Bletchley-Stirling-Inverness

[Bletchleyite]

So I'm looking at doing Bletchley-Inverness with a stop off at Stirling overnight on the way, going outward on Friday evening, returning (all in one go) Sunday morning. The Off Peak Return at around £150 has no BoJ restrictions on it and so would appear suitable for this, particularly as one can't get all the way to Inverness starting in Bletchley on a Friday evening so any reasonable interpretation of "cannot be completed in this time" is going to apply.

In its present state of reliability I don't want to use CS, and in any case I do want to actually sleep Friday night so a hotel in Stirling is preferable.

However, there are of course the odd few awkward staff, so are there any booking engines that might help me get an itinerary with reservations for this? All the ones I've looked at only allow you to specify a minimum layover for ALL connections. I don't want to get up at the crack of dawn on the Saturday so would like to continue starting around 1100.

Thanks.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

So I'm looking at doing Bletchley-Inverness with a stop off at Stirling overnight on the way, going outward on Friday evening, returning (all in one go) Sunday morning. The Off Peak Return at around £150 has no BoJ restrictions on it and so would appear suitable for this, particularly as one can't get all the way to Inverness starting in Bletchley on a Friday evening so any reasonable interpretation of "cannot be completed in this time" is going to apply.

In its present state of reliability I don't want to use CS, and in any case I do want to actually sleep Friday night so a hotel in Stirling is preferable.

However, there are of course the odd few awkward staff, so are there any booking engines that might help me get an itinerary with reservations for this? All the ones I've looked at only allow you to specify a minimum layover for ALL connections. I don't want to get up at the crack of dawn on the Saturday so would like to continue starting around 1100.

Thanks.

I don't think there are any booking engines that are able to supply an itinerary conforming to the requirements you have.

However, I'd like to think that a print out of an itinerary showing an overnight BoJ, plus the NRE explanation of the validity of an overnight BoJ, should sort you out fine.

As always, if you still don't succeed with that, pay whatever it is purported you need to pay, and reclaim it afterwards.

 

[Hadders]

I doubt you'll have a problem with Scotrail using your outward portion on day 2. If it were GTR or other TOCs in the south it might be a bit different,,,,,

You could always email Scotrail customer services and ask them.

 

[Bletchleyite]

True, that might work.

The other thing I could *possibly* concoct is a booking involving the Sleeper, though that'd be a waste of a seat reservation someone might actually want to use, as in CS's present state I have no intention of going anywhere near it.

To be fair I can actually get the VTWC site to do an itinerary with an overnight stop, having had a play, though I think it puts it at Perth (I forget now) whereas I specifically want to be in Stirling (albeit not for very long!). I might book that and use it as "evidence" in the event of any argument - it certainly shows you can resume after 0429 and clearly shows that you can't get all the way starting after work on a Friday evening from Bletchley.

I was pleasantly surprised to see no outward BoJ restriction, to be honest, given that it is near enough an 8A in any practical sense and it could be used to circumvent the restriction from somewhere like Preston (morning peak too, not just evening) without breaking any rules. That said, perhaps it's too obscure for those passengers to think of doing that.