GB Rail Rover Tips & Advice? [All Line Rover or Regional Rovers]

[Ayman Ilham]

As much information on the topic of tips and advice has been given regarding the Interrail pass and how to make the most of it, I would like to see something similar for the many domestic rovers available here in Britain (I understand these are much more niche than Interrail, as they seem to appeal more to enthusiasts rather than tourists) based on past experiences of those who used it, particularly the coveted 'All Line Rover'. Hence, I wanted to open a thread for this; admins feel free to relocate to another forum if you feel this is more suitable elsewhere. As I've used a couple of day rangers here and there in the past, and even a Freedom of the North East 4-in-8-Day Rover (refer to this thread for more details) earlier this year, I always wanted to try the All Line Rover but it'd be interesting to hear different perspectives on the best ways to make the most of it. Most importantly, when would a regional rover (e.g. Freedom of NE/NW/SW, East Midlands or Heart of England Flexi/Continuous) be more worthwhile and when would the ALR be more worthwhile?

Some background about myself to help you tailor your tips:

• I'm based in Manchester (generally get a bus or driven to Piccadilly or Victoria to start my journey) although I'll likely be moving to Blackburn (Cherry Tree on East Lancs Line will be walking distance from my new house) soon
• I generally prefer daytrips where I can return home on the same day to avoid the hassle of accommodation (I don't mind how far, as I've managed as far as Winchester, Norwich and Dundee this way)
• If I try out any sleeper train, I'd be happy with the seated coach, as it's basically a first class seat for standard class money and still better than an overnight coach or economy class flight (slept alright on both of those)
• I'll stick to standard class on my first ALR so I don't have any pressure to stick to routes with first class accommodation to make use of the value, which allows me to explore more regional lines
• For Regional Rovers, I'm more interested in the Freedom of South West (insane coverage that one), Heart of England and East Midlands (gotta get the Turbostars innit)
• I mainly enjoy exploring towns and cities that I ride trains to (usually an hour or two before hopping on a train elsewhere), chilling and getting a bite to eat in the city centres
• I'm actually trying to visit every city in the UK [completed the North; still got a few left in the Midlands; loads in the South; St Davids (nearest station Haverfordwest) left for Wales; and Perth, Stirling, Aberdeen, Inverness left for Scotland]

 

[Techniquest]

Well I have plenty of advice to share here, time is against me this morning however. I shall have to try and remember to get back to you with more thoughts tonight. Here though are some initial thoughts:

Good call on going Standard Class for the ALR. As you identify, no pressure to make the First Class one worthwhile. I'm determined to do a First Class ALR one day, but for now it has to wait, and yes I would absolutely be making full use of it!

Visiting all the cities in the UK is a good goal, I'm actually curious myself how many I have left to explore. It certainly won't be many, although like yourself I have St Davids in the wilds of Pembrokeshire to do. I think Bangor is a city too (I'd have to check) and if so that's also required. I'm going to get looking into all this tonight! If Hereford is still on your list to do, then please do feel free to PM me and I can give you a comprehensive list of things to do and see in my city

Day trips only will make it harder for you to explore the further out points, certainly things like the Far North Lines can't be done that way. If you're able to, I'd factor in an overnight stay in Inverness to be able to do both the Kyle and Wick lines with relative ease. They're both strongly worth doing and you'll want to be awake and fresh for the Kyle line as it's just incredibly beautiful

Sleeper trains, I seriously don't agree with your view it's effectively First Class for Standard Class money. The old seats, yes absolutely, they were much better. From my limited (thankfully!) experience of the new seats, I can only recommend getting a berth if you can. Or stick to day trains and a proper bed somewhere!

Regional rovers, well it depends on what you want to do. If you want to focus entirely on a certain area for a few days, and score away lots of trains and/or stations in that area, then it's worth looking at that option. A day spent chasing EMR 170s on an ALR would not be money well spent, after all!

An ALR offers so much flexibility it's crazy, and if you want to go effectively go where the wind takes you, then it's an amazing ticket. If you want to stick to a rigid plan, then you may find Advances and regional rovers are the way to go. The freedom of an ALR is amazing though, you can wake up and think 'you know what, I don't fancy doing the Lakes today after all, let's have a spin around the North East instead' or you can arrive at say York and 'oh folly, the 68 to Scarborough's dud, forget that I'll doing the 801 to London instead' or other similar trains of thought.

That will have to do for now, I've got to get moving!

 

[30907]

You will - if you haven't already - discover that visiting cities down South involves several hours of repeat journeys. I would second a Freedom of the SW and a base for a couple of nights in (eg) Bristol.
Similarly for East Anglia where Ely, Norwich, Bury St E and Chelmsford (the cathedral cities, I don't know the others apart from Southend!) are reasonably close to each other though Chelmsford is out of the Anglia Plus area.

The area SE of London is the most difficult though there is a Southern Daysave for that operator.

PS Wells (like Southwell, unless you count Newark in the same local authority) isn't rail-connected.

 

[Ayman Ilham]

Well I have plenty of advice to share here, time is against me this morning however. I shall have to try and remember to get back to you with more thoughts tonight. Here though are some initial thoughts:

Good call on going Standard Class for the ALR. As you identify, no pressure to make the First Class one worthwhile. I'm determined to do a First Class ALR one day, but for now it has to wait, and yes I would absolutely be making full use of it!

Visiting all the cities in the UK is a good goal, I'm actually curious myself how many I have left to explore. It certainly won't be many, although like yourself I have St Davids in the wilds of Pembrokeshire to do. I think Bangor is a city too (I'd have to check) and if so that's also required. I'm going to get looking into all this tonight! If Hereford is still on your list to do, then please do feel free to PM me and I can give you a comprehensive list of things to do and see in my city

Day trips only will make it harder for you to explore the further out points, certainly things like the Far North Lines can't be done that way. If you're able to, I'd factor in an overnight stay in Inverness to be able to do both the Kyle and Wick lines with relative ease. They're both strongly worth doing and you'll want to be awake and fresh for the Kyle line as it's just incredibly beautiful

Sleeper trains, I seriously don't agree with your view it's effectively First Class for Standard Class money. The old seats, yes absolutely, they were much better. From my limited (thankfully!) experience of the new seats, I can only recommend getting a berth if you can. Or stick to day trains and a proper bed somewhere!

Regional rovers, well it depends on what you want to do. If you want to focus entirely on a certain area for a few days, and score away lots of trains and/or stations in that area, then it's worth looking at that option. A day spent chasing EMR 170s on an ALR would not be money well spent, after all!

An ALR offers so much flexibility it's crazy, and if you want to go effectively go where the wind takes you, then it's an amazing ticket. If you want to stick to a rigid plan, then you may find Advances and regional rovers are the way to go. The freedom of an ALR is amazing though, you can wake up and think 'you know what, I don't fancy doing the Lakes today after all, let's have a spin around the North East instead' or you can arrive at say York and 'oh folly, the 68 to Scarborough's dud, forget that I'll doing the 801 to London instead' or other similar trains of thought.

That will have to do for now, I've got to get moving!

Thank you very much for the tips and yes, Bangor is indeed a city (oldest in Wales in fact); it was actually the first place I went to in Wales (I even lived nearby for 3 years and went to school there) and my dad used to work in the uni there. As for Hereford, I've already been a few months back did a vlog on it back when I got cheap advances with the GB Rail Sale:

Loved exploring the independent shops down there though, so I'll happily visit again if I ride the Worcester to Hereford line; just have Worcester, Wolverhampton and Coventry left for the midlands by the way.

As for what makes a town a city, it's not about cathedrals anymore cos that link was abolished in 1889, but it's simply whatever the monarch grants the title of 'city' to. It's basically turned into a sort of knighthood, but for towns and local authorities. Here is a list of everywhere the Queen officially considers a city; it is quite inconsistent as there are official cities which are little more than market towns (e.g. Ripon and Wells) or even villages (St Asaph and St Davids) that just so happen to have cathedrals, while we still have booming regional hubs with 300k+ people in their built-up area (Reading, Bournemouth and Middlesbrough are the key examples) that are yet to receive the title: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_United_Kingdom

Back on topic, I understand your point on daytrips, so I would consider Bristol/Plymouth (for the West Country), Southampton (for the South Coast) and Aberdeen/Inverness (for the Highlands) as good bases to reach the far-out points where necessary. Travelodge and Premier Inn generally offer decent priced accommodation in great locations within those cities. I can imagine it'd be VERY tiring to travel far from my home every day and have to return again on the same day, as I was already burnt out after two consecutive days on the North East Rover, so had to leave the rest to the following week (if only they had a flexi-ALR). To go as far as, say, Plymouth would definitely give me very tight timings and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the cities properly. Generally, however, some long-distance daytrips would be fairly reasonable, such as Kent which involves a 2-hour zip down to London Euston for a short walk to catch the HS1 services from St Pancras.

I was more inclined to the Night Riviera for sleeper trains, as that doesn't even require reservations unlike Caledonian Sleeper, and still has the old comfy seats.

I was thinking it might be more worthwhile using the South West Rover for much of the South and West Country, using Bristol as a base, as the vast majority of cities I haven't visited yet are within that region. However, All Line Rover would be amazing for doing something like working my way down to Penzance, then getting a Night Riviera back up to London, followed by a jolly up to Newcastle or Scotland before getting back home to then decide whether I want to head to Notts to bash a EMR 170 to Skegness or Dogbox down the Heart of Wales line the next day.

You will - if you haven't already - discover that visiting cities down South involves several hours of repeat journeys. I would second a Freedom of the SW and a base for a couple of nights in (eg) Bristol.
Similarly for East Anglia where Ely, Norwich, Bury St E and Chelmsford (the cathedral cities, I don't know the others apart from Southend!) are reasonably close to each other though Chelmsford is out of the Anglia Plus area.

The area SE of London is the most difficult though there is a Southern Daysave for that operator.

PS Wells (like Southwell, unless you count Newark in the same local authority) isn't rail-connected.

I am aware of the few cities that don't have rail stations (Ripon - already visited; St Asaph - already visited; Wells and St Davids) but I also know the bus connections to reach them Southwell wasn't actually granted city status by the way, as it just so happened to be the final nail in the coffin that caused Queen Victoria to pull a middle finger to Henry VIII and yeet the cathedral requirement out of the top secret 'rules' for city status and instead hand it over to Birmingham and Belfast before they gained any cathedrals themselves Incidentally, Bury St Edmunds doesn't have city status either, as its cathedral was established after that 'cathedral rule' was abolished and it never really applied for city status either; probably waiting for Ipswich to get it first? Cambridge, MK and Colchester are other cities in East Anglia, but I've already been to Cambridge way too many times in the past!

 

[ChrisC]

I have never done an ALR but have done quite a few regional rovers over the past 20 years. I do prefer the 7 day, or even more so the flexibility of the 8 days in 15 versions, as they are far better value than the 3 or 4 day versions.

I usually like to book a reasonably comfortable hotel, within a few minutes walk of a station, that does a good breakfast. For a stay of around a week I wouldn’t choose anything less than a Premier Inn. It’s usually good to base myself near the centre of a regional rover area, but that’s not always so important, but mostly near a station with lots of alternative routes. As most regional rovers are not usually valid much before 9am, during the week, I have a leisurely breakfast just after 8am before setting off. Usually I am back in my hotel between 6 and 7pm because by then, after a full day out I’m getting tired, especially towards the end of the 7 days. After a substantial breakfast I don’t need that much more to eat during the middle of the day but usually have a meal late afternoon or just before I return to my hotel.

For me the best part of using a regional rover is to explore an area in more depth rather than travelling huge distances each day. I like to keep getting on and off the train and explore the area. Cities are interesting, but I prefer on this type of trip to explore smaller towns, villages and even remote countryside and coastal locations. I do quite a lot of walking when I visit the variety of locations. When I visit larger cities I prefer to stay a few days to explore there rather than travel around by train using a rover ticket.

I’ve done quite a few North West Rovers and never tire of that huge area where there are still so many places to explore. I can spend at least one day just on the Cumbrian Coast Line getting on and off and walking around interesting places.

When I did a Heart of England Rover I spent 2 whole days just exploring places on the Marches Line between Shrewsbury and Hereford. In adddition to Shrewsbury and Hereford, Ludlow, Leominster, Church Stretton and Craven Arms for Stokesey Castle are all worth exploring. It’s also a line where standard fares can be quite expensive so a rover comes in useful. The Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester and on to Malvern is another line where I spent a couple of days. I must do another Heart of England Rover as there is so much to see.

I’ve done a South West Rover where I stayed in Exeter and that’s a huge region. I also earlier this year just did a Devon and Cornwall Rover staying in Plymouth. A Solent and Severn Rover based in Bristol is on my list to do. I really must do a North East Rover at some point and perhaps an East Midlands one from home. I also need to explore East Anglia more but I’ve never found the rovers there very inspiring.

Another one I enjoyed was a Thames Valley Rover when actually stayed in London. So fast for getting out and about from Paddington. I visited Windsor, Henley, Marlow, out to Oxford and Morteton in the Marsh and also Hungerford and Bedwyn and Banbury too. A huge area to explore and a couple of river cruises down the Thames too.
Just before Covid I did an 8 Days in 15 Spirit of Scotland mainly based in Inverness and a couple of nights in Glasgow.
I also once did a 3 day Kent Rover and a 4 Days in 8 North Wales Pass when I stayed in Caernarfon. I also remember doing a very good Southern Daysave ticket years ago when there was a 7 Day version. I stayed in East Croydon for that one!

An ALR would be good fun, especially a 1st Class one, but I much prefer to take a more leisurely approach and use trains on lines that don’t often have 1st Class. There also aren’t that many parts of the country I haven’t visited by train. I do need to explore South Wales.

I hope that’s of some help to people. All typed very quickly in a bit of a random order as I thought of things. My days out using a rover are a bit like that and that’s the joy of this type of ticket. For example, I could set out in the morning from a hotel in Preston intending to go to Carlisle and when I get to the station change my mind and end up in Chester and on the Wirral.

 

[Techniquest]

It absolutely is, a rover is so freeing! I have read the posts in this thread, I've not long ago got back from a family day out so I haven't got detailed replies going on after all. I shall have a look at that blog later, I suspect it may not feature some of the best bits of Hereford but I hope to be proved wrong. I shall have to comment on it with my views, looking forward to seeing what someone else thinks of my city!

Worcester, I have some suggestions there. I will have to detail them tomorrow. Coventry, I personally didn't think much of it when I did a whistle-stop tour of Coventry earlier this year. The cathedral was nice though, I'll give it that, but to be honest the only other thing that really blew me away was the railway station, which has been hugely improved in recent years. Wolverhampton I have very little experience of, I can't really help much there. I'm waiting for the new tram route to open before I go back personally.

Right, before much else, I want to see that video!

 

[87electric]

Thank you very much for the tips and yes, Bangor is indeed a city (oldest in Wales in fact); it was actually the first place I went to in Wales (I even lived nearby for 3 years and went to school there) and my dad used to work in the uni there. As for Hereford, I've already been a few months back did a vlog on it back when I got cheap advances with the GB Rail Sale:

Loved exploring the independent shops down there though, so I'll happily visit again if I ride the Worcester to Hereford line; just have Worcester, Wolverhampton and Coventry left for the midlands by the way.

As for what makes a town a city, it's not about cathedrals anymore cos that link was abolished in 1889, but it's simply whatever the monarch grants the title of 'city' to. It's basically turned into a sort of knighthood, but for towns and local authorities. Here is a list of everywhere the Queen officially considers a city; it is quite inconsistent as there are official cities which are little more than market towns (e.g. Ripon and Wells) or even villages (St Asaph and St Davids) that just so happen to have cathedrals, while we still have booming regional hubs with 300k+ people in their built-up area (Reading, Bournemouth and Middlesbrough are the key examples) that are yet to receive the title: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_United_Kingdom

Back on topic, I understand your point on daytrips, so I would consider Bristol/Plymouth (for the West Country), Southampton (for the South Coast) and Aberdeen/Inverness (for the Highlands) as good bases to reach the far-out points where necessary. Travelodge and Premier Inn generally offer decent priced accommodation in great locations within those cities. I can imagine it'd be VERY tiring to travel far from my home every day and have to return again on the same day, as I was already burnt out after two consecutive days on the North East Rover, so had to leave the rest to the following week (if only they had a flexi-ALR). To go as far as, say, Plymouth would definitely give me very tight timings and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the cities properly. Generally, however, some long-distance daytrips would be fairly reasonable, such as Kent which involves a 2-hour zip down to London Euston for a short walk to catch the HS1 services from St Pancras.

I was more inclined to the Night Riviera for sleeper trains, as that doesn't even require reservations unlike Caledonian Sleeper, and still has the old comfy seats.

I was thinking it might be more worthwhile using the South West Rover for much of the South and West Country, using Bristol as a base, as the vast majority of cities I haven't visited yet are within that region. However, All Line Rover would be amazing for doing something like working my way down to Penzance, then getting a Night Riviera back up to London, followed by a jolly up to Newcastle or Scotland before getting back home to then decide whether I want to head to Notts to bash a EMR 170 to Skegness or Dogbox down the Heart of Wales line the next day.

I am aware of the few cities that don't have rail stations (Ripon - already visited; St Asaph - already visited; Wells and St Davids) but I also know the bus connections to reach them Southwell wasn't actually granted city status by the way, as it just so happened to be the final nail in the coffin that caused Queen Victoria to pull a middle finger to Henry VIII and yeet the cathedral requirement out of the top secret 'rules' for city status and instead hand it over to Birmingham and Belfast before they gained any cathedrals themselves Incidentally, Bury St Edmunds doesn't have city status either, as its cathedral was established after that 'cathedral rule' was abolished and it never really applied for city status either; probably waiting for Ipswich to get it first? Cambridge, MK and Colchester are other cities in East Anglia, but I've already been to Cambridge way too many times in the past!

Great video log, I must get around to viewing the Mappa Mundi myself. Thanks for posting.

 

[Ayman Ilham]

Anyone else wanna share their experiences with the All Line Rover? Would like to see other ways people made use of it, whether it be focusing on visiting more train stations, places outside the stations (my kinda trip), riding as many trains per day as possible or simply racking up the mileage.

As for my case, the basic 7-day ALR in standard class with my 16-25 railcard is around £350 last time I checked (you actually save over £150 with the railcard so you can literally buy a railcard just to use the rover once and already save well over £100), which would mean I would have to make at least £50 worth of journeys per day in order to make the rover worthwhile. Thus, each day I would need to be making journeys which would be worth more than an off-peak walk-up return to the destination(s) I would aim for. For example, if I took an Avanti service to London Euston, walk to St Pancras and get a high-speed to Kent, spending the day visiting various places in that region (Dover, Canterbury, Rochester, Ramsgate, etc.), then the next day I decide to travel up to Scotland for Aberdeen or Inverness, this would be an easy way to make the value of the ticket.

 

[Techniquest]

I would be here for quite some time discussing my past ALR adventures of 2011 and 2012, which were huge trip reports. I will try and find links to them later However, I can tell you for sure they were both hugely different, in that the 2011 ALR was a 7 day one and featured almost entirely overnight moves or the Sleeper, which is strongly not recommended, whereas 2012, on a 14 day ALR, I had taken advantage of a Travelodge sale, using them at least once every 2 nights if not more frequently at times.

Both times were heavily focused on covering track, and I didn't do as much exploring as I really should have. That being said, I was much, much more into the trains and so on than I was into exploring at the time. I wasn't all that into fitness either, so if I was to do an ALR now it would feature a lot of trains for obvious reasons, but it would also feature a mega-ton of exploring too. Even if that meant I would spend the first day, for example, starting from Hereford with a train to Manchester for some exploring (I love Manchester after all!) in the form of stuff like a canal walk, then move on up to Littleborough for more exploring on foot up towards Todmorden etc, then back on the trains to Leeds to do some red-penning and exploring, before perhaps ending the day in Scarborough ready for the second day of touring.

That might not sound like great value out of a day of travel on an ALR, but it's worth pointing out that an Off Peak Return from Hereford to Manchester is around £62 at the moment, so with all the other bits in that example I'd make my money's worth, especially with the longer distance journeys that I'd do later in the week.

This has me all tempted to get onto a First Class ALR and go exploring If I *did* go First Class, I'd probably change the first day to begin on an early morning IET to Paddington (that in itself is worth a pretty penny), soak up the atmosphere of my favourite railway station and grab a Pret (almost mandatory!) before having a good stretch of legs over a couple of miles, then I'd take a quick breather in the First Class lounge over at King's Cross ahead of the Highland Chieftain to Inverness all the way to the end of its journey Day 2 would start with some exploring of Inverness before revisiting the Kyle line (last did that in 2006) before either adventuring on Skye or back-tracking to Inverness and doing some ScotRail HSTs with the day ending in Glasgow. A visit to Glasvegan for the evening meal would be compulsory

Darn it, I want to go and do that trip right now! It all sounds like way too much fun!

 

[Ayman Ilham]

I would be here for quite some time discussing my past ALR adventures of 2011 and 2012, which were huge trip reports. I will try and find links to them later However, I can tell you for sure they were both hugely different, in that the 2011 ALR was a 7 day one and featured almost entirely overnight moves or the Sleeper, which is strongly not recommended, whereas 2012, on a 14 day ALR, I had taken advantage of a Travelodge sale, using them at least once every 2 nights if not more frequently at times.

Please do, would be a fun read; heck, you could even write a book!

That might not sound like great value out of a day of travel on an ALR, but it's worth pointing out that an Off Peak Return from Hereford to Manchester is around £62 at the moment, so with all the other bits in that example I'd make my money's worth, especially with the longer distance journeys that I'd do later in the week.

Similarly, Manchester to London (for example) is around £85 (£60ish with railcard) followed by HS1 to Kent (another £30) or whatever else I wanna do when I zip down south, so a simple round trip far enough such that it's difficult to get a reasonable priced ticket each day would be great way to avoid being burnt out a few days into the rover. PS: With the rail sale, my round trip from Manchester to Hereford (two advances) was just £15 total guess that takes some pressure off if I ever wanna do a WM Day Ranger, although the Hereford to Worcester line is very scenic (driven on it on Train Simulator) so that may still be something not to miss.

This has me all tempted to get onto a First Class ALR and go exploring If I *did* go First Class, I'd probably change the first day to begin on an early morning IET to Paddington (that in itself is worth a pretty penny), soak up the atmosphere of my favourite railway station and grab a Pret (almost mandatory!) before having a good stretch of legs over a couple of miles, then I'd take a quick breather in the First Class lounge over at King's Cross ahead of the Highland Chieftain to Inverness all the way to the end of its journey Day 2 would start with some exploring of Inverness before revisiting the Kyle line (last did that in 2006) before either adventuring on Skye or back-tracking to Inverness and doing some ScotRail HSTs with the day ending in Glasgow. A visit to Glasvegan for the evening meal would be compulsory

I'm already thinking of the sort of trip possibilities I would make with the ALR, here are some ideas for possible days out (in no particular order) with Manchester as the start/end point:
(1) XC direct to Bristol, followed by any connecting service down to Plymouth and possibly Truro/Penzance with a Night Riviera up to London if so, otherwise back up to Manchester. Alternatively, I could hop over to Sheffield to catch an XC HST down to Plymouth.
(2) TPE direct or Northern/Avanti via Preston to Edinburgh (interchange better at Haymarket) or Glasgow (Central to Queen Street via shuttle bus) whichever I get first, then travel onwards to Aberdeen or Inverness.
(3) Avanti direct to London Euston, followed by all sorts of sub-possibilities:
(a) Walk/bus to St Pancras for HS1 to explore Dover and Canterbury, using a 375 to travel between them so I can use both CBE and CBW.
(b) Get a Southern or Thameslink service to Brighton and explore the coast all the way to Southampton (finish with a direct XC back to Manchester) or Ashford for the 171 (finish with HS1 back to London).
(c) Head to Liverpool Street (trusty 205 bus again) and explore East Anglia (Southend, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ely, Peterborough) finishing with an EMR direct to Manchester or XC via Birmingham.
(d) Waterloo for SWR services to Portsmouth, Southampton or Salisbury followed by whatever floats my boat from there cos there's so much to explore down there.
(4) TfW down to Shrewsbury followed by a connecting service up the Cambrian Coast to Porthmadog (maybe Pwllheli and backtrack) followed by the Ffestiniog Railway to Blaenau connecting with the Conwy Valley to Llandudno Junction to finish with a direct service back to Manchester.
(5) Ditto, but this time Heart of Wales down to Swansea, enjoy the city for a bit (maybe go West Wales if there's time) followed by a direct train back to Manchester.
(6) Either XC direct to Bristol or TfW to Newport for a GWR service through Wessex for Salisbury, followed by SWR to Exeter or London Waterloo.
(7) EMR full whack to Norwich followed by a connecting service to Lowestoft, possibly returning via Ipswich and London to get plenty of FLIRT action.
(8) TPE to York followed by a direct LNER service all the way up to Aberdeen to enjoy the good part of the ECML to its full.

Darn it, I want to go and do that trip right now! It all sounds like way too much fun!

Likewise

 

[Techniquest]

Just a few ideas there eh? I don't know which one I'd do first if given the choice! And it took some finding but here's the link to my 2011 ALR trip report:

Techniquest's All Line Rover 2011

Hi all, Finally I've got a chance to get my trip report up on the forum! Too much work lately to get it done before now, and I've got loads more in the next couple of weeks too, so I don't expect this to be complete before the end of August! Also, I must mention my alternative title for this...

www.railforums.co.uk

And my 2012 ALR trip report:

Techniquest's Amazing 14 Day ALR, 4th to 17th June 2012

Hi all, Well this is going to take me many days to do in its entirety, but not choice but to do it bit by bit. And yes, I do know I've got two WMDR write-ups to do yet as well, think the NI one is still wait to go up too, but we'll get there in time. Still not shared the Oxfordshire Day...

www.railforums.co.uk

Before you ask, yes I am going to re-read them!

 

[spyinthesky]

Have done 2 ALR’s 1st class
The first one was for coverage having spent a long period overseas. 2 hotel stays 2 sleepers, 1 night at brothers house and the rest on late trains/overnight TPE/ KGX to YRK.
The second was to consume a Real Ale both brewed and served in each county which was more enjoyable and used more B&B’s.
Edit - Don’t see much value in them at the moment as other rovers/rangers

 

[Ayman Ilham]

As the time restrictions on weekdays (no boarding/alighting before 10am) for the ALR only applies to Birmingham (XC & Avanti) and the London Termini served by major intercity services (Avanti, LNER and EMR) including major stations nearby on the ECML, MML or WCML; does this mean I can have early starts (say 7am) on weekdays out of Manchester on TPE services heading anywhere in the North, as virtually nowhere in the North are on the list for restrictions? Are those restrictions only at the listed stations by the listed companies before 10am? Meaning, does it only apply to Avanti services into MKC, WFJ or London Euston for example, such that I could get an Avanti service out of Preston bound for Glasgow before 10am or use an LNWR service to MKC or Euston, but just not an Avanti service that arrives into MK, Watford or London before 10? Similarly, what about XC services from Manchester straight down to Bristol in the morning on weekdays?

Source: http://www.railrover.org/pages/all-line.html

 

[Woolos 22]

Starting from you home you can nearly have a different day out by not repeating section of the route.

 

[Techniquest]

You would be fine on the XC Manchester to Bristol, as long as it didn't involve boarding or alighting at Birmingham New Street before 10am. A through train, fine, but changing in New Street would be a no go.

Transpennine Express is clear all day long, you'll have no issues. No boarding or alighting Avanti at MKC before 10am, but you can use LNWR all day long. So for example you could use XC Manchester-Stafford and change for LNWR towards MKC and London no problem.

I hope you're following my ALR trip report by the way, Day 1 is up and I think you may be able to get some ideas from it!

 

[Ayman Ilham]

You would be fine on the XC Manchester to Bristol, as long as it didn't involve boarding or alighting at Birmingham New Street before 10am. A through train, fine, but changing in New Street would be a no go.

Transpennine Express is clear all day long, you'll have no issues. No boarding or alighting Avanti at MKC before 10am, but you can use LNWR all day long. So for example you could use XC Manchester-Stafford and change for LNWR towards MKC and London no problem.

I hope you're following my ALR trip report by the way, Day 1 is up and I think you may be able to get some ideas from it!

Sounds great; would be changing trains at Bristol anyway if I were to head south so its all good! Could even head straight to Southampton on the XC from Manchester and avoid London altogether if I was going anywhere on the south coast so that's another idea.

I have actually been reading the first few days into your trip reports; all quite intense if you ask me! Even though I appreciate having a nice variety of rolling stock, I personally don't like putting myself through the pressure of trying to clear particular unit numbers (this whole red penning thing) but each to their own. I prefer the fun of leaving the stations to explore places (town and city centres) I travel to as well as riding trains on a variety of lines to take in different scenery. However, it seems like you had loads of fun with what you did gonna have to read them a bit further when I get the time so I get a bit more inspiration and plan a more mundane version that allows more exploring outside the station

 

[Techniquest]

Oh trust me, I wanted to go exploring much more than I actually did in the end! I'm a little disappointed that the weather in some places put a stop to that!

 

[spyinthesky]

I always use the Good Beer Guide for the inclement weathet

 

[Techniquest]

I always use the Good Beer Guide for the inclement weathet

Not much use to me, as I'm proudly teetotal

 

[BrianW]

What a stimulating thread- thanks to al contributing. Feels like I'm travelling around in my head at home at no cost! I've not done an ALR but several local Rovers. As others have foiund I liked particularly those that gave flexibility eg 4 of 7. Spirit of Scotland, Heart of England, Wessex great. Don't neglect buses too, eg across Poole Harbour. Saturdays offered an earlier start so 4/8 even better! Mid-summer also offered more daylight hours. Loved the planning too. Usually took eats with me to have on the train bearing in mind uncertainties of onboard availability. I would 'base' myself somewhere 'central' and well-served by several lines.

I've been 'de-railed' of late, what with Covid and Cancellations- too much uncertainty.

Recalling returning from Largs to Milton Keynes rushing across the concourse at Glasgow Central for the last train, the doors closing immediately after I got on, my 'incoming' having been held at signals ... Lesson to learn re cramming it all in!

Enjoy.

 

[spyinthesky]

Having done my last ALR 10 years ago, and have been planning my next one ever since. Unfortunately I feel it will be a while before I actually do it.
So much disruption and cancellations with reduced services too, the plans always change.
My first ALR in 2011 I missed my first connection by rushing and actually got on the train going back the other way at Fratton rather than staying on the same platform. I had a few mistakes and a funeral to fit in but enjoyed every minute.
My second ALR was based on the Good Beer Guide and was much more relaxed using on-line hotel booking, relatives and sleepers.

 

[Techniquest]

I too did my first ALR in 2011, a very action-packed affair with barely being off the rails for more than a couple of hours. 2012's ALR was still busy, but with a lot more hotels so more relaxed. 2022's ALR, very much relaxed in terms of comfort but I've had the energy sucked out of me by it.

Regional rovers are definitely good, and hopefully in 2023 I'm going to do a Spirit of Scotland. I missed out on going up the West Highland Line this time, seemed a bit daft when on a First Class ticket!

 

[Ayman Ilham]

Oh trust me, I wanted to go exploring much more than I actually did in the end! I'm a little disappointed that the weather in some places put a stop to that!

I can imagine; it always sucks when you planned a nice city walk or relaxing at the beach and suddenly the rain comes down! If I was doing your kind of itinerary, I'd be constantly stocking up on food between journeys as I enjoy stuffing my face or sipping a drink while sitting back and enjoying the view on every journey; safe to say I'd gain a lot of weight if I was constantly riding trains for the duration of the ALR

What a stimulating thread- thanks to al contributing. Feels like I'm travelling around in my head at home at no cost! I've not done an ALR but several local Rovers. As others have foiund I liked particularly those that gave flexibility eg 4 of 7. Spirit of Scotland, Heart of England, Wessex great. Don't neglect buses too, eg across Poole Harbour. Saturdays offered an earlier start so 4/8 even better! Mid-summer also offered more daylight hours. Loved the planning too. Usually took eats with me to have on the train bearing in mind uncertainties of onboard availability. I would 'base' myself somewhere 'central' and well-served by several lines.

I've been 'de-railed' of late, what with Covid and Cancellations- too much uncertainty.

Recalling returning from Largs to Milton Keynes rushing across the concourse at Glasgow Central for the last train, the doors closing immediately after I got on, my 'incoming' having been held at signals ... Lesson to learn re cramming it all in!

Enjoy.

Thank you very much for your comment that's exactly what I envisioned from opening up such a discussion; wanted a way to travel in my head and fantasize about the ALR while it still isn't the appropriate time to actually go out and do one with (a) short daylight hours; (b) constant train strikes and reduced timetables and (c) plenty of workload at the moment. Buses are a great way to travel between major gaps in the railway network to reduce backtracking, such as Aberystwyth to Carmarthen/Haverfordwest or Fort William to Inverness or Scarborough to Whitby. The Freedom of South West Rover is what I wanna do the most in terms of regional rovers (Bristol or Exeter will definitely be the best places to stay in a hotel while doing it), given how insane its coverage area is for the price; virtually all lines between Worcester (N), Penzance (S), Portsmouth (E) and Cardiff (W).

I too did my first ALR in 2011, a very action-packed affair with barely being off the rails for more than a couple of hours. 2012's ALR was still busy, but with a lot more hotels so more relaxed. 2022's ALR, very much relaxed in terms of comfort but I've had the energy sucked out of me by it.

Regional rovers are definitely good, and hopefully in 2023 I'm going to do a Spirit of Scotland. I missed out on going up the West Highland Line this time, seemed a bit daft when on a First Class ticket!

Do you have a trip report of your latest ALR in 2022? And yes, those longer scenic Scottish lines are better with the Spirit of Scotland pass, given how long they take on infrequent services. Not only that, the SoS pass unlike the ALR is (IIRC) valid on the bus between Fort William and Inverness to save loads of time between the WHL and Inverness lines (Kyle, Far North and HML). Better stick to the Highland Mainline to Inverness and maybe loop round via Aberdeen thereafter to experience Scotland with the ALR.

 

[Techniquest]

I can imagine; it always sucks when you planned a nice city walk or relaxing at the beach and suddenly the rain comes down! If I was doing your kind of itinerary, I'd be constantly stocking up on food between journeys as I enjoy stuffing my face or sipping a drink while sitting back and enjoying the view on every journey; safe to say I'd gain a lot of weight if I was constantly riding trains for the duration of the ALR

Do you have a trip report of your latest ALR in 2022? And yes, those longer scenic Scottish lines are better with the Spirit of Scotland pass, given how long they take on infrequent services. Not only that, the SoS pass unlike the ALR is (IIRC) valid on the bus between Fort William and Inverness to save loads of time between the WHL and Inverness lines (Kyle, Far North and HML). Better stick to the Highland Mainline to Inverness and maybe loop round via Aberdeen thereafter to experience Scotland with the ALR.

Tell me about it with the weather situation! I love my outdoor exercise, when the weather is as bad as it is lately then that really impacts on my activity. I ate so much junk food on my ALR, so I know how you feel with that thought!

I have an on-going trip report in my master trip reports thread, Day 3 was posted this morning and I've edited Day 4 ready to go. This adventure was unusual in that I didn't post the action at the end of each day!

Agreed on the Spirit of Scotland thing, and I've never done the bus between Fort William and Inverness so I would be wanting to try it out. I did Aberdeen-Glasgow-Inverness-Nairn (to tick off a 158)-Inverness-Aberdeen-Stonehaven-Aberdeen-Inverurie (another 158 score)-Inverness on Day 2. That took from 0639 until 0012 to do, with some breaks to go exploring of course. Almost all of the ScotRail HST routes now done on them, just want Perth-Ladybank and Kirkcaldy-Inverkeithing for all-time HST coverage now!

 

[Bevan Price]

Not done an ALR since the 1990s. With Sprinters having replaced most of the "interesting" loco-hauled trains, and having covered almost all the lines used for regular passenger traffic, I could not raise the effort to do ALRs. Up to Covid, I just did occasional "regional" rovers or day rangers.

With the ALR, out of the main holiday season, it was usually easy to find a B&B "on spec" on the day, provided it was no later than mid-afternoon; a basic B&B was more than adequate for my needs; and it was usually cheaper if you avoided big city centres. So, Stirling was much cheaper than central Glasgow, and several OK B&Bs within 5 - 10 minutes walk from the station; another not far from Newton Abbot station, for example. Only failure was once in Inverness, where everything was full, but fortunately there was still an "emergency escape" on the overnight train to Glasgow.

I did some pretty long day trips to visit heritage railways on my final couple of ALRs (there were no time restrictions then), such as home, park at Runcorn, then Euston - Liverpool Street - Sheringham - North Norfolk Railway and back, or Runcorn - Euston - Waterloo - Wareham - (bus for Swanage railway) and back.

 

[davetheguard]

The second was to consume a Real Ale both brewed and served in each county which was more enjoyable and used more B&B’s.

That sounds like fun! Can you tell us a bit more about the trip. What breweries & how many in total?

 

[ChrisC]

The Freedom of South West Rover is what I wanna do the most in terms of regional rovers (Bristol or Exeter will definitely be the best places to stay in a hotel while doing it), given how insane its coverage area is for the price; virtually all lines between Worcester (N), Penzance (S), Portsmouth (E) and Cardiff (W).

And yes, those longer scenic Scottish lines are better with the Spirit of Scotland pass, given how long they take on infrequent services. Not only that, the SoS pass unlike the ALR is (IIRC) valid on the bus between Fort William and Inverness to save loads of time between the WHL and Inverness lines (Kyle, Far North and HML). Better stick to the Highland Mainline to Inverness and maybe loop round via Aberdeen thereafter to experience Scotland with the ALR.

I did a Freedom of the South West Rover about 5 years ago and I agree it covers a huge area. I did the 8 days in 15 version staying in Exeter for 7 nights. I had 6 days travelling around the SW as I used the other 2 days between Cheltenham and Exeter as part of my travel down to Exeter and return from Nottingham. I stayed at the Exeter St David’s Premier Inn and booking a few weeks in advance got quite a good price. This Premier in is not one of the most modern but perfectly adequate and has the advantage of being straight opposite Exeter St David’s Station.

Although the Freedom of the South West Rover covers a huge area, I found even staying in Exeter, very much in the centre of the area covered, journey times were long to reach many places. Line speeds on many routes are not fast and even from Exeter you are thinking of around 3 hours to reach Penzance and destinations at the end of the Cornish Branches. One day I visited Salisbury, Christchurch and Weymouth and there was so much time travelling with very hurried times of exploring each place. In May his year I stayed in Plymouth and did a Freedom of Devon and Cornwall Rover and that enabled me to cover most lines and have more time to wander around and explore interesting places. I was intending doing the same with a Severn and Solent Rover but due to the strikes have postponed that until next year.

During the Autumn before the Covid lockdowns I did an 8 Days in 15 Spirit of Scotland Rover. As I mainly wanted to explore the Far North Line, Kyle of Lochalsh, Inverness to Aberdeen and the Highland Main Line north of Perth I based myself mainly in Inverness. Hotel prices in Inverness are very high even in September. I stopped off in Glasgow for 3 nights on the way back to do the West Highland Line to Fort William and Mallaig and also down to Ardrossen and a day travelling around the Isle of Arran by bus.

Hopefully next year I may get to a few Regional Rovers if there are no strikes or general unreliability with cancelled trains. Most of my travels this year have been holidays taking my car and staying in and exploring some very nice rural areas that I would not have visited by train. I’ve done lots of walking this year and have even invested in an e-bike and have done some great traffic free cycle trails. I hadn’t been on a bike since I was in my teens 40 years ago, but really enjoying it. On only my second trip out I cycled 15 miles on the Nutbrook Trail in Derbyshire and didn’t feel anywhere near as tired as I do after a long walk.

 

[spyinthesky]

That sounds like fun! Can you tell us a bit more about the trip. What breweries & how many in total?

I will see if I can find my pocket book of that journey. I did list the Traditional county boundaries, not Merseyside or Greater Manchester etc.
Town, Brewery and where supped(pub/brewery/station platform)

 

[bspahh]

I did an 8 days in 15 Freedom of Devon and Cornwall Rover with my wife.

We started with a return from Waterloo to Axminister, and then used the rover from there to Exeter. We dropped our bags at the Premier Inn across the road from Exeter St Davids, and then went down to Exmouth, across the estuary to Starcross, got a train to Dawlish, walked along the beach to Dawlish Warren and back to Exeter. The next day we went to Paignton and stayed at the Premier Inn by Goodrington Beach. We then took the steam railway to Dartmouth and had a walk around there. The next day we went to Plymouth, stopping a couple of times en route. We stayed at the Premier Inn at Derry's Cross in Plymouth. It had just opened, and had some teething problems with things like the air conditioning controls, but the building and staff were nice. We stayed there for 4 nights, and had trips to Bere Alston, Penzance, Falmouth, Looe and Barnstaple, with another night back in Exeter.

We used trains each day, but the aim wasn't just to pile up mileage, but to also walk, swim and potter about. It was nice to have the flexibility to just get on a train on a whim, but it turned out that it would have cost almost exactly the same to pay for individual tickets.

 

[Ayman Ilham]

I did a Freedom of the South West Rover about 5 years ago and I agree it covers a huge area. I did the 8 days in 15 version staying in Exeter for 7 nights. I had 6 days travelling around the SW as I used the other 2 days between Cheltenham and Exeter as part of my travel down to Exeter and return from Nottingham. I stayed at the Exeter St David’s Premier Inn and booking a few weeks in advance got quite a good price. This Premier in is not one of the most modern but perfectly adequate and has the advantage of being straight opposite Exeter St David’s Station.

Although the Freedom of the South West Rover covers a huge area, I found even staying in Exeter, very much in the centre of the area covered, journey times were long to reach many places. Line speeds on many routes are not fast and even from Exeter you are thinking of around 3 hours to reach Penzance and destinations at the end of the Cornish Branches. One day I visited Salisbury, Christchurch and Weymouth and there was so much time travelling with very hurried times of exploring each place. In May his year I stayed in Plymouth and did a Freedom of Devon and Cornwall Rover and that enabled me to cover most lines and have more time to wander around and explore interesting places. I was intending doing the same with a Severn and Solent Rover but due to the strikes have postponed that until next year.

During the Autumn before the Covid lockdowns I did an 8 Days in 15 Spirit of Scotland Rover. As I mainly wanted to explore the Far North Line, Kyle of Lochalsh, Inverness to Aberdeen and the Highland Main Line north of Perth I based myself mainly in Inverness. Hotel prices in Inverness are very high even in September. I stopped off in Glasgow for 3 nights on the way back to do the West Highland Line to Fort William and Mallaig and also down to Ardrossen and a day travelling around the Isle of Arran by bus.

Hopefully next year I may get to a few Regional Rovers if there are no strikes or general unreliability with cancelled trains. Most of my travels this year have been holidays taking my car and staying in and exploring some very nice rural areas that I would not have visited by train. I’ve done lots of walking this year and have even invested in an e-bike and have done some great traffic free cycle trails. I hadn’t been on a bike since I was in my teens 40 years ago, but really enjoying it. On only my second trip out I cycled 15 miles on the Nutbrook Trail in Derbyshire and didn’t feel anywhere near as tired as I do after a long walk.

You were living the dream back then with them 7 nights in Exeter with the SW Rover! The sort of lines that are mostly around that rover area are the type I like best: medium speed regional diesel lines on relatively long routes such as Exeter to Salisbury, Plymouth/Penzance, Bristol to Weymouth/Southampton, etc. I imagine they're all very scenic as well with brilliant window views as both the 158/159 and 165/166 have great seat-to-window alignment for such routes, so the ride would be nice and relaxing. I'd also enjoy a Castle HST set going down to Penzance. Usually, 1-2 hours (preferably 2-3 hours) is enough for me to stay in one place and explore its main town/city centre then sit somewhere with nice views of the town/city or seaside while I enjoy eating/drinking something.

Tell me about it with the weather situation! I love my outdoor exercise, when the weather is as bad as it is lately then that really impacts on my activity. I ate so much junk food on my ALR, so I know how you feel with that thought!

I have an on-going trip report in my master trip reports thread, Day 3 was posted this morning and I've edited Day 4 ready to go. This adventure was unusual in that I didn't post the action at the end of each day!

Agreed on the Spirit of Scotland thing, and I've never done the bus between Fort William and Inverness so I would be wanting to try it out. I did Aberdeen-Glasgow-Inverness-Nairn (to tick off a 158)-Inverness-Aberdeen-Stonehaven-Aberdeen-Inverurie (another 158 score)-Inverness on Day 2. That took from 0639 until 0012 to do, with some breaks to go exploring of course. Almost all of the ScotRail HST routes now done on them, just want Perth-Ladybank and Kirkcaldy-Inverkeithing for all-time HST coverage now!

I've been reading some of it you recent ALR trip report (first two days read so far) and it's a really fun read! Definitely seems more of my kind of trip than your previous ALR adventures, although you definitely spent way more time riding trains per day then I would bother doing as I would usually suffice with a long trip or two, plus maybe a few short hops to nearby areas of interest, so I don't get too burnt out. Like for the first day, the amount of time you had, I'd have just relaxed in the city centres of York or Newcastle (possibly divert to other places like Leeds or Hull/Scarborough on the way), then Edinburgh on the way up to Aberdeen. For example, if you ever find yourself in Edinburgh, St James Quarter (now an ultramodern mega mall) is just round the corner from Waverley Station, where you'll find the top floor 'The Place to Eat' Cafe in John Lewis with amazing views (see attached) of the Northeast side of the city overlooking the North Sea and even Kirkcaldy on the other side of Forth. Every time I'm in Edinburgh, this has been my go-to place to just sit back and relax while I have Irn Bru with a View. Similarly, Leeds has a nice view of its new tallest skyscraper from the John Lewis Cafe in Victoria Gate, which I definitely need to revisit. I imagine you had a great tour of every first-class lounge by now though do any have good views to enjoy while you're chilling?

Day 2 definitely seemed really action-packed with the mix of catching trains and exploring. Imagine, many people living up in Aberdeen may rarely travel to another city in their entire lives and you just casually took a train all the way to Glasgow just to eat breakfast (that vegan bacon roll deffo seemed tasty; cheers for the recommendation - not vegan myself but I don't eat pork so that's a welcome alternative) before making your way back up to Inverness. I always want to visit Inverness and you definitely seemed to have had an amazing time exploring the Northernmost City in the UK. Nairn seems like a great place too, as it's one of those towns I'd otherwise overlook, so it's a great. Would've definitely been a better idea to return to Inverness early to take in that AirBnB you stayed in though, so you would have had some more relax time. If I did this trip, I would've probably just gone Elgin from Nairn then straight back to Inverness. Luckily, I don't have any of this 'red penning' pressure (hunting 'winner' units) on me, which would arguably allow me to utilise the time more wisely.

I'll put a link to where your ALR trip report starts so it's easier for others to find: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/julianos-world-frenzy-techs-trip-reports.101555/post-5912160

I did an 8 days in 15 Freedom of Devon and Cornwall Rover with my wife.

We started with a return from Waterloo to Axminister, and then used the rover from there to Exeter. We dropped our bags at the Premier Inn across the road from Exeter St Davids, and then went down to Exmouth, across the estuary to Starcross, got a train to Dawlish, walked along the beach to Dawlish Warren and back to Exeter. The next day we went to Paignton and stayed at the Premier Inn by Goodrington Beach. We then took the steam railway to Dartmouth and had a walk around there. The next day we went to Plymouth, stopping a couple of times en route. We stayed at the Premier Inn at Derry's Cross in Plymouth. It had just opened, and had some teething problems with things like the air conditioning controls, but the building and staff were nice. We stayed there for 4 nights, and had trips to Bere Alston, Penzance, Falmouth, Looe and Barnstaple, with another night back in Exeter.

We used trains each day, but the aim wasn't just to pile up mileage, but to also walk, swim and potter about. It was nice to have the flexibility to just get on a train on a whim, but it turned out that it would have cost almost exactly the same to pay for individual tickets.

Sounds like you had an amazing time; I totally agree with your idea. Rovers aren't just about hopping on as many trains or racking up as much mileage as possible (of course you can if you want to), but just the freedom of being able to catch any train 'on a whim' while you spend more time enjoying the different places you can go to. Even one journey a day on a sizeable chunk of the network of a rover would still be cheaper than using individual tickets, possibly with a few short hops to get between different places close to each other. Even just a few days going on long journeys (such as Exeter to Penzance with D&C or Edinburgh to Southampton with ALR) with more local travelling on other days works well, as those few long journeys may have already paid for the rover compared to equivalent off-peak returns.