St Malo - Portsmouth Ferry

[tatanab]

Also, I think the international ferry port is nearer Portsmouth and Southsea station than Portsmouth Harbour, but check that on a map.

It is. However, at P&S the platforms are upstairs whereas at the Harbour they are level, and the station is a terminus so the train is sitting there for a while which may be an advantage. Ex-local several decades ago.

[iandusud]

Advance single is £9.20 (valid on chosen train) and Super Off Peak £37 (any off peak train on date of travel). Confusing info re booking bikes. National Rail journey planner says for this service

Southwestern say:

South West London, Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and Devon.

Reservations are compulsory between London Waterloo and Salisbury, Exeter and Bristol. Two cycles per train.

Reservations are not available for any other services. Number of spaces varies from 2- 12 depending on rolling stock.

Restrictions apply Monday to Friday, cycles are not permitted on services:

arriving into London Waterloo between 07:15 and 10:00 inclusive
departing London Waterloo between 16:45 and 19:00 inclusive from and to the suburban area bounded by Hook, Guildford, Reading and Dorking.
departing Clapham Junction 07:45 to 09:00 to the area bounded by Clapham Junction, Feltham and Strawberry Hill.
Cycles may be conveyed on services between Ascot, Aldershot and Guildford at any time.

Reservations can be made:

At any staffed National Rail station
Via South Western Railway telesales team 03456 000 650

[mjr]

Advance single is £9.20 (valid on chosen train) and Super Off Peak £37 (any off peak train on date of travel). Confusing info re booking bikes.

Situation normal, sadly. If national rail and the train company website disagree, then at the moment I would assume the train company wins. ( That may change once Great British Rail is active. )

At that price, I'd buy the timed ticket and accept either I get to look at Portsmouth if early or I have to buy the more expensive ticket if late.

[Jdsk]

...
However, at P&S the platforms are upstairs whereas at the Harbour they are level, and the station is a terminus so the train is sitting there for a while which may be an advantage.
...

Yes: more time to get on, easier moving awkward objects around people, opportunity to put the bike in an unreserved space before someone else does...

Jonathan

[iandusud]

Thank you all for the helpful advice. I've booked tickets for the 20h19 service which should give us plenty of time. With our Two Together Railcard it's cost the grand sum of £12.10 for the two of us, so no great loss should we find another better option on the day.

[simonhill]

Sounds good. My, using Trainline, ticket was about £18 through to Southend. I had ⅓rd off for card, but still much cheaper than other prices quoted.

I don't think all Waterloo trains start from Harbour, so more choice from P&S. I've used 3 times now, and don't think I've always used the lift as sometimes the train start/end from there at lower level.

Edit: just searched Trainline for next week, evening P to Waterloo, £12.60 without card discount.

[st599_uk]

Interesting. In that case I would buy off peak singles and reserve bike spots and maybe even seats on the later train but try to go on an earlier one. It depends on the booking system as to whether that works but I’ve booked my bike tickets on GWR before my actual tickets and the website juste asks you to confirm you have train tickets before it spits a bike reservation out.

Can't reserve seats ot bikes on the Portsmouth - London line.

[Bice]

Apparently I cannot delete posts, so this duplicates the above:

I have travelled London to Portsmouth and will do so Portsmouth to London on Thursday, and no reservations for bikes are needed.

(It is always cheaper to travel to Clapham Junction IME, so if your connection is Victoria, don't pay to go further out of your way to Waterloo.)

[brianleach]

The hold up is getting off the ferry. Pedal cycles are in a side room off the car deck, and you simply cannot get out until the row of cars immediately adjacent has moved. Once that has happened, all is plain sailing and you can get to and through passport control easily

I agree with the all the previous comments.

I was a regular on the Portsmouth ferries from 2007 to 2019, catching the train to Winchester on arrival.

In the olden days you could get your bike between the cars to the front of the queue before the doors opened to speed departure but the increased size of vehicles over the period means that this is no longer possible. I used to leave an hour from the ferry's arrival time to get the train (from the Harbour Station, easier cycle route I think) but on a DFDS ferry from Le Havre one year the bikes and motorbikes were effectively stored in the hold with the car deck over the top. Consequently we had to wait for every vehicle to leave before the floor could be moved and I certainly missed the train that year.

[ebor62]

The Portsmouth to London trains are Southern and you can not reserve bike spaces on these. They normally have one cycle/ wheelchair compartment every four carriages. The London trains are normally 8 carriages, giving you 4 spaces or during busy times 12 carriages , giving you 6 spaces. The bike carriage is marked by red down the side of the door. The Portsmouth harbour station is just a little further but is a terminus, so the trains usually sit there for 20 minutes giving you plenty of time to get on board and strap your cycles in. If the trains on your journey are calling at both both, this would be the better option. When using Southern, I am never given an option to reserve a seat, nor do I see reserve cards. These are basically regarded as commuter trains. The advance tickets always say restricted to that train, but in practice I have always used the first train available with never a problem. The only exception been off peak tickets, when the barriers will not let you through at peak times.

[mjr]

The Portsmouth to London trains are Southern and you can not reserve bike spaces on these.

Only the hourly Portsmouth & Southsea to London Victoria trains are Southern (usually green and white exterior). The trains to London Waterloo from Portsmouth Harbour are South Western (usually blue and white or grey).

[simonhill]

Cripes I hadn't realised it was so complicated.

Re going down side on ferry, I explained my way earlier in the post.

Yes, not enough room down the side, but there was between the cars. A nice wide path there to enable car pax to access their vehicles. Get through/across the first (next to side of ship) line of cars, then you have access to the wider route.

[mjr]

Cripes I hadn't realised it was so complicated.

There's far more info above than what most people need to know.

If you want really complicated, someone will be along to explain train motors, signals and pathing soon...

[iandusud]

A bit of feedback. First of all we had a wonderful holiday in Brittany. Secondly we were at the Portsmouth Harbour station by about 6.50pm. We asked at the station if we could use our tickets on an earlier train than the 8.19 we were booked on but were told (as we knew) that they were only valid for that train. We could have paid £48 to take the earlier train getting us into Waterloo an hour earlier that our scheduled train but that seemed a waste of money. We decided to have a chat with the guard on the earlier train and he said he was happy enough for us to travel on that train but that we could potentially have a problem at the barrier at Waterloo. We decided to chance it and the attendant at Waterloo opened the gate for us without wishing to see any tickets, so that was a result. It also meant that we arrived at our daughter's at 10pm rather than 11pm!

The next day however didn't go so smoothly. We had seats and bikes booked on a train out of King's Cross on Tuesday but there was severe disruption due to damaged overhead power cables which resulted in our train being first delayed and then cancelled. We got our tickets changed for a later train that suffered the same fate. In the end we got tickets for the following morning and had another night at our daughter's, which proved to be the right decision as all services other than to Cambridge and King's Lynne were cancelled that day.

[Jdsk]

Thanks for adding the outcome, and especially the time of arrival at the station.

Jonathan