Durham to Loughborough

Going this Friday, return Saturday. Can't find any cheap advance tickets for the above, so decided to just use off-peak returns for flexibility, and splitting at Chesterfield.

Best I can get is:

DHM - CHD £33.65

CHD - LBO £10.70

with YP railcard

What sort of time are you travelling? You can still grab some advance fares to Sheffield for £21.45 in total - outward at 14:17, 16:08 or 17:07; return at 17:41, 20:15 from Sheff, or cheaper still leaving Sheff at 21:34. An off peak return to Loughborough from Sheffield is £12.30, total coast £33.75.

If you want to travel in the morning you could go first class to Sheffield for £19.15 (one way) at 09:12, which would take your to Sheffield to £29.70. That's £42.45 in total, which is still mildly cheaper, and you could drink your way through the free coffee to get better value...

That's the problem, won't be able to tell before Friday morning at earliest what time I can go, so has to be non-advance tickets only I'm afraid.

It's hard to save more than a few pounds from my (limited) experimenting because you're returning a different day.

Depending on the times you're travelling:
Durham - Sheffield £31.50 SSR
Sheffield - Loughborough £12.30 SVR
£43.80

On a slightly related, albeit digressed note...

I'm a Loughborough student living in Newcastle. For open tickets there are two routes available, Sheffield or Peterborough.

Some advance tickets were.are available via Newark Northgate, with a walk to Castle. However, this is only available on the advance tickets, and cannot be used for the more expensive open tickets