Routeing Southampton-Leeds via Cheshire

[AndyLandy]

Hello,

I'm planning on making a trip from Southampton to Leeds in a little over a week. I would prefer to go via London, but can go via CrossCountry if necessary.

The catch is I'd like to break my return journey in Cheshire, stopping somewhere like Cuddington, Hartford or Frodsham, so I'm trying to establish how close I can legitimately get with the return portion of an offpeak Southampton-Leeds ticket. No problem picking up an extra fare to finish the journey, just keen to know how close I can get with the existing fare.

Looking at the routeing guide, I *think* I can legitimately go via Manchester, Warrington or Crewe (and pick up a local fare to finish the journey) but only on a not-via-London fare (and if so, I can't travel the final Cheshire-Southampton leg via London).

I don't use the routeing guide often enough to be confident in my assessments, so I would be grateful for a second opinion on that matter.

Thanks in advance!

 

[soil]

This can be simplified. You desire to travel London to Leeds on the East Coast line, and return from Cheshire to London on the West Coast line.

Therefore fundamentally your destination is not (conceptually) Leeds, but somewhere twixt Leeds & Cheshire which is valid 'either way' on a ticket from london.

So we would look at routeing points like Huddersfield instead. Rather obviously London - Leeds - Huddersfield is a reasonable route. NRE confirms this: http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/London/HUD/today/1330/dep?via=Leeds

So the question is can we return via (a) Chester-Euston or (b) Crewe-Euston, and finish things up with a local ticket to and from our Cheshire destination.

Certainly Crewe - Euston is ok -it's mapped on map MA. To that you could add Hartford - Crewe singles at £5.20 a piece.

Chester - Crewe? Will be difficult on a single ticket I think!

So Southampton - Cottingley Any Permitted Super Off Peak Return £136 will do most of it, but maybe there are some cheaper options with Advances?

Note that if your plan is Leeds - Manchester - Cheshire on the return leg, then your outbound ticket expired on day 1, so you can't reach/pass Cottingley without another ticket. Simplest option probably Leeds - Dewsbury (£4.40), or Leeds - Cottingley if you call at Cottingley (£2.50).

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I agree the £136 Any Permitted (Leeds-Southampton Super Off Peak, set by VTEC) will work via both London and Oxford/Crewe.
I don't think it works via Rugby.
Searching gives options via Wilmslow or Warrington (changing stations there).
But it won't work via Chester or any of your smaller destinations.
So looks like separate tickets from Crewe and/or Warrington.
Check time restrictions of course. The Off Peak is very much more expensive (£220).
It's one of those trips where a journey planner offering more than one "via" like the DB site allows would be very handy (and/or different routes out and return).

 

[AndyLandy]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

For reference, the Southampton-Leeds return will be covered by expenses, so I'm not looking for advance fares on that route. I'm mostly looking to see how cost-effective it is to make that BoJ on the return leg.

I'm pretty confident that I can just go via Crewe on a not-London ticket, and I'd be happy with that option. I suppose I could even use a Change of Route Excess to do the Northbound via London and Southbound not.

Still, if it's possible to go back from Crewe, via London, that would be ideal. The idea of getting a 'valid either way' ticket to somewhere other than Leeds appeals if I can find something suitable.

 

[soil]

what's wrong with the Cottingley ticket?

 

[Haywain]

Note that if your plan is Leeds - Manchester - Cheshire on the return leg, then your outbound ticket expired on day 1, so you can't reach/pass Cottingley without another ticket. Simplest option probably Leeds - Dewsbury (£4.40), or Leeds - Cottingley if you call at Cottingley (£2.50).

If the OP is only spending 1 night in Leeds, the ticket will be fine for onward travel on day 2 using the outward portion. This will be permitted by the clause in the conditions for the ticket allowing completion of the journey on day 2 where it couldn't be completed on day 1. Where "the journey cannot be completed" no reasons are specified, and it seems pretty clear that if you don't board a train to the final destination then the journey cannot be completed.

 

[soil]

If the OP is only spending 1 night in Leeds, the ticket will be fine for onward travel on day 2 using the outward portion. This will be permitted by the clause in the conditions for the ticket allowing completion of the journey on day 2 where it couldn't be completed on day 1. Where "the journey cannot be completed" no reasons are specified, and it seems pretty clear that if you don't board a train to the final destination then the journey cannot be completed.

in that case sot'n - Dewsbury (£1.50 more) might be better, to avoid the stopping train.

Or if you want to expense a ticket to Leeds, get an over-distance excess after buying the sotn - leeds ticket.

 

[AndyLandy]

I will be spending three days in Leeds, so I assume I'll need something else on top of the Cottingley ticket to finish the job?

 

[soil]

I will be spending three days in Leeds, so I assume I'll need something else on top of the Cottingley ticket to finish the job?

leeds-dewsbury single is the easiest thing, or a leeds-cottingley single if you take a train from leeds stopping at Cottingley. So outbound stops short at Leeds, return leg either starts at Cottingley or starts short at Dewsbury

 

[AndyLandy]

Looks like I might be able to get a lift from Leeds to Cheshire, so I think I'm looking at:

Southampton-Cottingley SSR(via London) at £136 (same cost as SOU-LDS, so expenses shouldn't have a problem with it) and will get me to Leeds via the ECML

With a single HTF-CRE, I should be good to then use the return portion of SOU-COT to finish the journey via the WCML.

Thanks for the advice, it's appreciated,