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otta
Original Poster
86 posts
10 months
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Always wanted to go to scotland for a road trip, seriously considering doing a (long) weekend in september.
Unfortunately London to Glasgow looks like a 400 miles affair each way (and 7 boring hours of highways...) so not very keen on that.
What would be your advice? Rent a car there or get mine trailed from london? Any experience with the latter and approx costs??
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groak
3,254 posts
48 months
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otta said: Always wanted to go to scotland for a road trip, seriously considering doing a (long) weekend in september.
Unfortunately London to Glasgow looks like a 400 miles affair each way (and 7 boring hours of highways...) so not very keen on that.
What would be your advice? Rent a car there or get mine trailed from london? Any experience with the latter and approx costs?? Fetched a car back to Glasgow from Birmingham last Saturday. About 30 miles south of Manchester on the M6 I hit a jam that lasted 2.5 hours. Turned out to be because of 200 metres of roadworks just before junction 15. I nearly went flippin' mental!! But tbh if you like motorway driving it's not a bad run.
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otta
Original Poster
86 posts
10 months
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groak said: Fetched a car back to Glasgow from Birmingham last Saturday. About 30 miles south of Manchester on the M6 I hit a jam that lasted 2.5 hours. Turned out to be because of 200 metres of roadworks just before junction 15. I nearly went flippin' mental!! But tbh if you like motorway driving it's not a bad run. I definitely like early morning autobahns...  uk motorways @70mph? mmmmhh
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willy wombat
103 posts
17 months
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I'd just drive it. I regularly drive from Sussex to Edinburgh and its not a bad run. I go M25/M40/M6 toll road/M6/M74 and then dive off for Edinburgh. The M6 toll road is lovely and fast (watch out for traffic police) and once you get North of Manchester/Liverpool you can really fly (but again watch out for police who have a nasty habit of parking their camera vans on bridges above the motorway). Only caveat - try and avoid Friday evening or Sunday evening. In my experience the fastest trips are on Saturday afternoon/evening - very light traffic.
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Ozmira
1,063 posts
58 months
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Which of your three cars are you planing on taking?
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davek_964
1,862 posts
44 months
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Just go early. I drove to Edinburgh a month ago, left early and had a blast. Made very good time (415 miles, and it certainly didn't take me 7 hours....).
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otta
Original Poster
86 posts
10 months
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As it stands it is going to be the FGT... but hopefully by then I will have managed to add a 355 or 550 (haven't found the right one yet) to the stable so will be a nice road to get to know the cars. 400 miles should not be the end of the world but if done over a long weekend I am afraid it is going to be too much, 400 to get there, 300-500 around the highlands and 400 back. Just fuel on the two-way would be 300ish so if transportation is less than 1 grand not a bad idea afterall. Maybe answer is to buy a scottish car, save 400 miles on the way there and i ll know very soon if it a lemon!
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ryandoc
134 posts
24 months
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Hi,
Although the London to north east bit would be mundane I can thoroughly recommend taking the A68 from Newcastle to Edinburgh. Fantastic road and well worth it, I've driven it literally hundreds of times.
Regards Scotland its amazing driving. Next month I,ll be doing a 4 day tour of the highlands with a number of folk/cars. Started 2 years ago for a weekend, last year went 3 days and this year we're going for 4 days. What I will say is the roads around the Glasgow part of Scotland get too busy but go as far north as you can, up near Ullapool and if you can even higher.
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paulqv
2,385 posts
64 months
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Drove it last weekend in the countach. Done the drive a few hundred times over the years as my sister lives in Ealing and friends in area too.
I agree with a previous poster about times to avoid driving. Depends on where you want to drive after that. Southern Scotland has some great fairly empty roads. Goin north at this time of year is problematic as is very toruisty and can be quite busy. You would need to know where your planning to go and leave early to enjoy the roads, as in on the road by 6 or 7 am.
If traveling north people think can cover roads very quickly. If you can average 40mph that would be quick on busy routes! Some small roads are SMALL and can be challenging and fun
If you let me know your suggested routes I can give you some feedback. Critical thing is timing. go mid morning or afternoon on moist roads and will be busy, for Scotland with tourist traffic
Paul
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JamieBeeston
8,694 posts
134 months
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otta said: As it stands it is going to be the FGT... but hopefully by then I will have managed to add a 355 or 550 (haven't found the right one yet) to the stable so will be a nice road to get to know the cars. 400 miles should not be the end of the world but if done over a long weekend I am afraid it is going to be too much, 400 to get there, 300-500 around the highlands and 400 back. Just fuel on the two-way would be 300ish so if transportation is less than 1 grand not a bad idea afterall. Maybe answer is to buy a scottish car, save 400 miles on the way there and i ll know very soon if it a lemon! Drive the car you bought to drive.. Enjoy it.. put the miles on it.. have a smile on your face.. and simply have fun.. I'm lost for words at any other suggestion of tailoring anything!
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birdcage
1,720 posts
74 months
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Funnily enough being discussed here. http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...Doing the same in my GT3 RS next Sunday, driving to Glasgow from London, stay the night and then the next day drive to Inverness and beyond. The motorway miles don't bother me, 6 am on a Sunday should be quite good and there's the M6 toll... Puts a few miles on the car but thats what it's all about, it's good for it!
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otta
Original Poster
86 posts
10 months
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Thanks all for the suggestions... seems nobody is for trailing it then Don't get me wrong, not fussed about putting miles on the cars... in fact took them all to italy and back + around wales few times... only worried about the driver, 1.4k miles over 3-4 days might take the fun out of it... especially when the passenger is a girlfriend that wants me to sell them all 
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willy wombat
103 posts
17 months
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Clearly then the plan should be to get the girlfriend to drive the motorway bits so you can be fresh for the twisty bits.
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otta
Original Poster
86 posts
10 months
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willy wombat said: Clearly then the plan should be to get the girlfriend to drive the motorway bits so you can be fresh for the twisty bits. nice one!!  recipe for disaster me think
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RVIANT
1,223 posts
122 months
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Simple answer is PX girlfriend for younger model who likes cars
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johnnyreggae
821 posts
29 months
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If she doesn't like the cars how's she going to cope with being flung around on the Scottish roads for a few days ?
Fly up and rent something like a Mini Cooper for the fun driving - probably be far better for the smaller roads as you go further north
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otta
Original Poster
86 posts
10 months
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johnnyreggae said: If she doesn't like the cars how's she going to cope with being flung around on the Scottish roads for a few days ?
Fly up and rent something like a Mini Cooper for the fun driving - probably be far better for the smaller roads as you go further north need to treat her with good lunches and boutique hotels... usually works... renting a boxer or similar might not be a bad idea afterall, prob 2 grand for 4 days or so...
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f1ten
600 posts
22 months
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if you go from glasgow north towards stirling and head to Callander (only 30 mins out of Glasgow) the roads are amazing and great scenery... its worth the drive up there. Basically the south of England doesnt have any good roads and the ones that are average are too busy. Believe me Ive been down in London for 12 years looking for good roads here, the only solutions are north wales, Central and highlands Scotland or going abroad to Italy, Austria and Switzerland etc.
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TonyHetherington
30,873 posts
119 months
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Don't forget that you still need to get up there anyway, regardless with the car or not. If you fly, the door to door time won't be hugely different by the time you've gone to the airport, checked in etc. Drive and enjoy it
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paulqv
2,385 posts
64 months
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Watch for scammera vans in Scotland. They have lots and lots of them. usually on first 30 miles of M74. Set at 82mph and WILL ALWAYS prosecute zelously!
If looking for a nice Hotel in glasgow area with safe parking, use Mar Hall beside Erskine bridge, about 15 minutes from city centre and ideally placed to go to the West coast.
Tebay Services 120 miles south of Glasgow, best services for food north and south and fully independant.
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