Beaconsfield to Water Orton

[coxy]

Thinking of a day trip from Beaconsfield to Water Orton some time next week, so would like to check which routes are valid ?

Having checked ticket prices on both Southern and National Rail, there's a Super Off Peak Return at £22.50 and an Anytime Day Return £30.80.

The confusion arises when I look at the route for a particular itinery. Examples found so far include the following:

Beaconsfield - Moor Street, walk to New Street, then XC to Water Orton.

Beaconsfield to Leamington Spa, then XC to New Street, then XC to Water Orton.

Beaconsfield to Banbury, Banbury to Coventry, Coventry to Nuneaton, Nuneaton to Water Orton.

I'd appreciate any advice on which route(s) are valid ?

 

[yorkie]

The shortest route is always valid. This appears to be via Coventry-Nuneaton avoiding Birmingham.

In addition, any routes shown in the Routeing Guide are valid (help with the Routeing Guide is available in our RailUK Fares & Ticketing Guide - Section 3 - Routeing).

Although it's not an authoritative source, Trainscanbecheaper interprets the routeing guide and calculates the shortest route (using decimalised data) and effectively does a lot of the work for you.

Also, National Rail Enquiries has it's own interpretation of the Routeing Guide, and if it says a route is available on one ticket then that means that it's a permitted route. If it shows two tickets being required, then it is the interpretation of NRE that it is not permitted (but it's not always right).

Also any ticket you book for a specific itinerary on a booking website, is valid when travelling in accordance with the itinerary, when accompanied by that itinerary, even if not normally valid, so when you look up any fare, if there is a route you like the look of but are not sure if it would normally be valid, I'd book it, as booking the ticket forms a contract.

In this case, any of the routes you describe are permitted.

 

[coxy]

Thanks for the feedback, the link to Trains Can Be Cheaper is especially useful.

Still trying to get my head round the Routing Guide