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England, Ireland, Scotland trip July 2023 what to see and do?
LeperMessiah
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Registered User regular
So my wife and kiddo have always wanted to do this, a huge 3 week trip and we will be flying out from the US West Coast. I was too little to go when my Mom and extended family went and at this point most of the relatives we knew died or have lost contact with. My maternal grandfather was 2nd generation Irish American and was a US paratrooper, African campaign (MIA for a time), Normandy invasion, Battle of the Bulge. My maternal grandmother worked in Bletchley Park, working on cracking the Enigma Machine when they met in a pub. I never learned this until I was much older, but here we are looking for out of the way or lesser known must see things. We are not interested really in large tours like Big Ben, the Palace, Crown Jewels, if we happen to drive by or see something near them maybe but those are not destination we are looking for. We have a few things already as must see, Guinness and Jamison, Harry Potter experience, the Jacobite express in Scotland. Also transportation, we know someone who has lives in London who will be our "guide" for part of it but they do not own a car, in London probably not an issue but the rest of England, Ireland and Scotland? What hostels/hotels/motels to STAY AWAY from. We are all fully vaxxed, the kiddo will be 18 (her grad present so I hope no age restrictions). We all have current US passports and we will be traveling "light" backpacks not suitcases, maybe an extra small bag or two for carry on purposes. Any food is no worries we eat anything except my wife is gluten intolerant but we have heard many GI folks can consume proper bread, breading etc. since it is not so processed as in the US, I would love to have her try a proper steak and kidney pie, or any meat pie really. Anyway it is 16 months out but I wanted to ask, unfortunately no Soccer/Football matches will be played I would love to watch Arsenal play in person maybe by 23 they will be back in form.
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The Isle of Skye was nice too (best food on the trip)
Awesome thanks. And 3 weeks is so we can go at a moderate pace hopefully, we will miss a bunch a things but really zero in on select few what we really want to do while leaving in a day here and there for rest/the oh hey look at that, lets go back we missed something back there (locally of course)
For England I'm rather fond of York. A lovely place to walk around, the national rail museum and some medieval streets that really inspired some of the Harry Potter aesthetic if that's your thing, though the shops there these days are pretty touristy.
Giants Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede are on our list so awesome info thank you!
If you like cheese, and I trust that you do, then Wensleydale is an easy trip from York. A lot of kinds of cheese get made around there, and it's absurdly, ridiculously, surely this is CGI, right? beautiful. I recommend a morning at Aysgarth Falls, then up the road to Hawes to get cheese and beer.
They do re-enactments if that's your thing. If you're into gardens, stained glass, or medieval architecture, it'll knock your socks off. We also checked out the tower of London and one of the other palaces (My wife is a huge English history nut) but nothing compared to Hampton Court.
If you do go, get their meat pies. Get two of their meat pies. Get ALL of their meat pies.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Skye is great if you can hire a car in Edinburgh or Glasgow, lots of great hikes and beautiful views. Also if you like Scotch you can stop by the Talisker distillery.
Cambridge is about an hour or so drive from Bletchley Park, if you're interested in college towns. Quite nice to bike around and has museums and such.
I know you said you're not interested in doing the big touristy things but the British Museum is quite impressive (and free)
Definitely seconding the recommendation of Hampton Court Palace.
If you like military and naval history, the HMS Belfast in London is amazing. The Imperial War museum in London is worth seeing IMO. The dockyards at Portsmouth have the HMS Victory, the HMS Warrior, the Mary Rose, and a bunch of other stuff, and is about two hours from London.
If you like castles and medieval history, I recommend Dover Castle (about an hour from London by train), Carrickfergus Castle (less than an hour from a Belfast by train), and Portchester Castle (about two hours from London by train). There’s certainly plenty of others, but after the Tower of London those three are top of mind for me in terms of accessibility, historical importance, and state of preservation. I really do recommend the Tower first and foremost though. I kinda feel like seeing London on a long tourist trip but not visiting the Tower is a little like going to Giza and not seeing the pyramids. Canterbury Cathedral is reasonably impressive as Cathedrals go, and the site of one of the most important events of Medieval English history is well marked there. York’s Cathedral is incredible, absolutely gorgeous and enormous.
There's also lot of cool stuff down in the SE of England around Devon and Cornwall, but public transport down there is terrible.
As for castles, Arundel is another good one, and other summer they tend to have a lot of events. Medieval jousts, archery tournaments and the like.
Portchester is a Roman castle, and they also do a bunch of live events too. They took out a car in the carpark with a mangonel once by accident once.
English Heritage has a schedule when all of that kind of stuff is happening and where, although Arundel Castle is it's own thing.
They have a jousting tournament from the 26th to the 31st.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004484595
Swanage is nice and touristy and has Corfe Castle, but the best castles are in Wales. Caernarfon is great but a bit remote.
Some excellent non-remote Welsh castles are Caerphilly and Chepstow; they're respectively 20 and 40 minutes from Cardiff by train.
I'm about to be 40 and have never been to the UK despite wanting to go for since I was 13.
I have time off from May 22nd to the 30th this year.
I'm interested in Naval history stuff (thanks Shadowhope for the suggestions already!) and probably the major tourist attractions but I don't want to be constantly on the move to the next thing for a quick glimpse.
Hoping to get some winding down in a pub or some good food as well.
Please recommend me some *must* visits and advice on airbnb or similar accomodation stuff would be great.
I can drive though would prefer to walk or take a train.
Also, any warnings about wasted time or money would be awesome
I may be solo or with my best friend if he can get the time off but no kids or age constraints, both like to have a couple beers but not clubbing atmosphere.
Another naval site possibly worth visiting is the Chatham dockyards. I have NOT been there personally, so I can't personally vouch for it, but it's another Royal Navy site as I understand it. It had been on my list to visit in 2021, but the global plague intervened. Rochester Cathedral and Castle are nearby (literally walking distance, if you don't mind a long walk), and those I did visit and find interesting. The castle is the site of one of the most famous sieges in medieval England.
https://www.nmrn.org.uk/
Th submarine museum is worth seeing at Gosport too, as they have a large sub drydocked that you can go into, and you can see the madness of the diving tower, where they practice emergency exits.
https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/London/Portsmouth/today/0830/dep
See the above but we have most things locked in at this point.
@Aridhol
How was your trip?
I know there are some other folks that live over there, should I at them? Tav a few other folks, I am not a regular in chat.
We are in and around London starting July 4, making our way north from there to Buxton, York, Edenborough, then East to Glasgow. This is just about 2 weeks of our trip, then flight over to Belfast, North to Giants Causeway, south to Dublin we are not sure the route yet but we have a car in Ireland and this is the last 6-7 days of our trip. All travel in England and Scotland will be Tube, Rail and by foot with help from a Friend in London and Uber I guess..? One thing we are not sure, our Rail ride up north from London has a possible stop "near" Quorn. I guess many of the 82nd airborne were helped/housed by local families there on and off during the war? My Grandfather was there and was helped by a family name of Dutton, at the time they had 11 year old twin daughters this would have been between 43-45 I think from the papers I have. Very very far chance but maybe we can stop in that town and at least see the memorial to the 82nd I have been told they have.
I know nobody here knows me at all but if you happen to want a free pint or something maybe we will be close and can meet at a pub. Also I really want to find a good steak and kidney pie, stuffed beef/ox heart, and Shepard's pie, these are the things my Grandmother made and I can make everything except the steak kidney pie. I am not yet ready to go into preparing kidney without some proper help.
Belfast to Dublin is simple, it's like 98% Motorway, though there's one physical toll in the Republic and an electronic one depending on how much of the M50 you use. For the Giant's Causeway you have the quick route or the scenic route.
Quick: Belfast - Take M2/M22 west - Turn off at Junction 1 for Ballymena - Take M2 ringroad around Ballymena* - Follow signs for Ballycastle, first A26, then A44** - Once in Ballycastle***, follow the Causeway Scenic Route (with the sea on your right) and you will come across Carrick-a-Rede first, then the Causeway a little further on. Then you can either push on to Dunluce Castle, Portstewart and Coleraine**** before doing your return trip, or turn in to Bushmills to head back right away.
Scenic: Belfast - Take M5 north - go through Carrickfergus, past Whitehead and through Larne - follow Causeway Scenic Route for a leisurely coastal drive with some excellent scenery of the Antrim glens. If you're up for a driving challenge you can detour through Cushendun on the final stretch to Ballycastle and visit Torr Head, where you can see a ruined lifeboat outpost and depending on the weather can see Scotland. It's narrow, twisty and steep though so be careful, and the ruins are unsupervised and falling is possible. In either case you turn up in Ballycastle and continue as described above.
Also Carrick-a-Rede and the Causeway are both managed by the National Trust, so if you can procure some type of temporary pass, consider doing so.
*Keep an eye out for Mount Slemish if you want to see an extinct volcano, it's where Saint Patrick worked as a slave. There are tons of places around Mid Ulster that have it on the Horizon somewhere.
**A possible detour here is to see the Dark Hedges, a road lined by visually striking trees which was used as the Kingsroad in Game of Thrones
***Can get nice views of Fair Head and Rathlin Island here
****If you make it that far, consider visiting Downhill Demesne and Mussenden Temple, a few extra miles into County Derry where you can see an 18th Century recreation of a Roman Temple atop a stunning clifftop view of beaches, a coastal railway line, the mountains of County Donegal, and much of the Causeway Coast you'll have covered. It is also a National Trust property.
I grew up in Seattle so I would prefer overcast and a bit of rain here and there, we have raingear and rain covers for our backpacks, mostly worried about too hot.
"Also Carrick-a-Rede and the Causeway are both managed by the National Trust, so if you can procure some type of temporary pass, consider doing so."
This is already on our plan, looks amazing.
There was an older man who opened a bar across the street from where I worked, he brought an original Barfront over from Ireland, it was called "Giants Causeway" and then "Finnegan's" at some point, but then he had to sell for health reasons I was told, it was reopened and called "A Terrible Beauty". Closed down now but they would bring younger folk over, out of highschool or college, and sponsor them to work in the states.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http://www.seattlebars.org/2012/10/1792-terrible-beauty-renton-wa-5242012.html&psig=AOvVaw2LKchNbU5hi9ZAsyeYAEEa&ust=1687454638406000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCICOn8Xw1P8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
So jealous of the public transit, it was so easy to get around (I just swiped my card and used the train apps).
A highlight for me was certainly popping from pub to pub in between tourist stuff and just having great beer and observing the people.
We went to Portsmouth to go through the historic naval yard and I loved it. I'm a big naval history guy but my friends are not and even they had a great time. I wish I could have had another day there.
We went to a pub called the Phoenix in Portsmouth which was one of the best experiences of the trip. It was a genuine family pub kind of experience with some amazing local people.
We saw the usual tourist stuff around London like the tower, museums, zoo etc and it was all great.
We didn't do anything off the beaten path really so if you're more adventurous than I am I might not be a great guide.
My goal with the trip was to get out of the country, see some history, absorb the pub life and good beer and all of that was accomplished.
Absolutely amazing.
This is some of what I am looking forward too, I never sleep much on trips and usually just wander around at night after daily stuff is finished. Is wandering around safe at night in the city/town center, pubs etc.? I have done this in San Francisco, Salt Lake, San Diego, Raleigh NC, Seattle, Portland, Orlando, Phoenix, I can't imagine, baring wandering into "bad" areas it is any different.
Dishoom is great. They do a lovely BLT. Buy the cookbook!
This is a place we kept returning to
https://www.lambandflagcoventgarden.co.uk/?utm_source=googlemybusiness&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=yext&utm_content=P154&y_source=1_MTIyMzcxNTgtNzE1LWxvY2F0aW9uLndlYnNpdGU=
There is an alleyway / road outside and every lunch hour or afternoon/dinner it was flooded with what looked like working professionals all just chatting and having a nice pint before going wherever. It was really great and the good tasting beer didn't hurt either!
While you're there, find the crepe stand and prepare for a good time. The place has been legendary for 20 years, the owner's kids are running the show now. I have met random people who lived in Galway, and was like "that crepe stand tho, am I right?" and then we cry about the utter impossibility of finding its like, anywhere else. You won't be disappointed!