travel advice: Scotland and Wales

Re the midges/DEET: a huge number of hill goers are now using Avon Skin So Soft. The most effective anti-midge agent I've ever tried. And it tastes and smells better than DEET etc.

Niall

Yup the Avon stuff was even recommended by Billy Connoly on TV recently, only stuff that worked without making you smell like a chemical spill.
DEET also desroys plastic compact camera bodies!!
 
FrankS,

Since you will have 4 weeks you should be able to cover England and Scotland or Wales. 3 weeks in England would be more than enough. Try not to duplicate too much. Churches and castles will become boring once you got to your third or fourth. You should try to cover more localities with special characters. Also once outside London it would be better to drive than to go by rail. It is difficult to take pictures on a MOVING train. And you won't be limited by places with train stations. With driving you can stop anywhere you like and take pictures. Countryside Bed & breakfasts are cheaper (and friendlier) than big towns hotels. If you start from London you can go up on the west side and come down on the east side and cover Scotland in the middle part of your journey. A brief directional guide would be London - Oxford and Woodstock (Blenheim) - Lancashire - Cumbria (Lake District) - Through Carlisle into Scotland - Glasgow - Stirling, Lomond, Fort William - Inverness - Edinburgh - back to England - Yorkshire (Bronte Country and York) - Derbyshire (Peak District and Chatsworth House, if you have not yet got sicked of castles by this time!) - London. If you have time left you can go south of London for day trips to say Stonehenge, Tunbridge Wells and other places in Kent. This way you will cover most of the best of England and many places mentioned in previous messages in Scotland. You can save Wales and Cornwall for your next trip. There are many interesting places there as well. But you won't have enough time this time round. I am sure your have already planned your English part. But do compare it with the above route.

You will not need your Nikonos but you do need a waterproof jacket and warm mid layer like a fleece or jumper. The British weather works in mysterious ways. It can get very hot and very cold with heavy rain and the sun coming out a few times in the same day even in the summer!

I hope you will let us know where you have been after your trip and post some pics to make us feel envy. Have a nice holiday.
 
I like to use the train, then rent the car in Bath or Plymouth or Carlisle etc after doing my messing about in and around London.
 
If coming to Scotland in summer - beware the midges - biting hell. Forget midge repellant - get some Avon skin-so-soft works a treat and is actually issued to forestry workers.

Other sights in Glasgow - touristy
Barrows Market east end of Merchant City (counterfeit and thieves paradise .... well used to be) now more interesting place for street photography. Merchant City - slowly been done up but lots of old derelict buildings.
Kelvingrove museum - quite eclectic - a stuffed giraffe then modern art in the next room - then polynesian masks - then dinosaur bones - you get my drift.
West End Ashton Lane - good for a drink - short cobbled street. The wee hurry (curry shop - one of the best)
Mr Singh's - Glasgow Curry House where the waiters are in kilts .... food pretty good but Mother India or Mother India cafe (500m apart) better for food.
Glasgow University - nice old building great cloisters

Sorry if I covered old ground.
rain as someone said easy between Glasgow and Edinburgh - also Stirling (for castle) only 25 min or so by train.
Loch Lomond -east side (West Highland Way walk goes up the east side - quite pretty)

You can pick up film (B&W processing overnight etc) easy enough - pm me if you want places to get stuff/contacts

rich
 
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