkney Islands unless you have to for any reason...

Thanks! I'm interested in the archaeological sites in Orkney, but do realize getting there and back will eat up much of my time.

 

[hollydolly]

Thanks! I'm interested in the archaeological sites in Orkney, but do realize getting there and back will eat up much of my time.

Well if the archaeology sites in Orkney are of a specific interest then it would be a good place for you to visit, I just thought I'd make you aware of the time it would take to get there from your base in Inverness. That said... if you can't for any reason get there , there are Youtube videos of archaeological tv documentaries presented by well known British experts, of the region...

 

[Capt Lightning]

Hi, just back from holidays in Europe so this is the first I've seen your post. (I don't use my laptop abroad - or phone on anything similar)

Anyway, I'm really only English by virtue of having lived there for the greatest time, but Scottish by parentage and inclination. Some time ago, there was a programme on TV about the impact of the cruising industry on Shetland. The massive cruise ships virtually doubled the population of the island for the duration of their visit. One amusing incident was where an American lady asked if she could visit Edinburgh and was told she would have to fly as it was about 350 miles away. I think this goes to illustrate that while the UK is pretty tiny compared to the U.S., distances involved and travel time can be significant.

Orkney is not as far north and can be reached a number of ways, either by boat from Scrabster or Aberdeen, but I'd be inclined to fly - check out Loganair which is the Scottish regional airline and serves all the western and northern islands. It also operates the world's shortest scheduled route which takes about 90 seconds.

 

[AnnieA]

Decided to take a stateside trial trip to test travelling with a light, folding walker. Sitting in the curbside lobby at Dulles waiting on the bus into DC. Am going to do genealogy research mostly, some art museums and visit with friends who live here.

Will post tips/challenges later for pain/walker travel.

As for the UK trip, a friend wants to go which would be a huge help. She's traveled a lot, lived for awhile in Japan, been to the UK a couple of times. Great thing about her is that she's super independent so would go do her own thing if I had a stay in bed bad pain day. She lives in Alabama so Im planning to visit her soon so we can research and plan.

 

[hollydolly]

Decided to take a stateside trial trip to test travelling with a light, folding walker. Sitting in the curbside lobby at Dulles waiting on the bus into DC. Am going to do genealogy research mostly, some art museums and visit with friends who live here.

Will post tips/challenges later for pain/walker travel.

As for the UK trip, a friend wants to go which would be a huge help. She's traveled a lot, lived for awhile in Japan, been to the UK a couple of times. Great thing about her is that she's super independent so would go do her own thing if I had a stay in bed bad pain day. She lives in Alabama so Im planning to visit her soon so we can research and plan.

Oh Annie, I'm sorry you have issues that might cause you to be in bed with pain all day potentially, but that's a very good plan to be able to bring along someone who has been here before.. ..and enjoy your trip to DC...

 

[AnnieA]

Spent most of the day at the genealogy library at DAR Constitution Hall. Mostly looking at Scots deportation lists following Culloden because one of my Fraser ancestors born in Invernes-shire who wound up in Boston would have been 18 at the time of the battle. I have no idea if he was a Jacobite or left because of the general persecution by the British Army throughout the Highlands.

Also looked through shipping lists from Scotland to America because he was a merchant ship captain. Know he made at least two voyages from Boston to Leith according to Boston newspapers. I had high hopes for that search because most Boston shipping logs were lost in the Revolution, so I had hopes to find something from the Scotland end. No luck, but that's part of genealogy. At least I can record the sources I searched, and that reduces research time in Scotland if I ever do make it there!