Grimsby Town to Gravesend this weekend.

[DeeGee]

Just me, adult, no railcard. Age 39 and a half.

Travelling down Friday afternoon to arrive in time for tea, travelling back as late as possible Saturday afternoon. Don't mind fixed times outward, would prefer flexibility back but realise I can't have both. If I can leave Gravesend flexibly and wait at Pancakes or Kings Cross, that should be fine.

Cheapest walk up I can find is 103.

An alternative that I need to investigate is the possibility of travelling to Aylesford to overnight and returning with BoJ at Gravesend.

Any ideas? I have Clubcard points and Nectar points if I have to pay in advance, or a stack of RTVs if I can pay on the day.

 

[MikeWh]

£103 seems to be the super off-peak return to Aylesford, Gravesend is slightly cheaper. Trainsplit doesn't seem to be able to better this.

 

[Romilly]

The price could be got down to around £80 by using an offpeak return between Grimsby and one of Newark, Grantham and Peterborough, and then Advances between Newark/Grantham/Peterborough and Gravesend (or less if happy to be tied to EMT between Grimsby and Newark, although the EMT options seem unlikely to work coming back).

 

[DeeGee]

Thanks,

There's not that much of a saving, then.

Can I check, therefore. The Super Off-Peak Return here IS valid, is it not, via HS1, and also for departure from St Pancras during the afternoon peak?

What will the loading be like on the javelin at around 5pm on Friday? Crush?

Also, there's a possibility that I might be able to get accommodation in Ashford, and a lift to Gravesend in the morning. Would it be amiss to buy a return to Ebbsfleet and an overdistance excess outward to Ashford? I assume I'd need to make my own way to Ebbsfleet from Gravesend on the return.

 

[button_boxer]

Thanks,

There's not that much of a saving, then.

Can I check, therefore. The Super Off-Peak Return here IS valid, is it not, via HS1, and also for departure from St Pancras during the afternoon peak?

It doesn't say "not valid on HS1" so the route should be fine, and the "network area" rule[1] applies so there should be no time restrictions between London and Gravesend. Whether SE barrier staff at St Pan will agree with this is another question...

[1] For a ticket from an origin outside the network area to a destination inside it, time restrictions only apply to the Grimsby <> London leg and you can use any London <> Gravesend trains to connect with that.

 

[DeeGee]

It doesn't say "not valid on HS1" so the route should be fine, and the "network area" rule[1] applies so there should be no time restrictions between London and Gravesend. Whether SE barrier staff at St Pan will agree with this is another question...

[1] For a ticket from an origin outside the network area to a destination inside it, time restrictions only apply to the Grimsby <> London leg and you can use any London <> Gravesend trains to connect with that.

Would waving an itinerary at them help?

I might be splitting at Grantham, actually (various permutations of route and accommodation), so that would still be OK, won't it?

 

[Starmill]

You might be accused of fraud for "brandishing an itinerary" - do watch out.

 

[button_boxer]

I might be splitting at Grantham, actually (various permutations of route and accommodation), so that would still be OK, won't it?

Do you mean splitting your tickets or breaking your journey? If you mean travelling on separate Grimsby-Grantham and Grantham-Gravesend tickets then in this particular case it wouldn't make a difference, as the Grantham to Gravesend super off-peak return has the same route and restriction code (1L) as Grimsby to Gravesend, and Grantham is still outside the network area.