Advice requested: North England/Scotland itinerary and accommodation

My in-laws are going to be visiting from Australia in September of this year and I have suggested that we do a road trip together.  This may be their last trip to the UK, so we want to make the most of it.  They have been to the UK before but felt their previous trip was rushed and they want to revisit places to see things they previously missed (as indicated below).

To give you an idea, the in-laws are in their early 70s, DH and I are: late 30s (me) and early 40s (him).  We have both lived in the London area for a long time but we are not so experienced travelling north of the Watford Gap, haha.

Unfortunately their travel dates are fixed and they cannot extend the length of the trip, which has restricted me quite a bit in planning the trip. 

So, please can I ask for feedback on:
1.  The itinerary itself (whether you think it's realistic, how you would change it if you think it needs changing)
2.  Suggestions for accommodation in the areas where we have indicated we will spend the night

Day 1 – Hire a car in West London and drive to Harrogate, spending the afternoon sightseeing, overnight accommodation in the Harrogate or York areas.
 Day 2 – Drive to York (if we haven't spent the night there already), see the excavated Danish village (at the in-laws request), drive on to Whitby, overnight accommodation in Whitby OR a location between Whitby and Edinburgh.

Day 3 – Drive to Edinburgh (if not already there per the above), check into a hotel there and spend the afternoon doing activities such as walking the golden mile, seeing Holyrood castle, etc. (both of these are their preferences).
 
Day 4 and 5 – Tour the areas of Loch Lomond, Fort William, Pitlochry, Perth and Stirling.  As our time will be very limited, we won't be able to get as far as the Isle of Skye, as they would have liked.  This website shows a possible route map incorporating the places listed above:
http://www.aboutscotland.co.uk/tour/tourmap.html
Any suggestions for a driving route for these two days, including sights to see, would be gratefully received.
 
I'd expect to spend the night of the 7th in or near Fort William (?) and the 8th in a suitable location to prepare us for the drive home the next day.

Day 6 – Drive back to London

Whew! That is a lot in a short space of time.  Why Harrogate, may I ask?  Most folks spend a lot of time in York, which is nice if touristy.

Whew! That is a lot in a short space of time.  Why Harrogate, may I ask?  Most folks spend a lot of time in York, which is nice if touristy.

Yeah, looking at it, it's only 4 days free of the drive up from/back to London. 

I'm wondering if we shouldn't scrap the whole north England/Scotland idea and tour Dorset, Devon and Cornwall instead.  They do like castles, though (I guess being Australian and not having been ABC'd as I was the first 4 years I lived here and travelled extensively).

Harrogate was my preference, as I haven't been there before and heard it was nice.  As it wasn't on their wish list, we could skip it in favour of something they might enjoy more.  They have been to York before and have "been there/done that" regarding the York Minster.

DH and I can always go to any of these places on our own another time, Inshallah, so it's really about taking them to places they'll enjoy.

I think you're putting too much down for the 7th and 8th. My parents and I stayed in a B&B in Onich, which is close to Fort William. The owners were great and it was a beautiful view over the Loch. We did this train ride: http://www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/jacobite.htm which my parents really enjoyed. Then the next day we left and stopped at Stirling Castle on the way back. We didn't have a ton of time in Stirling. If we would have had an extra day it probably would have been better. My parents and I are used to tons of driving, so it didn't really bother us too much, but it was a lot of driving. It took us about 6 hours to get from Bath to Kirkcudbrightshire, which is where we stayed our first night in Scotland.

Thanks, Bmore_2_UK, that's all really great advice.

I'll cut down the driving part in Scotland.  I was there on a 1 week bus about type tour several years ago and I remember it taking a lot longer to get places than I would have thought.

I'm glad you mentioned Stirling Castle, I think they will like that.  They would love the train ride, so that's a fab suggestion.  If you happen to recall any more details about the B&B, that would be great, otherwise I'll search on the web and see what I can find in that area, sounds lovely.

Hey, and good luck with your move to Ireland!

This is the B&B.

http://www.camushouse.co.uk/

Thank you for that!!

DH and I are now thinking of doing this trip via public transport instead of hiring a car, so I'll do some research into this as well.  I think it will be more expensive, but DH has a medical condition that impairs his driving, and he hasn't driven a car in the past 8 years, so is out of practice.  I never got my UK licence and have no desire to pursue it (and I haven't driven for the past 9 years).  His parents aren't comfortable driving in the UK either, as they live in a country town in Oz and only drive familiar routes.

Yowzers! That will change everything! Good luck with planning!

Heehee, thanks!!

There are bus tours that operate out of Edinburgh that go to Loch Lomond and Stirling Castle, as well as other places.  I think you can get info about them at the Tourist Centre. It was ten years ago when I took one, but it was very good, interesting guide, etc, and a nice option if you aren't driving.   

Harrogate was my preference, as I haven't been there before and heard it was nice.  As it wasn't on their wish list, we could skip it in favour of something they might enjoy more.  They have been to York before and have "been there/done that" regarding the York Minster.

DH and I can always go to any of these places on our own another time, Inshallah, so it's really about taking them to places they'll enjoy.

Yes, H'gate is very nice but would be better to spend a weekend there so you can poke around at leisure.  It's not the kind of place you can rush in and look at the Famous Monument or whatever and rush off again.  And, yeah, York is pretty overdone.  Mind you, there are lots of interesting bits but if they've already been there ...

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

Here is an excerpt from an email I just sent to my DH and in-laws, I'd welcome any further ideas/advice, etc.:

Day 1:  Take the train from London to Edinburgh
 
Day 2:  Free day in Edinburgh
 
Days 3-5:  Guided tour, as per this link:
http://www.casheltravel.com/scotland-travel/Scottish-Tours.php
 
Be sure to scroll 2/3 of the way down the page, til you reach this part: 
Highlands and the Isle of Skye
3 DAY TOUR
 
Day 6:  Take the train from Edinburgh to London
 
The only trick is timing it so that the dates coincide with a scheduled tour.  If needed (and if possible), Days 2-4 could be the 3 day tour and Day 5 could be the free day in Edinburgh.

In summary, it appears our only real option for seeing the countryside is to take a guided tour.  Days 1 and 6 are going to be travel days, so that only leaves us 4 full days for sightseeing.

If anyone knows of any other 3 or 4 day tours (ideally, one that includes Loch Lomond and Stirling, which are missing from the tour in the link above), I'd be interested.  I'll also go back to surfing the web to see if I can find the ideal itinerary.

I just wish we had more time together, but they wanted to see other parts of Europe as well, so this is what we have to work with.

And I may just have to take DH up to Harrogate for a romantic weekend sometime! 

I think your second itinerary sounds pretty good.  I'm assuming you've already looked at www.visitscotland.com to look for tours? 

We're going to Skye and environs for a week in April, so I'll report back afterwards.  Edinburgh is great (was a student there) and you'll be spoilt for choice of things to do.

Harrogate is nice, I went there for a trade show last summer, I'd like to go back and spend a day or two.  Definitely has a posh feel to it, and has Betty's Tea Room, which is a lovely, if expensive, place for afternoon tea.

That looks like a great tour, glad you found one that covered everything you wanted to do.

Edinburgh's city centre is fairly easy to get around on foot, though there are plenty of open top bus tours for sightseeing.  Are his parents pretty mobile?  There are some steep and winding streets in the Old Town, but the main streets of New Town are relatively flat.  Is Edinburgh accomodation included in your tour package or will you have to book that separately?

And if you're on a National Express train from London, you get free wi-fi! 

That looks like a great tour, glad you found one that covered everything you wanted to do.

Edinburgh's city centre is fairly easy to get around on foot, though there are plenty of open top bus tours for sightseeing.  Are his parents pretty mobile?  There are some steep and winding streets in the Old Town, but the main streets of New Town are relatively flat.  Is Edinburgh accomodation included in your tour package or will you have to book that separately?

And if you're on a National Express train from London, you get free wi-fi! 

Thanks, yes we were really pleased it worked out - the in-laws are really looking forward to the steam train (and DH and I are too but they are particular fans of steam trains, so that worked out well).  We booked flights that worked out cheaper than the train would have been, and as we live close to Heathrow, it's easier than schlepping it up to Kings X.

We booked a B&B in Edinburgh that was highly recommended per tripadvisor reviews, and they have been really responsive over email, so we expect that will be nice.  It's in a fairly central location too.

Regarding the in-laws' mobility, they are fairly mobile, but my FIL is overweight, which does limit him a lot more than my MIL, who is slim and trim. 

A funny story about my FIL, when we were walking up a moderately steep hill one time after visiting my BIL in hospital a few years ago, my FIL stopped for a second to catch his breath and asked if there was a downhill route to get back to the car.  He realised the fallacy of logic right after he asked the question and he seemed a bit embarrassed; fortunately I was the only one who heard him (and I ignored it, so as not to embarrass him further), but of course I told DH later and we always joke about it whenever we find ourselves walking on any semblance of an incline.