Trains..

[robing]

I'm thinking about doing LEJOG again - last did it 6 years ago. I've just been looking at the logistics and the train fares for both Penzance and Thurso/Wick seemed extortionate. I Couldn't seem to find any decent advance ticket prices. (Nearest mainline station to me is Milton Keynes so fairly central).

Also, the train journey from London to Penzance direct is currently over 6 hours, though it appears that from the end of next week it is down to the more usual time of 5 hours. Engineering works?

[horizon]

I'm thinking about doing LEJOG again - last did it 6 years ago. I've just been looking at the logistics and the train fares for both Penzance and Thurso/Wick seemed extortionate. I Couldn't seem to find any decent advance ticket prices. (Nearest mainline station to me is Milton Keynes so fairly central).

Also, the train journey from London to Penzance direct is currently over 6 hours, though it appears that from the end of next week it is down to the more usual time of 5 hours. Engineering works?

Check the details of your day/time on the website for diversions and bus replacement - there is a lot going on at the moment - not the whole line but you will meet it at some point if you do L - P. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether you'll get the bike on the bus - usually yes, but ....

[mjr]

The advance ticket fares may be because the rail companies are running with stupidly short-term timetables at the moment and it looks like GWR hasn't opened advance ticket sales for certain dates as little as two weeks away! Keep an eye on the dates on http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_far ... 44703.aspx

http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=MKC&dest=PNZ suggests fares should start from £30-40 but they're controlled by GWR... There are also £47.50 advance fares set by CrossCountry which I suspect means changing Birmingham instead of London. Trains from Wick to MKC have similar fares set by both bits of Virgin so maybe see if you can route via the East Coast (via York I guess) if the West Coast advanced fares have sold out.

Good luck! Maybe the latest review of ticketing will sort things out but I wouldn't hold my breath...

[simonwoodward66]

In general the further you book in advance, the greater the chance of getting cheaper tickets. Try splitting your journey so that you travel between main stations and have a separate ticket to get to that station is required.
I'm doing JOGLE in a couple of weeks. The ticket from Birmingham to Thurso cost £24 by splitting and buying early.

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my MotoG3 using hovercraft full of eels.

[mjr]

In general the further you book in advance, the greater the chance of getting cheaper tickets.

The worsening timetable omnishambles has rather undermined that for now. The various bits of Govia/SNCF (Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern, Gatwick Express and Southeastern), Arriva/Deutsche Bahn (Northern) and FirstGroup (Trans-Pennine Express) really seem to be doing their worst.

Try splitting your journey so that you travel between main stations and have a separate ticket to get to that station is required.
I'm doing JOGLE in a couple of weeks. The ticket from Birmingham to Thurso cost £24 by splitting and buying early.

https://trainscanbecheaper.info/ is the latest attempt to automate this that I've seen, linked on brfares.com

[simonwoodward66]

Don't bother with the split ticketing websites. You can always find cheaper fares if you do it yourself. I've just tried that link to go from Birmingham to Thurso on the 18th. I can get it for £100 that website says the cheapest is £197!

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my MotoG3 using hovercraft full of eels.

[PH]

Don't bother with the split ticketing websites. You can always find cheaper fares if you do it yourself. I've just tried that link to go from Birmingham to Thurso on the 18th. I can get it for £100 that website says the cheapest is £197!
Questions i
I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my MotoG3 using hovercraft full of eels.

I think better advice would be don’t rely on, rather than don’t bother, they can sometimes be beaten, but it’s always worth checking.
I’m sat in York station, where a two hour wait saved me £30 returning from Newcastle to Derby, websites don’t look at that. I didn’t beat the price going up on Fri, I took what looked like a good price, traveling on three tickets. There were 6 intermediate stations and 4 trains in the timescale, traveling on up to 3 tickets how many permutations is that? Life’s too short!

[Cyril Haearn]

It is a conspiracy to force people to use their brains

I wouldn't mind at all spending a couple of hours waiting at York or Crewe or Shrewsbury

[A7 Simon]

Life's too short.

The quote we got for Inverness to Reading was 268 each.
Several changes and 18 hours.
The chances of it working well? With bikes??
And we don't live particularly near Reading

So we booked the bike transport people to get bikes and panniers back from JoG - about 160 total, and are flying back Inverness to Bristol for 16.50 each.

The train fom home to Penzance was reasonable abd worked fine

[jgurney]

... quote we got for Inverness to Reading was .... Several changes ... And we don't live particularly near Reading

That sounds bizarre. There are through trains from Inverness to London (Kings Cross for day services, Euston for the Sleeper) then it is a short ride to Paddington for the second train to Reading (or a nearby station which may be closer to you)

[IrondadUK]

Earlier this month I booked mine through a splitting site and was really impressed.

Preston to Penzance, then Thurso to Preston 8 days later for total cost of £100. Saved over £230 on the price trainline was quoting and due to the number of splits their small fee seemed reasonable.

4 phone calls and a couple of facebook messages later and my bikes were booked on too.

[charliepolecat]

I'm renting a car - one way - at Heathrow. No hassle with getting to Paddington and no waiting anywhere.

[althebike]

simonwoodward66 you got a great price for your ticket. I have been checking for Thurso tickets from Reading, heading north to Birmingham, Edinburgh, Crewe , or back to London for overnight sleeper and have not found anything under £200 one way.