Hertford North to Honiton

Two friends are coming to stay with us travelling from Hertford North to Honiton and they have chosen the following route below.The friends are not used to travelling by train.Can anyone advise which platform they alight from at Highbury and the platform they board the train on for Clapham i.e. do they have to travel upstairs for the main train, or can they merely walk across the platform. They have some heavy(ish) luggage.

Also they have been told they cannot reserve seats because they are travelling from Clapham - this doesn't seem correct to me - can anybody advise?

Kind Regards and Thank You for your help.

09:30

Hertford North

Great Northern

43 minutesCalling points

10:13

Highbury & Islington

10:24

Highbury & Islington

London Overground

46 minutesCalling points

11:10

Clapham Junction

11:27

Clapham Junction

South Western Railway

2 hours 48 minutesCalling points

14:15

Honiton

The 09:30 from Hertford North to Highbury & Islington is booked to depart from Platform 3 - this platform has step free access in the form of the lift.

This train arrives Platform 6 at Highbury & Islington.

The 10:24 from Highbury & Islington to Clapham Junction is booked to depart from Platform 7 - no idea on step free access but they do have escalators.

This train arrives Platform 1 at Clapham Junction.

The 11:27 from Clapton Junction to Honiton is booked to departed from Platform 9 - no idea on step free access.

This train arrives Platform 1 at Honiton.

As they have heavy luggage, it might be worth booking assist travel, no idea on age of passengers not that it should matter.

Great Northern Assist Travel:

https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/t...isted-travel/book-assistance-for-your-journey

This isn't the most straightforward route. It would be interesting to know exactly what ticket they've got as it'll be simpler to travel from Highbury & Islington to Waterloo.

To answer the questions:

The train from Hertford North arrives at Highbury on one of the platforms underground (next to the Victoria Line as it happens). They will then need to make their way to the surface level Overground platforms for the train to Clapham Junction.

South Western Railway don't offer seat reservations on their trains, it's nothing to do with joining at Clapham Junction. If they have an Advance ticket they will have a 'counted place' reservation which tells them what train they must travel on but doesn't actually reserve them a seat.

If they have a flexible Off Peak ticket routed '+Any Permitted' then it far more straightforward to travel:

Hertford North - Highbury & Islington
Cross platform interchange at Highbury to the Victoria Line southbound
At Oxford Circus change to the southbound Bakerloo Line which is also a cross platform connection
Alight at Waterloo and join the train to Honiton there.

As the train to Honiton starts at Waterloo there'll be no problems getting a seat.

Thank you for your helpful and comprehensive reply.

This is a much better suggestion - I will ask them to check their ticket and report back.

This is a route I use often - the London to Honiton anyway. There is a lot more choice of seats joining at Waterloo and also luggage space which isn't that good on SWR. Clapham Junction is a massive station and is quite confusing, far more so than Waterloo for a 'novice' or even a 'moderate' like me. If the ticket has the maltese cross on it, underground use is fine.

Also use this a lot - Honiton resident - another vote for getting on at Waterloo especially with heavy luggage as Clapham junction has some notoriously low and curvy platforms with big gaps between train and platform. If luggage is a pain I'd highly recommend posting /couriering it ahead.

Just to support Hadders:
- the Advance fare is +SWR and connections, while Offpeak is +Any Permitted, so there is definitely no penalty for travelling via Waterloo.
- the NR journey planner throws up the Overground route because it has fewer changes (the truth, but not the whole truth!); even putting in Via Waterloo it suggest changing at FPK and STP which is, to put it politely, sub-optimal.
- it is quite some distance from the Bakerloo platforms to the main line at WAT, but it is straightforward and the total distance involved is much less.

Thank you for your replies.

The two ladies concerned have changed their plans and will now travel from Waterloo in accordance with Hadders suggested route.

This is a relief to them and they asked me to thank Hadders.

Now this is settled and the worrying bit is out if the way - they can enjoy there break and relax in beautiful Devon!

Thanks again to Hadders!

If they find their luggage was a struggle on the outward journey then I'd thoroughly recommend sending it back as a parcel, from home or via the newsagents in New Street. A 15kg parcel is only a tenner or so.

Good idea - thank you.

Didn't know you could do this!

The two ladies have now returned home after a successful and very easy journey.

They have asked me to thank everybody for their help - especially Hadders whose route they used.

This route will now be used by all our friends travelling from Hertfordshire.

Kind Regards,