Oxford - Colchester - Frinton

[Stargull]

Hello all.

I'm contemplating my first train trip since last March and am very out of practice, as well as unaware of how things have changed, so I thought I'd come and ask.

I need to go on a weekday from Oxford to Colchester, arriving around noon.

The next morning I want to head back to Oxford from Frinton-on-sea, possibly breaking journey in London if that's easy. I could time this to be off-peak if needed.

Any advice welcome, but really I want to know whether I should grab tickets now, or whether advance tickets are likely to be released between now and then.

Thank you.

 

[JonathanH]

Hello all.

I'm contemplating my first train trip since last March and am very out of practice, as well as unaware of how things have changed, so I thought I'd come and ask.

I need to go on a weekday from Oxford to Colchester, arriving around noon.

The next morning I want to head back to Oxford from Frinton-on-sea, possibly breaking journey in London if that's easy. I could time this to be off-peak if needed.

Any advice welcome, but really I want to know whether I should grab tickets now, or whether advance tickets are likely to be released between now and then.

Thank you.

To book a through journey, you are probably best served by an off-peak return from Oxford to Frinton, particularly if you want to break the return journey in London, stopping short in Colchester. This doesn't need to be booked in advance of travel or specify the trains. However, I note that making the 1102 from Liverpool Street is going to be a little tight within the restriction of the ticket not to arrive in London before 10am. The 1118 from Liverpool Street arrives in Colchester at 1215, the 1130 at 1219.

While there appear to be prices for advance fares between Oxford and Colchester, and between Frinton and London, there doesn't appear to be a quota available for these through tickets on the GWR (or Chiltern) side of the journey on any date I have tried. It is possible to book advance purchase tickets on the London to Colchester and Frinton to London journeys from £10 each way on many dates. There are also some GWR / Chiltern AP fares between Paddington / Marylebone and Oxford. Maybe breaking up the journey into separate advance fares would work?

One other possibility, if the GWR / Chiltern fares are punative, is getting the coach to London from Oxford and then using the underground from Victoria and advance tickets from London to Colchester / Frinton to London (with possibly an advance fare on Chiltern used in the return direction).

 

[Haywain]

To beat the time restriction on arriving into London from Oxford you could spend an extra fiver on an Off Peak Return to Ipswich, which has no restriction into London from Oxford and allows departure from Liverpool Street after 09:30. That would also man buying a single from Frinton to Colchester the next day.