Manchester-Salisbury [OFF-PEAK RETURN] w/ journey breaking via ANY PERMITTED

[Ayman Ilham]

So I've been studying the routeing guide on the various permitted routes between different points and particularly liked the variety of such routes available between Manchester and Salisbury, a city I've always wanted to visit. I'm thinking with an off-peak return (£82 with my railcard), breaking my journey at Oxford on the way there so I can explore the city centre a bit, then carry on via Reading and Basingstoke to get to Salisbury and explore for maybe an hour or two. Then, on the way back I would go the GWR route via Bath, where I break my journey once again, then get another GWR service to Gloucester (if there's time) followed by XC Turbostar to Birmingham and back to Manchester. Otherwise, I change at Bristol for a direct XC to Manchester. I checked and going via Bristol or Gloucester is a permitted route, and this circular route would allow me to visit a bunch of cities (Oxford, Salisbury, Bath, Gloucester) in one day that I haven't been to before on my quest to visit every city in the UK (walking in the city centre and taking photos representative of the city counts as "visited", which can easily be done in an hour). What I want to know is whether I can break my journey both ways or only one way with an off-peak return and whether the journey I plan to make is worth it for this price (£82) or if a regional rover (such as South West) with hotel in Bristol or Southampton be more worthwhile?

 

[ainsworth74]

What I want to know is whether I can break my journey both ways or only one way with an off-peak return

As far as I'm aware you'll be able to break your journey in both directions as often as you want so that shouldn't be a problem.

Edit: Below paragraph only applies to weekdays, should have made that clear

You might want to consider buying an Anytime Day Return from Manchester to Stockport (£6.90) and then your Off-Peak Return from Stockport to Salisbury so you can use the 0927 from Piccadilly rather than having to wait until the 1027 (this is due to the blanket 0930 restriction on XC Off-Peak Returns). Of course if you approach the guard of the 0927 with your Off-Peak Return from Manchester they may not be fussed for the sake of three minutes but up to you at the end of the day.

whether the journey I plan to make is worth it for this price (£82) or if a regional rover (such as South West) with hotel in Bristol or Southampton be more worthwhile?

Depends what you're interested in really. It's a long way to go (and likely to be a long day) to then not really see much of where you're visiting. But if you just want to scratch the track and just dip out of the station between trains then £82 is probably a fair price. I doubt that there's a combination of APs that will make it cheaper (but always worth checking Trainsplit!). Obviously getting a hotel will increase the price significantly so only really worthwhile if you're going to want to spend longer in Salisbury (or anywhere else) or if you want to ride around on more trains and routes whilst down there.

It's hard to advise really! I wouldn't have really blinked at that trip back when I had lots of new routes and traction types to cover as that was (and is) a big part of my interest in railways. But others will no doubt feel different.

 

[Watershed]

So I've been studying the routeing guide on the various permitted routes between different points and particularly liked the variety of such routes available between Manchester and Salisbury, a city I've always wanted to visit. I'm thinking with an off-peak return (£82 with my railcard), breaking my journey at Oxford on the way there so I can explore the city centre a bit, then carry on via Reading and Basingstoke to get to Salisbury and explore for maybe an hour or two. Then, on the way back I would go the GWR route via Bath, where I break my journey once again, then get another GWR service to Gloucester (if there's time) followed by XC Turbostar to Birmingham and back to Manchester. Otherwise, I change at Bristol for a direct XC to Manchester. I checked and going via Bristol or Gloucester is a permitted route, and this circular route would allow me to visit a bunch of cities (Oxford, Salisbury, Bath, Gloucester) in one day that I haven't been to before on my quest to visit every city in the UK (walking in the city centre and taking photos representative of the city counts as "visited", which can easily be done in an hour). What I want to know is whether I can break my journey both ways or only one way with an off-peak return and whether the journey I plan to make is worth it for this price (£82) or if a regional rover (such as South West) with hotel in Bristol or Southampton be more worthwhile?

As with almost all walk-up tickets, break of journey is permitted on both portions of this Off-Peak Return (it is set by CrossCountry and therefore has restriction code 2V).

You are perfectly permitted to stop off at Oxford on the way there and Bath and/or Gloucester on the way back.

However it's worth noting that if you are happy to make this all as one long day trip, sticking to one route would make the journey a fair bit cheaper. You could then string together a series of day returns (splitting at Wolverhampton, Coventry, Banbury, Reading and Grateley).

However this would mean you would have to visit Bath and Gloucester on a different trip, and therefore the costs of that have to be weighed up as well.

With the high cost of hotels since Covid restrictions were removed, it's unlikely that saying overnight would save you any money, although it could make it a slightly less hectic trip overall. Buying a regional rover is unlikely to save you any money unless you plan to visit the cities in a non-consecutive order which wouldn't be permitted on a single/return ticket.

 

[Haywain]

What I want to know is whether I can break my journey both ways or only one way with an off-peak return and whether the journey I plan to make is worth it for this price (£82) or if a regional rover (such as South West) with hotel in Bristol or Southampton be more worthwhile?

Is this intended to be done on a weekday or at the weekend? Either way it sounds like a very long day.

 

[Birmingham]

Salisbury is a lovely city to visit. Like other posters, I’m surprised you plan to do this is one day — let alone other cities en route. I also think via Euston would be a nicer way to go than winding around on XC, and the SWML on a 159 from Waterloo to Salisbury would be nice. Of course you’d miss out on Oxford on the way, but you could still make your return journey as planned. You’d also avoid duplicating the route between Birmingham and Manchester. Good luck and let us know how you get on!

 

[Ayman Ilham]

You might want to consider buying an Anytime Day Return from Manchester to Stockport (£6.90) and then your Off-Peak Return from Stockport to Salisbury so you can use the 0927 from Piccadilly rather than having to wait until the 1027 (this is due to the blanket 0930 restriction on XC Off-Peak Returns). Of course if you approach the guard of the 0927 with your Off-Peak Return from Manchester they may not be fussed for the sake of three minutes but up to you at the end of the day.

Interesting; thanks for the tip, that might be handy if I chose to travel on a weekday as the earlier start is necessary for such a long 'DIY Round Robin' if I say so myself!

Depends what you're interested in really. It's a long way to go (and likely to be a long day) to then not really see much of where you're visiting. But if you just want to scratch the track and just dip out of the station between trains then £82 is probably a fair price. I doubt that there's a combination of APs that will make it cheaper (but always worth checking Trainsplit!).

Well, I do enjoy a good 'riding different routes and dipping out of the station' sort of vibe if you ask me, so I suppose it'd work out to quickly explore some far-out places to save me having to fork out even more for accommodation. I've done it a few times where I ride buses or trains with a day ticket to multiple towns and cities and spend about an hour or two at each one to take pictures and explore a bit. I mainly wanna ride some of the lines through Wessex with the 158/159s and Turbos.

Obviously getting a hotel will increase the price significantly so only really worthwhile if you're going to want to spend longer in Salisbury (or anywhere else) or if you want to ride around on more trains and routes whilst down there.

With the high cost of hotels since Covid restrictions were removed, it's unlikely that saying overnight would save you any money, although it could make it a slightly less hectic trip overall. Buying a regional rover is unlikely to save you any money unless you plan to visit the cities in a non-consecutive order which wouldn't be permitted on a single/return ticket.

Of course, if I were to do the SW Rover, I'd be exploring Salisbury more in-depth AND head over Southampton, Portsmouth, Weymouth, Gloucester, Exeter, Plymouth, Truro and Penzance to explore all the significant lines along the west country. The off-peak day return I suggested is just an alternative to tick off at least some of those places if I can't find the time to travel more than one day along with cheap enough accommodation (I aim for £30 a night in Premier Inn or Travelodge). However, I have recently found out that even Premier Inn and Travelodge have become more expensive per night than a round-trip to Cheltenham Spa (nearest point the SW Rover is valid from Manchester) split ticket at WVH or BHM.

Is this intended to be done on a weekday or at the weekend? Either way it sounds like a very long day.

Preferably a weekend (Saturday is always best) so I can do an early-start with the off-peak fare.

Salisbury is a lovely city to visit. Like other posters, I’m surprised you plan to do this is one day — let alone other cities en route. I also think via Euston would be a nicer way to go than winding around on XC, and the SWML on a 159 from Waterloo to Salisbury would be nice. Of course you’d miss out on Oxford on the way, but you could still make your return journey as planned. You’d also avoid duplicating the route between Birmingham and Manchester. Good luck and let us know how you get on!

I suppose I could spend that extra tenner to enjoy a bit of London on the way and that'll give me more time to enjoy the SWR 159, which is one of the things I wanna bash; Oxford I can always do another time with the Heart of England Rover. On the way back, I'd deffo wanna go back via Bath and Gloucester to have some more variation, getting some GWR regional action via Westbury then bash an XC Turbostar from Gloucester to Birmingham. Might be better to do this the other way round then come back via London to be fair though.

 

[t0ffeeman]

Is Manchester - Sailsbury still valid via Newport and the Marches?

 

[jfollows]

Is Manchester - Sailsbury still valid via Newport and the Marches?

I don’t think it is, MC is not one of the maps allowed for example.

LONDON BM+BB BM+BW MA+LE NR+BM+BW NR+MA+LE

 

[Ayman Ilham]

Is Manchester - Sailsbury still valid via Newport and the Marches?

Not sure about the direct off-peak return, but when I put MAN-SAL on TrainSplit, the cheapest split (around £60; varies by £5-6 depending on if MAN-WML and WML-SHR are off-peak or anytime) goes that very route, changing at Newport and then on a GWR service via Westbury. Split points are at Wilmslow, Shrewsbury, Hereford, Abergavenny and Warminster. I might actually consider doing it this way as I actually want to try out a Turbo or 158 on the Westbury route. That way, I can put more focus on exploring Bath and Salisbury, as both I know are amazing cities. There are some market towns down there that seem rather attractive as well such as Warminster and Trowbridge.

 

[sonic2009]

You could always leave way before 0930 - with a split ticket.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Given your definition of visiting a city is

(walking in the city centre and taking photos representative of the city counts as "visited", which can easily be done in an hour).

you might want to bear in mind that neither Oxford nor Bristol Temple Meads stations are really in the city centre: for Bristol, Google Maps thinks that it will take 20 minutes to walk from the station to the Hippodrome (an arbitrary destination on the (Tramway) Centre, which I think most people would think of as the centre of modern Bristol) while in Oxford it's 12 minutes from the station to Carfax.

 

[Haywain]

Given your definition of visiting a city is


you might want to bear in mind that neither Oxford nor Bristol Temple Meads stations are really in the city centre: for Bristol, Google Maps thinks that it will take 20 minutes to walk from the station to the Hippodrome (an arbitrary destination on the (Tramway) Centre, which I think most people would think of as the centre of modern Bristol) while in Oxford it's 12 minutes from the station to Carfax.

Similarly, Bath and Salisbury stations are both outside of the historic city centres - in each case I would suggest a 15 minute walk.

 

[Ayman Ilham]

you might want to bear in mind that neither Oxford nor Bristol Temple Meads stations are really in the city centre: for Bristol, Google Maps thinks that it will take 20 minutes to walk from the station to the Hippodrome (an arbitrary destination on the (Tramway) Centre, which I think most people would think of as the centre of modern Bristol) while in Oxford it's 12 minutes from the station to Carfax.

For Oxford, it's still easily walkable but for Bristol, it does seem a lot harder for Bristol so that's why I decided to skip it in this itinerary. Due to the bus station and Megabus stop being in much better locations, Bristol is somewhere I'd rather travel to by coach.

You could always leave way before 0930 - with a split ticket.

100% - the split ticket option going via Newport would allow that by making MAN-WML and WML-SHR anytime and the rest off-peak without making a huge cost increase.

Similarly, Bath and Salisbury stations are both outside of the historic city centres - in each case I would suggest a 15 minute walk.

Like Oxford, they aren't as bad as Bristol with regards to getting to the main city centre from the train station; I'd probably need a bus for Bristol!