What to see in England and Scotland...

I'm on my way to England, Scotland and Spain!

I'll be with a kid who lived in Leeds, or round-a-bouts, for almost 2 years, so he'll have plenty to see up there, but I'm curious about what to see up in Scotland. We'll have a day, maybe two, and I think Edinburgh might be our northern limit... We'll be drivingfrom London to Edinburgh over the course of about 5 days. Any suggestions on what to see and where to go would be greatly appreciated. I'd rather spend time in the outdoors than walking around art museums and such (though super oldschool war museums might be neat). I hear the scenery in northern England and Scotland is fantastic.

Thank you in advance for any help!

Edinburgh's awsome, I lived there for 3 years, highly recommend the place. Nearby, Stirling is interesting in an historic (ABC - another bloody castle) way. There's a really cool modern lock-gate at Falkirk, very near Stirling - sounds weird but really funky. It's a few miles to a decent distillery but some see that as part of the Scotland experience.

In Edinburgh there are plenty of fun things to do. A cool one as a visitor is to spend an evening in Sandy Bell's, a pub near the castle where there are crazy folk music jams every night - it's pretty much the centre of the Scots Folk music scene. Free and fun and the beer's good. I lived 20 yards from there so got to know it well. :) Definitely worth a walk up Salisbury Crags for the view IMO (better view than Arthur's seat).

On the English side of the border: If you're into the outdoors stuff the Lake District can be cool and is en route. Hadrian's Wall is not far from there either and visually and historically cool.

I'll think of some more stuff too, will post another time.

if youre into racing at all, England is the place where it all started
depending on when youre there, maybe check into when the Goodwood Festival is, take in a hillclimb, or go watch a race. I totally reccomend Donnington Park. Go there for qualifying or something, check out the F1 museum they have, which is coincidentially the largest in the world and absolutely amazing...they have the 6wheel tyrell for heavens sake.

Then check out the race, lounge out on the wonderful grass, talk to the locals, drink some beer, all in all a great way to spend a day.

I grew up in Newcastle/Gateshead, some great stuff round there. The milenniumumunum bridge and the baltic art gallery are right next to eachother, both are pretty neat.

[EDIT: Forgot the Metro Centre!]

NO,where not going to F*cking play Stonehenge!

That trip is still very fresh in our minds. We've never had so much fun on a family vacation. I'll second checking out pretty much any section of Hadrian's Wall. Historically it's Europe's version of the Wall of China, dating back to B.C. times.

There are castles everywhere you look, so it is hard to give recommendations on those. We were blown away by Dunnottar (near Stonehaven), Edinburgh, Urquhart, Lochness, York, Bath, Stonehenge, etc. All of that incredible history.

We Americans get excited about a 250 year old artifact in one of our museums. It's just crazy walking around on the remnants of a wall that was built over 2,000 years ago. Or walking amongst the 5,000 year old structures at Avebury or Stonehenge.

From the Tower of London tour, to strolling through the crooked, fairy tale-looking village of York, to riding the famous Eye in London on the River Thames, we loved everything about that trip.

You said you are probably not going farther north than Edinburgh. If you find that you can, the train ride up to Isle of Sky and through the Scottish Highlands is something you'll never forget (you'll also see a bunch of lines you'd want to ski). Man, I'm getting psyched just thinking about going back to the UK again someday.

You'll have a great time.

Another vote for Edinburgh, It's a great city to walk around in.

Even if your not a Da Vinci code fan, Rosslyn chapel is worth the short side trip.

You can even hit up Midlothian if you get the urge to ski. It used to be Europe's largest artificial ski area. The wife and I did it on a whim, it was amusing to see these little sprinklers go off at random on the hill.

I can't recall the exact time (summer), but the Edinburgh festival is worth seeing as well.

I will visiting gramps up in Derbyshire next month. I like checking out the old Estates. Chatsworth in the peak District is really cool.

If you want a good day climb see if you can extend your northern boundry to Ben Nevis and Fort William. England isn't all that big...

+1 on Hadrians Wall. I saw it 10 years ago and I still remember it.

Stonhenge and Avebury Circle are cool as heck, whether you're into prehostoric shizz or not. And there are some damn fine pubs near both should you need further pursuasion.

full
english
breakfast.

Yeah, make sure to try some toothbrushy dry slope goodness in order to complete the experience!

Go watch edg get drunk and then try and climb in the rain whilst neglecting his math studies.