I bloody love Mumsnet - it's inspired me re: summer 2013!

[DottyDot]

So there was a thread on Mumsnet earlier (sorry I can't remember who started it and I can't find it now...) about someone who was wanting to avoid their MIL and so was going to tell her she was travelling the country for the whole of the summer visiting Mumsnetters.

Next summer is ds1's last before he starts secondary school, so I had a lightbulb moment and am thinking dp, me and ds's (will be 11 and 9) could take a month to travel round the country!

We'd do it via train as dp and ds1 don't like being in the car. I'm thinking trains + youth hostels, rucksack each! Dp's been sent off to buy a map of the British Isles which we can pin up and start marking places we'd like to visit.

So far, ds's have mentioned London, Blackpool and Liverpool . It's a start..! I'd like to include Scotland and Ireland - never been to Ireland before.

What do you think - too bonkers to consider..? Has anyone done this in the past and any advice on train travel - is there a family annual UK-wide pass type of thing at all? We've got a friends and family card but I don't know about anything else.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my giddiness dp thinks I'm completely bonkers. Need to start saving and planning...

I think that sounds brilliant. I'd love to travel around the UK like that. I'd never get DH to agree though. The planning sounds almost as much fun as the doing.

Sounds like a great idea.
How about hiring a big campervan for scotland. Waking up at the lakes.More room than a car, so dp & ds might enjoy it.
Send us all a postcard :)

oooh do you think? Yes, the planning appeals to me way more just as much as the holiday itself

Campervan is a great idea - not sure dp will go for it but I can give it a go

If anyone has any top tips on places to go, how to travel lightly that would be great - we've never gone away as a family without the car before - we've done camping but with the security of being able to load the car up with everything. Have already been thinking we'll have to take a few pairs of undies and wash as we go

We did 2 weeks to travel down to Cornwall & back a couple of years ago. 5 days in cornwall & stayed with friends/travelodges in a few other places.

It sounds hellish.

I agree it has the potential to be... I think planning will be key - staying a few nights in each place to have a rest. It'll proabably end up getting scaled down to 10 days in North Wales or something

This sounds lovely...and what good ages yr boys will be to do it.
I would recommend trying to either hire bikes to try and cycle some of it as the ul has some great cycle routes. I haven't done it but the tarka trail in Devon is supposed to be fab. We intend to do it one day.

When you have decided roughly where you are going you should post a thread and get mumsnetters to recommend things to do when you're in their areas. Bet you get some really interesting things to do that you would never find otherwise! It sounds a great thing to do.

I want to come!!! :)

Well I'm less today and more and . Have started doing some investigating into train prices and am horrified at how much it is to travel around this country...

You can get a 2 week all network train pass but for the four of us it will cost £2,000 . By comparison, a Europe inter-rail pass is cheap as chips, but how much sense does that make??!

So, I'm not sure what we're going to do - except I might write to the transport secretary to ask for an August train travelcard to be invented so that people can explore the UK instead of buggering off around Europe...!

DottyDot - I think you should write - its a really good idea!

I'm going to... I'm thinking Transport secretary, culture secretary (need to find the right person re: tourism in England), chief exec of network rail? Really, it should be possible for a family to travel around in the summer and not bankrupt themselves...

I'm not deterred though, just might have to scale down the plans a bit!

What about megabus and local trains?

Yes that's going to be the way forward - although it seems almost impossible to book a train on megabus! Dp and ds1 don't do coaches so it has to be trains. Am going to get a wall map this week and start looking at how much individual train journeys cost...

Get a family railcard instead and then look up the cheapest rail fares separately.

Also, check out the Bill Bryson book - notes on a Small Island, or something it's called.

Lakes: I really recommend the National Trust campsite in Wasdale, at the base of Scafell. But book first because it's miles from anywhere.

Oxford: Start with college accommodation. If no luck there, the YHA is very nice and extremely handy but because of that is noisy! Make sure you ask for the quietest room possible, or plan to spend as much time as poss out and about.

Go around Europe then. I did it in uni holidays once, think it included Ferries too. Flew to Greece, went to Turkey, back to Greece, then Italy, France and home, saw loads of Greecoroman sites. Was fantastic!