Buxton Travel Forum

Thanks to everyone who answered my last question, in particular Joe who was super helpful. I just need a little more info. My friend and I who are going to London decided that we will stay in a county closer to London and travel to Derbyshire for a day trip instead of staying there and paying rail into London for 4 days. But, if we stay in like a county that's only like half an hour out of London, can we get a cab into the city? How much is it, I live in a small town so I don't know anything about cabs, much less London cabs. I still need lots more info about transportation. THANKS THANKS THANKS! If all Europeans are as friendly as you guys- I'm twice as excited! PS- Is Europeans politcally correct?

British public transport is perfectly good. Expensive at times, yes, and the trains may often be overcrowded or delayed, but I doubt a taxi would be any cheaper or faster.

Taxi companies often have set fares for intercity travel, so once you decide on a townin which to base yourselves you could contact the local taxi company by doing a web search and then comparing their fares to the trains and buses.

To give you an idea of what to expect, a one-way trip from Bromley in south London to Stansted airport cost me 70 pounds. In another part of the country, the taxi fare between East Midlands Airport to Nottingham (a distance of 10 miles) is 24 pounds each way.

If you do get a taxi agree the fare in advance and don't be afraid to haggle, you don't want to literally be taken for a ride!

On a side note...I get the sense the British don't like being called Europeans, something in their psyche doesn't like to hear themselves lumped in with the Germans and French! But then, I'm an American living in England, so what does that make me?

A taxi would be an efficient, though expensive way to travel. If you're only 30 minutes outside London, bus or train would frequently be just as good.

As for the comment on British people disliking being called Europeans and being "lumped in with the Germans and French" - I can say that many British people are proud to be Europeans and hold their neighbours in high regard. Others will no dubt disagree.

One way of looking at what was said above is that our correspondent feels that, in general, the British have some fundamental dislike of their neighbours. I suspect the statement would not have been so readily made about British attitudes towards eg Africans or Jews.

Generalisation is always risky and its also worth noting that an increasing number of legally British subjects may view themselves as Scottish, Welsh, English or Irish / Northern Irish before being British, so it isn't really clear which British people are described above.

Just try and find somewhere with a rail link to London ,cabs are scandalous for overcharging and you can bet as a foreigner they'll go round the houses and rip you off.
As for the PC question , how Europeans see nationality is entirely subjective but in general as long as you get the head round the idea that no-one in England sees themselves as British you should be fine. The rest you have to play by ear you may find rampant little englanders and europhile's and everyone in between.

DON'T take cabs! really - i once spent $100 getting from heathrow to kings cross - only to learn later that the trains would have done the same job in 1/4 the time for 1/4 the price...

i know that the first time i visited london i was reluctant to take the tube - or trains. Hard to figure out - cabs are so much easier. On the plus side - cabs let you see the area a bit better by being above ground - but you are incredibly mobil using the tube - cheaper and in the end more interesting. There are also a few tube lines in london (metro?) that run above ground.

once you get used to the european way to thinking about travel - you'll miss trains when you get back.

and yes - i've found europeans (and the enlish ;-) ) quite friendly to visitors. read my travelogue about clarinet and st pancras (one of my favorite train stations) for an example.

-bill

I wouldn't take a cab for long disatnces, it'll cost a fortune if you are local and twice that if you are foreign (not all europeans are as nice as us!).

Try and stay somewhere that is on a rail line into london. You dont necessarily need to stay north of london for debyshire. Most trains north pass through birmingham anyway, so Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire would be just as easy. I say this because to be honest there isn't a great deal to see north of london until you get to derbyshire/nottinghamshire!

Why don't you stay in london for a few days and then travel up north and stay somewhere else? This means you only need to travel once, instead of every day.

Europeans is correct by the way, for some reason a lot of people in the UK seem to think we are too important to be classed as European, that perhaps we are some kind of sub-continent! Very strange.

And Gloucestershire is also definitely worth a visit...

Why not choose St.Albans in Hertfordshire to stay - its a nice old town with fast regular trains to London which is just 25 minutes away.
If you want a day in Derbyshire it would be possible. You would take a train north to Luton (15 minutes) and then change to a mainline train to Derby and then another to Matlock. Or for a longer journey take a Manchester bound train from Luton and change for Buxton. Go to www.midlandmainline.com for more information.
St. Albans, Buxton and Matlock all have good websites - just use a search engine to find them.
And personally speaking I am an English European who has a great deal of respect for any of our neighbouring countries.

Why don't you try staying in Cambridge or Oxford? Both of these are on main train lines and take between 25-55 minutes into London. Also both cities are famous in their own right and are very pretty. Trains get into London Liverpool Street (for Cambridge anyway, not sure about Oxford).

As for the PC question, we live in Europe, we live in Britain, and we live in England, so if anyone does get snippy with you just ignore them!

Hope you have a lovely trip...

You won't see much of Derbyshire if you try to visit on a day trip from the London area by public tansport - the journey will take at least 2 hours, probably more - I would definately recommend a 2-day stopover (the hotel prices might be cheaper as well) !

If you want to visit Lyme Park, try staying in Stockport or Manchester which has direct buses to Lyme Park and direct (but expensive) trains to London.
Having said that, there are plenty of more interesting places to see in Derbyshire which can also be reached from Stockport/Manchester.

Hope this helps

Phil G

I personally would not chose to visit Lyme Park if you only have a short time in Derbyshire.

I would try to take the train that runs from Buxton to Sheffield some how (maybe London to Sheffield, then Sheffield to Buxton).

The journey is superb... and you could stop off in one of the villages along the way overnight should you wish...

one top choice is probably Edale if you want a small village that is on the train line, beautiful and has superb walking right on the doorstep..Edale is at the heart of the Peak District...

Lyme Park is simply a well-managed large park with a lake or two, some woods and some deer in my opinion..... it is similar to many large parks (including many that are nearer to London)

Impressive. This is the first time I've seen a thread revived after three years...