Wigan Wallgate [WGW] - Norwich [NRW]

[Gathursty]

With a 16-25 railcard, I've been trying to find decent fares to go to the Latitude Festival. I need to travel down on the 11th July arriving about 10pm and come back any time on the 13th July.

I've ruled out via London fares because £71 is out of my budget (£50 maximum). I've looked at using the Liverpool-Norwich EMT service and this is where I need a bit of help. I've found a Lancaster-Sheffield advance pair for £17 and have got stuck with picking the best splits from there on in. I've included Brampton (Suffolk) in the title because that is the closest station to the festival but I can catch a bus from Lowestoft if the price is a bit high.

Thanks in advance

EDIT: Just realised I'll not be at uni then and that there is a reasonable taxi fare in Norwich as well as much more in the way of guest houses than near Halesworth.

 

[SickyNicky]

Straight split fares between Sheffield and Brampton via Peterborough and Norwich would cost around £44 with your railcard - here's the breakdown (remember that the prices EXCLUDE the railcard discount)

Standard Class
£68.70
Saves £15.10 (18.0%)

SHEFFIELD to NOTTINGHAM
OFF-PEAK R
Fare £19.00
Route ANY PERMITTED
Restriction  ([URL="http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/pdfs/SVR_CG.pdf"]CG[/URL])

NOTTINGHAM to PETERBOROUGH
OFF-PEAK R
Fare £23.80
Route ANY PERMITTED
Restriction  ([URL="http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/pdfs/SVR_CG.pdf"]CG[/URL])

PETERBOROUGH to BRAMPTON SUFFOLK
OFF-PEAK R
Fare £25.90
Route NOT VIA LONDON
Restriction  ([URL="http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/pdfs/SVR_CZ.pdf"]CZ[/URL])

The cheapest way using straight splits between Sheffield and Brampton is to split tickets at Shireoaks. This brings the leg cost down to £42 ish but you would need to travel via Retford (on a train that stops at Shireoaks). This is still outside your budget when you add the £17 for the Lancaster to Sheffield advanced.

Standard Class
£64.80
Saves £19.00 (22.7%)

SHEFFIELD to SHIREOAKS
Outward: ANYTIME DAY S
Route ANY PERMITTED
Fare £5.10
Return: ANYTIME DAY S
Route ANY PERMITTED
Fare £5.10

SHIREOAKS to BRAMPTON SUFFOLK
SUPER OFFPEAK R
Fare £54.60
Route NOT VIA LONDON
Restriction  ([URL="http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/pdfs/SSR_3V.pdf"]3V[/URL])

 

[LexyBoy]

The Latitude website is being particularly unhelpful with regards travel info, but IIRC Halesworth is the closer station. However the organisers advised against using it (and thus also Brampton) because there's nowhere like enough capacity to serve the festival. I know there's a shuttle bus from Ipswitch, not sure about Lowestoft.

Have you looked at the festival buses (Big Green Bus I think)? This might be cheaper and likely no slower if you could get one from e.g. Manchester, plus less worry about getting to the station in time to get your booked train.

 

[Gathursty]

Just spent a bit more time looking at buses and will be going to Norwich and joining a service to Halesworth. Thanks for the help.

 

[sonic2009]

Try Lancaster - Leeds & Leeds - Halesworth :

Take advantage of FTPE's student promotion and also EC + Connections tickets with discount for booking online.

 

[Malan]

The local bus services put on for Latitude are provided by Anglian Bus and are listed at the end of this link, which also has all their local routes listed:

http://www.anglianbus.co.uk/timetables/