Multi-stop journey

[ian13]

Hi all,

Wanting some advice on an upcoming multi-stop journey:

Friday: Salisbury - London
Saturday: London - Cambridge
Sunday: Cambridge - Birmingham
Monday: Birmingham - Salisbury

And I have no idea which ticket combination would work best!

 

[yorkie]

What have you found so far?

How do you define "best"? ie, quickest, cheapest, most flexible? Or a combination of all 3? It can be highly subjective, and very difficult to calculate.

 

[Techniquest]

A minimum should surely be Salisbury to London return, London to Cambridge single and Cambridge to Birmingham return? If memory serves the latter is valid both ways, quite a Hereford to Stansted was when I last did it.

Hopefully someone not on their phone will have fuller details and able to check fares!

 

[ian13]

Cheapest is my metric I suppose, however I wish to arrive back in Salisbury by about 12 on the Monday.

Best combination I've encountered thus far (inc. YNG railcard):
Salisbury - London Terminals SVR £29.45
London Terminals - Cambridge SVR £22.75
London Terminals - Birmingham Stations SVR £33.35
(Virgin Trains railcard rule will allow travel on any train on Monday morning?)

The Cambridge to Birmingham portion would thus require travel via London. This creates an extra issue as I will be traveling with a friend who is going:
Sunday: Cambridge - Birmingham
Monday: Birmingham - Cambridge (morning)
Yet an SVR Cambridge - Birmingham Stations via London won't be valid Monday morning as the travel isn't wholely on Virgin Trains. It'd make sense if they could go via London with me on the Sunday, but then direct on the Monday - but I can't think of a way to ticket that...

 

[Hadders]

Perhaps the following combination would suffice:

Salisbury-Cambridge off-peak return £44.80
London-Birmingham off-peak return £33.35

I believe you can break the outward portion of a SVR overnight and resume on day 2 (although this may need to be explained to an FCC RPI if you were to meet one between Kings Cross and Cambridge on the Saturday)

On the Saturday use the return portion on the Salisbury-Cambridge ticket and break in London. Travel from London-Birmingham using the separate ticket will be ok for Virgin's railcard easement on the Monday.

Resume your return journey from Cambridge to Salisbury on the Monday.

Total £78.15. I'm sure there'd be a cheaper split somewhere (for example Chiltern's Evening Standard offer) but it might not be compatible with your timings.

 

[ian13]

Perhaps the following combination would suffice:

Salisbury-Cambridge off-peak return £44.80
London-Birmingham off-peak return £33.35

I believe you can break the outward portion of a SVR overnight and resume on day 2 (although this may need to be explained to an FCC RPI if you were to meet one between Kings Cross and Cambridge on the Saturday)

On the Saturday use the return portion on the Salisbury-Cambridge ticket and break in London. Travel from London-Birmingham using the separate ticket will be ok for Virgin's railcard easement on the Monday.

Resume your return journey from Cambridge to Salisbury on the Monday.

Total £78.15. I'm sure there'd be a cheaper split somewhere (for example Chiltern's Evening Standard offer) but it might not be compatible with your timings.

I thought the outward portion of an SVR is only valid for one day (and until 04:30 the following day)?

 

[bb21]

You are permitted an overnight break of journey if the journey cannot be completed on the first day. All travel must be completed by 0429 on the third day.

 

[kendaldrac]

Simplified train journey using specified routes at specified times using single tickets works out to £105.40 if you don't want to get too complex with off peak return tickets.

 

[bb21]

I had a look at using one ticket to do all this, and the cheapest option I have found is a Salisbury - Chesterfield ticket, which would allow you to do Salisbury - London - Cambridge - Peterborough - Leicester (change from outward to return) - Birmingham -Bristol or Reading - Salisbury, but because the outward of a (Super) Off-Peak Return expires at 0429 on the third day, you would need an Anytime Return to do this, which is very expensive. You can also do it with a Super Off-Peak Return, with an additional single Cambridge - Leicester, but that will cost altogether almost £90 with your Railcard.

I am unable to beat the suggestion by Hadders on price.

 

[ian13]

Excellent suggestions.

I'll be going with Hadders option! Thank you all for your help.