A friend and I are planning to do a trip mainly through England starting from Edinburgh and make a few stops in Liverpool, Dublin, London, and maybe even end in Paris. Since we are from California, we are hoping if you guys could help us out!
I planned out our entire trip and if you want to check out the doc I can put it down below, however we are planning to do it during the summer of 2027 and start from north and head down south. Something we were wondering is if we should camp (yes I know wild camping is illegal, however we are broke teenagers), or if we should try and stop at a hotel every night. Another problem is that we are thinking of buying our bikes there as it’ll be too expensive to ship them from LA to the UK. We’ll most likely take a month as we are cycling ~1900 kilometers, and will be taking 2, if not 3 ferries, so should we book the ferries in advance or is it fine if we book day of.
I’m really excited as it will be our first time biking through the uk and scotland and I’ve seen many nice pictures from when my dad spent time there. Two last questions, are we able to just swim wherever, and although the legal limit in the U.S. is 21, are we still able to visit pubs?
If you were wondering about our (really) rough draft, here it is;Â https://docs.google.com/document/d/12GUuQtNST7DnTf-EDNpfkieSeB8uVTQFlfgEHAYQY_c/edit?usp=drivesdkÂ
Any advice would help a ton since it’s our first time traveling solo, so thank you very much!
by Stock-Weight-7729
3 Comments
Well Dublin isn’t in the UK so make sure you get that right first of all.
Wild camping will be fine, just arrive late, leave early, leave no trace and stay hidden.
In my experience, ferries are very unlikely to sell out for foot passengers and the crossings are so frequent, especially to France, the flexibility of buying close to the time might be worth it.
How much is it to fly your bikes? Some airlines will take a bike as your checked luggage so won’t cost extra. Buying bikes here will be expensive if new, and risky and potentially time consuming if you’re tied down trying to find the right things. You could spend more in hotels waiting for the right bike than you would have in bringing yoursÂ
You’re trying to fit far too many places into that trip. And you’re hitting big cities all along the way – there won’t be much scope for wild camping. It’s not going to be pleasant cycling either. I’d recommend you think about what kind of holiday you want – if you want to visit all those cities, forget the cycling. If you want a cycling holiday, then plan it around nice cycling trails – like the Caledonian Way if you want to see more of Scotland.
Drinking age in the UK is 18 so if you’re 18 or over you’ll be fine for the pubs. Many pubs will let you in if not, but won’t serve you alcohol – particularly if they sell food.