All line rover ticket 7/14 days

[v199629]

Hi all, I am planning to do a UK rail travel trip in the Summer and need some advice. I am based in Leeds and plan to go home every 3 days or so if doing the trip. Would 7/14 day ticket be better for where I want to travel? (I have a 16-25 railcard)

Wales (Fishguard, Wales Valley Line, Heart of Wales, Holyhead etc.)
South West (Doing the branch line such as to Newquay, Coombe Junction Halt)
South-East (Dover, HST)
South Coast (Portsmouth, Southampton)
East Anglia
Cumbria
Tyneside and Wear
West Scotland (Up to Malligg) (going to do Inverness, Wick and Localsh line in another trip).

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[221129]

The only way of getting all that in Seven Days would be to not go home during the trip. Seems a bit of a waste to go home half way through too surely?

 

[stu77]

Fort william to Inverness is 68 miles with a regular coach service. I would think you should do all the highland lines in one trip. With the the citylink coach making up your missing link.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

If I were you I'd do the south west first as geographically speaking its a fair distance. What I did was to go from Huddersfield to Paignton, which meant a 4am start - since, as you've mentioned, based in Leeds make it a 3.30am start so that you can get down for around noon-ish. This will give you approximatley eight hours to do as many of the branches as possible.


Note - The way I did my 7 day ALRR was just day outs from Huddersfield and seeing how far I could go and back in a day.

 

[Holmevalley]

You have 8 regions you want to cover and 7 days to do it?

I would review your plans and be a bit less adventurous in your ambitions. In seven days I would take 3 days to get down to Devon and Cornwall, do the branches and back to Leeds. Then take 3 days to get up to Scotland to do some of the routes up there ending up in Newcastle for a final day in the North east and back to Leeds.

 

[Flying Snail]

Would advances and local rovers not be a better option as your plans appear to be Home- region - local travel - return home? Probably a lot cheaper and as you plan on returning home you could take a days break to recover without losing a days validity.

 

[ashworth]

Would advances and local rovers not be a better option as your plans appear to be Home- region - local travel - return home? Probably a lot cheaper and as you plan on returning home you could take a days break to recover without losing a days validity.

I think it depends upon whether you are just wanting to cover as many miles as possible or whether you want to explore an area in more detail.

I've never done an ALR. It was something that I'd always thought about but although I love travelling by train I also enjoy getting off at interesting places and exploring for few a few hours on foot. Therefore since taking early retirement I've gone down the road of travelling to an area using advances, staying in a hotel for a few nights, and using a local rover to explore an area at my leisure.

I'm really enjoying exploring smaller areas of the country using local rail rovers and bus to visit places not served by rail. Last summer I stayed in the Premier Inn opposite Exeter St Davids Station and did an 8 Day South West Rover. To be quite honest I still found it too large an area to explore fully and need to go back again. I think just the Devon and Cornwall would have been enough. I've also done the 7 Day NW Rover, the 3 Day Kent Rover, and breaks based in Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester using local PTE tickets.

 

[James Wake]

You could do something like:
Day 1: Leeds-Plymouth-Cornish Branches (stay overnight in Cornwall)
Day 2: Cornwall-Exeter-Salisbury-Southampton-Portsmouth-Brighton-Ashford-St Pancras via Dover and HS1 (overnight in London)
Day 3: Norwich-Anglian Branches then back home via EMT to Nottingham then to Leeds?
Day 4: Leeds-Carnforth-Barrow-Carlisle-Newcastle-Edinburgh (possibly Inverness)
Day 5: Inverness-Wick and back (overnight Inverness)
Day 6: 0855 from Inverness-Kyle-51A bus to Armadale- 1430 ferry to Mallaig- 1605 to Glasgow (overnight) (The Skye Circular, one of the best trips in the British Isles)
Day 7: Glasgow area to Leeds

Bit of food for thought here

 

[James Wake]

I've done three all line rovers and am planning my fourth. Enjoy it when you get round to doing it.

 

[Steve Harris]

If I were you I'd do the south west first as geographically speaking its a fair distance. What I did was to go from Huddersfield to Paignton, which meant a 4am start - since, as you've mentioned, based in Leeds make it a 3.30am start so that you can get down for around noon-ish. This will give you approximatley eight hours to do as many of the branches as possible.


Note - The way I did my 7 day ALRR was just day outs from Huddersfield and seeing how far I could go and back in a day.

I have done many All Line Rovers and the Cornish branches are doable in a day providing you travel on the sleeper down and back. I did just that in the late 90's only to fail getting the Looe branch in as while on the Newquay branch the 153 I was on ran over 2 cows and got the brakes taken out! Had to detrain and walk back to St Columb Rd for a taxi to Par!

It took me many ALR'S to track bash the whole passenger network.

 

[v199629]

Thanks for all the reply. It seems Scotland will take quite a lot of time which means I might not do Scotland and go to Wales instead. It seems 7 days ticket will be enough from what you guys said but in terms of value it seems the 14 days one seems cheaper per day. Thanks for the advice.

 

[me123]

I'd agree that you'll get more bang for your buck if you avoid spending too much time in Scotland on your ALR. Long distances, slow journeys in parts, relative geographical isolation... all reasons why spending your time in the Highlands probably isn't the best idea when you're obviously keen on cramming as much in as possible.

If you have time in the future, maybe consider a Spirit of Scotland travel passfor the future? It would give you more time to explore Scotland, more flexibility, it works out much cheaper, and I'm sure it gives you more benefits over and above the rail travel than an ALR would. The rural (and most scenic) lines in Scotland are much better when you take the time to enjoy them, I find.

 

[mrcheek]

Best of luck whatever you end up doing!

And remember, no matter much you plan things, always have a back up plan.

I will be doing my tenth ALR next month. I always go for the 14 day option, and First Class. One week is never enough!