Elaine B.

I know I'm just being a cheapskate I think the hotel is at Canary Warf not sure how far that is, oh well I've got lots of time to look at my options.

AudsFrmSA

Thanks TruBrit, love that route planner! google doesn't tell you everything....like the half way mark between Sleaford and Carnoustie, just maybe there is someone out there that can recommend a nice place from their experience of spending a night there - no harm in asking.

TruBrit

the hotel might even have a shuttle bus....

TruBrit

the journey's about 8 hrs so i guess half way would be approx 4 hrs from sleaford

but no i am taking the mickey with you, i know what you mean and i hope someone can recommend a descent place to stay...good luck and safe trip

Elaine B.

If only my OH could just send one of the tour buses to get me (he works for a band) now that would work well

TruBrit

there you go...

Elaine B.

If I could stand the residual stink of ten roadies in a confined space

TruBrit

as long as it's free who cares

the ride not the stink

Elaine B.

quoll

LOL at the thought of trekking suitcases around London - have you thought of backpacks? At nearly 60 I still carry a backpack and usually catch the Heathrow Express and then the train out to Cambridge - never had a problem with it and I can go up and down the stairs on the tube stations as well. I can manage about 18kg without too much hassle although getting it on and off gets to be a struggle at about that much. I can do 20kg if pushed.

Driving out of Heathrow and negotiating the M25 can be a real p*i*t*a if you are knackered - ask for a car with a TomTom in it, that might help a bit though.

Sounds like you are going to have such fun!

Lothianlad

"When anyone asks a question like "What will the weather be like in Lincolnshire in December/January" or any such question about ANY location in the UK at ANY time of the year...there really is no definitive answer that can be given! The UK doesn't have a climate as such - it only has weather - and the weather the UK has is quite unlike it is in most other countries.

The UK rarely has more than two or three days together with the same kind of weather, no matter where in these islands you are, although it can JUST be a tad better in some parts than in others because there are so many factors here which can govern weather, even on a local basis.


Over the past couple of decades the seasons in the UK have become much more blurred due to climate change and global warming. Take winters for a start - up until the 1980s the UK periodically used to have some quite severe spells of winter weather, with some winters in particular going down in weather history for extreme and prolonged cold and snowiness lasting weeks with scarcely a break with the ground snow covered in very many areas for up to three months - from circa the mid 20th century onwards the winters of 1946/47, 1962/63 , 1978/79 and 1981/82 became quite notorious for their snowy conditions and persistent severe frosts by UK standards. In many parts of the UK temperatures in all three winters went down as low as -16C with some areas plummeting to -25C in parts of Scotland, Wales and the Midlands of England.

Such conditions are now virtually impossible to re-occur in the current CC/GW situation because even since 1982 the Arctic ice caps have become depleted very substantially and European glaciers have similarly retreated.

UK winters have now warmed up by an average of +1.9C since the 1960s....it doesn't sound much but its efefcts really have been quite dramatic. Lying snow in lowland UK has become much rarer, and even at higher levels very much less in quantity and in duration. Appreciable areas have not seen snow cover of more than a cm or two in depth or lying for more than 24 hours or so at the most for many years - some areas no snow at all for yonks.

There has been no widespread, long lasting snow cover of any great depth in the UK now since January 1982, and the likelihood of that picture happening agan are now pretty much zilch - unless there is some massive upheaval and reversal in and of current CC/GW patterns.

In its favour LIncoilnshire lies on the drier side of England statistically, where rainfall is generally lower and less frequent than places further west, but that is no guarantee against wet, drizzly, mizzly, windy, gloomy weather occuring in Yellowbelly land....it really depends on prevailing winds. If it comes in from the east then Yellowbelly land aka Lincolnshire can be quite dreich, while places further west can get all the sunshine and clear skies.

The following day it can be the other way round.

And in any case, sometimes December/January can have better weather than mid June - it's not unknown to have an English day with +15C in mid December and just 10C in mid June. Statistically a UK Easter is more likely to see sporadic snow showers than is a UK Christmas.

We all know that it's very much a game of hit and miss with predicting weather conditions for anywhere in the UK with any degree of absolute accuracy for more than one or two days ahead, sometimes not even that. A fine sunny clear start to a day can, and often does, see people putting up umbrellas and donning plassy macs by lunchtime, and that's it until about teatime on the following Thursday, by which time another low has formed off Flamborough Head and it's sheeting down again in Scunthorpe but glorious on the Isle of Anglesey, or Ynys Mon as the locals like to call it.

In short - no once can really tell exactky how the weather will be like in Lincs at any given time - or anywhere else in this Blessed Plot, tbh perfectly honest with you.

AudsFrmSA

That image does make me chuckle...just wouldn't be right!
Backpack could work...just not as secure as a suitcase though. What is a 'TomTom'??

crystal23

It's a Sat Nav system (Satellite Navigation)

quoll

You can secure your backpack zips with padlocks same as a case and if you are really anxious you can get them wrapped or even meshed (though the secure mesh does weigh quite a bit).

Yup TomTom = Sat Nav = Navman or whatever GPS system you go with. Very handy when leaving Heathrow in a bit of a jet lagged daze!

Bevm

Really, the tube from Heathrow isn't bad, especially if you're not in a hurry. If you want a bit of extra breathing space there's the express. Not only is it faster, but there's less risk of a big crowd. They may not sell more tickets than they have seats. I don't know.

A backpack is a good idea, though, and a little one for the kid. If you choose carefully, you can probably get all the clothes you'll need in a moderate sized backpack that won't be too heavy, and that'll give you a two free hands if the kid is tricky.

It sounds as if you might get into London in the rush hour. What the best option is then, I don't know!

Bev