Spatially Challenged

As a 30th birthday present to myself, I think I've finally decided to give myself the trip I've always wanted: London, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Hay-on-Wye and Edinburgh.  10 whole days to do the things I've been dying to do and see the places I've been dreaming about.  Since I've decided on October, I have 9 months to do the planning but since this is all very exciting, I've already started.  Here's the thing...I am apparently spatially challenged when it comes to these things...

After an hour last week, I had a list of everything I wanted to see, and a detailed map of where I needed to go and how I was going to arrive there.  I had train stations marked and in the case of Hay-on-Wye, connector buses since there are no train stations in the village.  I had it planned out to the hour, and everything I wanted to see worked into my timetable perfectly. 

Then I thought, "maybe I should actually look at the rail map and an actual map of Great Britain to see how much it would cost and if my calculations were correct."  This is where the trouble started.  For a country that's roughly the size of a few of our smaller states jammed together, towns and cities are VERY far from each other.  And it just so happens that the 4 places I want to see are EXTREMELY far from each other.  Now that shouldn't be problem because they have a fantastic rail system, right?!  Well they do but the map for the rail system I believe has been concocted by some sort of masochist who really likes his job.  Exhibit A: Stratford-Upon-Avon is no more than 2 inches from Hereford (the closest station to HoW) on the map but there is absolutely NO convenient line that will take you between these 2 cities.  I can't even figure out a loop in which I could change trains...What is wrong with me?!

Then there's the issue of in which order to visit all 4 places.  I pondered this one thought for a good 20 minutes straight with about 100 iterations until my head started to hurt and I gave up.  If I were smart, I'd pick 4 other relatively close knit places and go there but I'm picky and I want what I want.  So while I foresee quite a lot of research and headache in the coming months, I'm positive it will be for the best.

 I was one of those people who never wanted an itinerary, choosing rather to leave travel up to chance, but it seems that with this trip, I'll need to plan to the last second.  Do you think it's too late to hire a personal secretary to go with me?