York is approx halfway from Edinburgh and I think would be a good stopping off place. Harrogate is also about the same distance. It really depends what you want to do when you get there, if you want to see beautiful scenery then anywhere near Harrogate. The Peak District is lovely but it is a couple of hours further south. If you want to visit a lively city then probably Leeds would serve your purpose.

hey there judith thanks for your reply, i was thinking leeds looked good on the map and after looking on the net sounds a nice place to visit. We arnt looking to do to much its more a chance to relax during the day and find a room for the night. Harrogate sounds nice aswell though ill have a look at that aswell.

Depending on what you are looking for, for scenery places of interesrt the NorthumberlandCoast arround Bamburgh not much nightlife though. If its nightlife Newcastle or Leeds, nightlife and some culture York, all within easy striking distance of the A1

As Eb is on the east side i assume you will be taking the A!/A1m [much nicer and a lot less accidents than the M1] then i would go for a bit of culture and history and say York, leeds is ok as a working town, but a hell of a mess to drive around/through [i hate it..still a part of my job]

wizard

hi........jessop...............i have to agree with .wizard .leeds is a pain to drive to and through...york is a much better choice for sightseeing as well..
regards.................john-doe........

I agree, York is a great place to visit and quite compact in the centre

hey there thanks for all your replies, the way we would normaly go would be via the m6 and then the m1, having said that we could esily go via the a1 which ive been told is a bit nicer? i will look into York aswell as sounds really nice!

jessop, we go to EB two or three times a week [also newcastle and all points NE] we always use the A1/A1m we leave our yard [just north of bedford] at around 6am and find it by far the quickest route, slight delays at Blythe where the roadworks are otherwise we save about an hour

wizard

another vote for York .love it there and just off the A1. As said its very compact to walk around with lots of lovely pubs . the only thing worth mentioning is that many B+B,s in the town centre only do two night bookings at weekends. We come from Essex Jessop and always use the A1 . dont think there is much in it time wise and there are many historic towns along that route .york would take you around 3 and a half to 4 hrs. in fact we have just come back from a weekend break on the yorkshire moors via the A1 . went up friday night and came home yesterday afternoon and flew up and down . no traffic at all which was great going for a bank holiday weekend.

Definately York you will love it

York or Harrogate, avoid driving through Leeds like the plague, far too busy. Most hotels these days, IME, only take bookings for two nights minimum though. Try searching the net for hotels first just to check.

thanks again for replies! am looking at hotel rooms, what a nightmare i thought it would be really easy to find something, but no its quite hard to find something at a reasonable price which is available and also allows stays of one night only!

If you fancy york Jessop have a browse through the accomodation on http://www.visityork.org .you will find some that do 1 night bookings you just need to persevere . or how about the travelodge at york . there is one right in the centre and im sure you could do a 1 night booking there. You can search for available accomodation on that site jessop . not sure what night you wanted but just did a quick search for fri 7th for city centre and there were several guest houses that came up . if there was anything that you fancied it maybe easier to ring them direct and you can always check them out on the tripadvisor review site .I spent an afternoon ringing round numerous york guest houses last year for a one night stay in a family room for 5 and i did eventually find one . i would recommend something in the city centre or walkable though as parking would be hard to find.

lyn

crikey just had a look at the travelodge . £75 and you dont even get breakfast , you can definately do better than that . We always stay at the blue bridge hotel which is a lovely 10 min walk along the river.it gets mixed reviews but we have always been happy and you get a good breakfast

thanks so much for your time wewill be looking for saturday the 8th which i seven harder to find! i will look into what you are saying though regards fro guy

Has to be York.and don't worry about the delays at Blyth..they are not too bad at the minute, although it can get a little confusing with the new mini roundabout. Markham Moor is also running smoothly and 5 lane ends is getting on track. (local to the area..drive it every day!) York has plenty of places of interest, far more than Leeds and is easy to get to from the A1. It does depend where you are getting on the A1 though but i would say for ease of journey..get on the A1 and stay on it right the way to the end where the big Asda store is as you approach the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Ibis York available for Sat 8th for £38per person on Superbreak.com

Maybe cheaper on Ibis website?

If however, you are returning down the M74/M6 - faster than heading down the A1 [not motorway north of Newcastle, and lots of speed camera's], then why not stop off somewhere in the Lake District for a night?

Yes i believe the Ibis is more or less opposite the blue bridge Hotel . Again a nice little stroll along the ouse . (5 -10 mins). fabulous . you could even take in one of the many ghost tours on saturday night . great fun for both adults and children

if you get off the A1 at newcastle you would miss the stunning drive along the northumberland coast up to and over the Scottish borders. It is tedious, as Northern says, there is very little dual carriageway and many speed camera's. If you get stuck behind the often slow moving vehicles it can turn that part of your journey into a nightmare.

Just to say thanks again! just got back from a very good fun but tiring trip.
Had a great time and ended up stopping in York last night, lovely place just wish we had more time to explore it, might go back for a weekend at some point.

Glad you had a great time Jessop. Yes york is a very special place and we are yet to find anywhere else quite like it in the UK.