No. "London" is defined
here.
A £31 Super Off-Peak Return Swindon - Woking route Not London is Permitted via Clapham Jn using map combination
LW+
WX:
LW: Swindon - Didcot Parkway - Reading Group
WX: Reading Group - Wokingham - Ascot - Staines - Feltham - Twickenham - Richmond - Barnes - Clapham Jn - Wimbledon - Surbiton - Woking.
Southern will sell you this ticket (search for Swindon - Woking via Twickenham) and, if you decide not to use it, its
Money Back Guarantee will apply as long as you don't collect the ticket.
Ok, I see now what the problem is.
If I select 'via CLJ' it uses the fast route from Swindon to Paddington, and then the fast train from Waterloo to Woking, calling at CLJ only (linking the two by tube), as this is quicker than the fast train from Swindon to Reading, and then the (stopping) train from Reading to CLJ. Selecting via Twickenham, or Virginia Water, or whatever, forces it to use the Reading-CLJ train.
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The cheapest day return is apparently:
Swindon-Didcot Parkway (valid after 9:30am, and any time during the evening) £9.90
Didcot Parkway-Brookwood £9
Brookwood-Woking £3.40 super off-peak day return (after 11:16), or £4 off-peak
The £31 super off-peak return Swindon-Woking is blacked out on the Swindon-Reading section until after 10:30am outbound, and inbound is blacked out on Reading-Swindon between 3:30pm and 7pm, so the day return this way is much more flexible.
Simple question first, if I hold
Swindon-Didcot Parkway
and
Didcot Parkway - Reading
then I can board a train at Swindon bound for Reading, if it stops at Didcot Parkway, but I cannot use the fastest trains, stopping only at Swindon and Reading and passing through Didcot Parkway at great speed without stopping?
Moving on and considering the route Didcot Parkway-Brookwood, it shows shortest route:
Didcot-Reading
Reading-Ash (Reading-Redhill slow train)
Ash-Ash Vale (Ascot-Guildford branch line)
Then from Ash Vale change for the Waterloo line, stopping at Brookood and then Woking.
Beside the Swindon-Didcot Parkway-Reading annoyance, Reading-Ash-Ash Vale-Woking is a bit silly.
There are a number of routes defined for Didcot Parkway-Brookwood, but I don't find it entirely comprehensible.
It says however that permitted routes Didcot Parkway-Woking are permitted for Didcot Parkway-Brookwood, which I take it means that you can take any valid Didcot Parkway-Woking route, then tack on a Woking-Brookwood single, assuming that it doesn't involve doubling back.
In the case of our (Didcot Parkway-)Reading-Guildford-Woking route, it doesn't pass through Brookwood, so in theory we'd do Woking-Brookwood and then come back again.
Would it be legal to simply alight at Woking, holding a Didcot Parkway-Brookwood off-peak day return, and therefore to dispense with buying the Brookwood-Woking ticket entirely?
If it would not be legal, would it then be legal to alight at Woking if one DID hold a Brookwood-Woking ticket?
In otherwords you hold Didcot Parkway-Brookwood and Brookwood-Woking, which would be a legal set of tickets for the trains:
Didcot Parkway-Brookwood ticket:
Didcot Parkway-Reading
Reading-Guildford
Guildford-Woking
Woking-Brookwood
Brookwood-Woking ticket
Brookwood-Woking
but you simply optimise Woking-Brookwood-Woking out as a net zero, and omit to travel it?
(If it is not legal to do that, the next best option is to alight at North Camp on the Reading-Guildford train, walk to Ash Vale, and then catch the Ash Vale-Woking train, which passes through Brookwood.)
I see that there is some discussion of getting off early on Advance tickets, but these say:
"You may not start, break and resume, or end your journey at any intermediate station except to change to/from connecting trains as shown on the ticket(s) or other valid travel itinerary"
whereas this Off Peak Day Return says
"A break of journey is permitted on both the outward and return portions off an Off-Peak Day Return unless otherwise indicated by a restriction shown against the ticket's Restriction Code."
So you can quite legitimately break your Didcot Parkway-Brookwood journey at Woking I guess, thereby dispensing with the need to actually hold a ticket to Woking, because you'd be getting off there to 'break'. And presumably they can't force you to ever perform the rest of it, and there'd be no record on the return part of the ticket that you had not done so....