Newhaven > Reading and Reading > London routes?

[mjr]

Thanks for these additional tips and suggestions, all.

Nirakaro: is there an official website for booking trains in the way you did? I live in France and am not familiar with the names of the various train companies, etc.

The official sites of the two train companies you'll use are www.southernrailway.com and www.GWR.com while www.nationalrail.co.uk is the official shared site of all train operators. It used to be British Rail but now it's owned by SNCF, DB, NS, bus companies, branding companies, banks, ...!

[Samuel D]

… dogs, cats, Tom, Dick and Harry!

Excellent, thanks.

[nirakaro]

I couldn't get Southern's website to work, and booked on, I think, goeuro.co.uk

[Clipper_2018]

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

The site's Journey Planner is very good at telling you whether bicycles are allowed and whether you need to book.

You don't really need to know the names of the various operators. Ticketing is universal.

Your journey from Newhaven to Reading is too far to ride, late in the day on tired legs. I would say get yourself to Gatwick - ride (3-3.5 hours) or train (1 hour), then take the train to Reading.