UK-April or September?

[PigleT]

"How late in the year could you visit Scotland and expect fair weather? I understand that it can be fickle and can snow anytime, but generally would mid October be too cold, or miserable? What about late April?"

I'd say these could be fine. And you really do need to be up a significant mountain to get snow into May

[Ryan Hill]

PigleT-
Great sites! Thanks!

After looking at all the places, I now see four areas that really interest me (I was down to two, but now will look at four):

Dartmoor
Snowdonia/Wales
North York Moors/Lake District
NW Scotland

Scotland is a must but it will take some real effort to narrow down the other three.

Still thinking about late April or September and both sound pretty nice.

[robc]

After looking at all the places, I now see four areas that really interest me (I was down to two, but now will look at four):
Dartmoor
Snowdonia/Wales
North York Moors/Lake District
NW Scotland

I live very near to Dartmoor so I'm biased. However, your choice should be about the type of walking and what else you want to do and see. I have walked in North Wales and can tell you that there are superb walks there. Cadair Idris area is superb. Its close to Portmeirion which is where the 1967 TV series "The Prisoner" was filmed. Infact all the areas you mention have superb walks. Dartmoor is easy walking by comparison with North Wales and Lake district. North York moors are on a par with Dartmoor. i.e. not so steep or arduous. Lake district is stunning for scenery and providing you miss July/August then I'd consider it but it will still be busy. North York moors and Dartmoor will never be too busy.

Note that drive form devon/Cornwall to NW Scotland is a long way and will take a very long day to do it in one go.

[Paul Ewins]

I spent all of August and September 2005 travelling in the UK and can offer the following suggestions:

If stone circles and such interests you then I would strongly suggest a week on Orkney. Renting a self catering cottage and hiring a car will be the cheapest way. The various standing stones are free to visit. You'll pay to see Skara Brae and will need to book a couple of days ahead for Maeshowe as they only take 10 or so people at a time through. It can get crowded at the standing stones, but if you are patient there are some quiet spots between the tourist buses. There are lots of other things to see and do and plenty of spots where you can set up a tripod without being jostled.

Driving through Scotland in August was magnificent, provided you don't mind roadworks and caravans.

Access at Stonehenge is restricted, but you do actually get quite close to the stones at one point and then get far enough away to take the whole thing in. Often overrun with tourists but I managed a few shots that were empty of people. Being early and mid-week will help a little but don't expect miracles. There is just the stones to see, so don't expect to spend more than 30 min - 1 hour there.

Avebury will take half a day to a day depending on the weather. On a sunny day you can spend a lot of time just wandering amongst the stones. On a rainy day it'll be straight to the museums and off home again. Lacock Abbey (and Lacock village) are well worth a visit, again half a day to a day depending on your pace.

Many B&B's can be booked via email or from web pages. Any B&B rated less than four star/diamond is getting risky. When it was somebody's spare room the rating mattered less. Those that were full time businesses (i.e. like micro-hotels) a rating less than 4 stars usually indicated that something would not be right. Most B&Bs were no smoking. Most expected to be paid in cash. A few could provide evening meals but most insisted that you eat elsewhere. Prices ranged from 20 to 40 pounds (per person) with York and Edinburgh being the most expensive. Double rooms were the standard, twin fairly common, single or triple not so sommon. Staying as a single in a double room usually attracted a surcharge.

[PigleT]

If stone circles and such interests you then I would strongly suggest a week on Orkney.

Ah, good plan - I'm envious. Keep meaning to get up there too!

Many B&B's can be booked via email or from web pages. Any B&B rated less than four star/diamond is getting risky. When it was somebody's spare room the rating mattered less. Those that were full time businesses (i.e. like micro-hotels) a rating less than 4 stars usually indicated that something would not be right. Most B&Bs were no smoking. Most expected to be paid in cash. A few could provide evening meals but most insisted that you eat elsewhere. Prices ranged from 20 to 40 pounds (per person)

FWIW last August I looked into the various B&Bs up in the NW corner and decided that the Unapool/Kylesku area was the place to be.

http://www.assynt.info/page12.html might help - we found Maryck was great; perfect location, lots of scenery, accessible, and run by a friendly lady who didn't mind me leaving at 5am to take early-morning photos of Ardvreck Castle. Recommended (by just a happy customer

[robc]

Just noticed that our host was at Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock, Castle Coombe and Bath earlier this year. Looks like he listened to my recommendation before I'd actually given it.

http://www.terragalleria.com/europe/united-kingdom/

[Pete Watkins]

Ryan,
I live in England and I have never felt the need to apply for a passport. I am biased! September would be a lot less riskier than April weatherwise. If you're not into stone circles, I am very much, but all the same if I were you you I would spend a week on The Isle of Wight and a week in the Whitby area. Don't listen to the rest of them, these areas are the absolute cream of the English countryside, I was a long distance White Van Man for a few years and I saw most of the U.K. mainland. On the journey from the Island to North Yorkshire you could call at the best and most intimate Sacred Site that I have visited, the Rollright Stones in North Oxfordshire / South Warwickshire. You could spend an overnight in Oxford, possibly the nicest City in the U.K. except for the facist skum who monitor the car parking. I've been to Scotland a few times for work, and as I was brought up between Kings Cross and Euston railway stations in London (NOT TRAIN STATIONS, RAILWAY STATIONS), I have seen the cream of Glasgow and the rest of the country when they have come down for football internationals (Soccer) and I would never go north of Gretna Green for pleasure.
Julia Margret Cameron indulged in photography on the Isle of Wight, and there is a museum in her memory. John Meadow Sutcliff photographed extensivley in North Yorshire and there is a shop devoted to his work in Witby. If you go to the I.O.W. and North Yorkshire and get no pleasure from these venues there is no hope. Visit The English Hertitage website. Have a good time!
Pete.

[Struan Gray]

Dartmoor
Snowdonia/Wales
North York Moors/Lake District
NW Scotland

These are all great places to take photographs. You need to choose between dashing about taking obvious shots of well-known landmarks, and staying in one place and discovering it for yourself.

If the historic sites are important to you, The Yorkshire Dales / Peak District mix is hard to beat. Dartmoor and Snowdonia have just as much history, but less variety. The Midlands have been geopolitically and economically important since Britain's pre-history, and there are cultural artefacts and landscapes from all ages down to the present. Dartmoor became a backwater after the Stone Age, and Snowdonia sometime in the Middle Ages.

I spent Easter this year on the S. Edge of the N. Yorks Moors, and had I been free to photograph I would have burnt a lot of film. Things are green, but not so green that you can't see the wood for the trees. Bluebells and wild garlic carpet anywhere there's shade. The weather is variable, but the rain keeps the foliage fresh and he skies interesting.

My favourite time in Scotland is late May to early June. Even that late the midges usually haven't got going, and there are some flowers out, even in the bogs. April can have spectacular storms and wonderful clear days with the sun dancing off snowy-topped mountains. But it can also have two weeks' solid grey mush when the only thing worth photographing is your own despair. Later would give you more chance of what is conventionally regarded as good light.

I'm a fan of Coigach, the peninsula north of Ullapool and the Summer Isles. The cultural sites are subtle compared to things like Fountains Abbey or York Minster, but Pictish Duns and abandoned runrigs have a quiet charm that appeals to me. I wrote a fairly comprehensive cheat sheet over on APUG a while back, so take a look if you're interested:

http://www.apug.org/forums/showthread.php?t=23010

Finally, if you like coastlines rather than moorland, consider dumping all the softy southern recommendations and spend your time in Northumberland and the Borders before moving on to N.W. Scotland. Just as many castles, cathedrals, old market towns and pretty woodlands as the Midlands, but a superb coastline too.

Struan

PS: I have nothing against September, or autumn colours, but late spring is more magical in all the places you've mentioned.