Longest Permitted Route: Wick to Penzance

[AlterEgo]

Can anyone advise on the longest possible mileage on a permitted route between Wick and Penzance?

Ignore split tickets - just concentrate on the (astronomical) through fare.

 

[TUC]

The Super Off-Peak Single is £146.60, which does not sound unreasonable for the journey.

 

[Segedunum]

The Super Off-Peak Single is £146.60, which does not sound unreasonable for the journey.

Though no break of journey is permitted and you have to go via London.

It's priced by LNER and seems to be one of the fares that's priced per leg, as its 50% of the cost of the corresponding Super off Peak Return.

 

[jawr256]

I'm sure there'll be some quite exotic routing involved where certain web-like maps are involved, while obeying the map sequence and without doubling back. I once worked this out manually for a Reddish South-Shippea Hill journey when they were the two least used stations, and it included something like Manchester-Earlestown-Warrington-Crewe-Stockport-Stoke-Wolverhampton-Smethwick GB-Birmingham Moor St-New St-Rugeley-Nuneaton.

 

[30907]

Though no break of journey is permitted and you have to go via London.

It's priced by LNER and seems to be one of the fares that's priced per leg, as its 50% of the cost of the corresponding Super off Peak Return.

Surely permitted to, though the longest route would be via London anyway?.

Without looking at the routing guide I would assume that Aberdeen-Edinburgh-Carlisle-Leeds-Lincoln-Cambridge-London-Bristol would be about the longest.

 

[Haywain]

The Super Off-Peak Single is £146.60, which does not sound unreasonable for the journey.

That is a ticket that should only be sold in conjunction with a ticket for travel in the opposite direction, so the real cost is at least £68.60 higher (that being the cost of the cheapest Advance ticket).

 

[miklcct]

That is a ticket that should only be sold in conjunction with a ticket for travel in the opposite direction, so the real cost is at least £68.60 higher (that being the cost of the cheapest Advance ticket).

Can it be sold with split Advance tickets in the opposite direction?

 

[yorkie]

Though no break of journey is permitted and you have to go via London.

It's priced by LNER and seems to be one of the fares that's priced per leg, as its 50% of the cost of the corresponding Super off Peak Return.

In theory you have to go via London, but it would be possible to follow permitted routes to/from London which allow you to avoid London by simply avoiding the double-back, i.e. Wick - Birmingham - Reading - (London) - Reading - Penzance.

This is because the rules regarding following permitted routes via London involve taking all the permitted routes from origin to London and all the permitted routes from London to destination.

Contractually and practically, if a permitted route involves a double-back, you cannot be forced to undertake that double-back.

 

[62484GlenLyon]

That is a ticket that should only be sold in conjunction with a ticket for travel in the opposite direction, so the real cost is at least £68.60 higher (that being the cost of the cheapest Advance ticket).

Why does it have to be sold in conjunction with a ticket for an opposite journey??

 

[Haywain]

Can it be sold with split Advance tickets in the opposite direction?

No. The origin and destination must match.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Sep 2022 ==

Why does it have to be sold in conjunction with a ticket for an opposite journey??

Because that is what it is designed for - to allow an Advance ticket in one direction to combine with a walk-up single so that the total fare remains below the (equivalent) walk-up return.

 

[TUC]

Though no break of journey is permitted and you have to go via London.

It's priced by LNER and seems to be one of the fares that's priced per leg, as its 50% of the cost of the corresponding Super off Peak Return.

Although overnight break of journey would be needed as none of the journeys available are ones which complete within the sane day.

 

[NorthOxonian]

How about this as a starting point, going via London? I think it can be improved a lot, especially south of Lancaster, but using the Inverness to Aberdeen line, Glasgow South Western, and Cumbrian Coast all increase the mileage considerably.

The first part of the journey uses maps IE, EG, and LM: Wick - Inverness - Aberdeen - Dundee - Kirkcaldy - Haymarket (change to EG) - Carstairs - Motherwell - Glasgow - Kilmarnock (change to LM) - Dumfries - Carlisle - Whitehaven - Lancaster - Manchester - Stoke - Birmingham - Coventry - Northampton - Milton Keynes - Euston.

Then continuing using maps WC and WE: Waterloo - Clapham Junction - Hounslow - Virginia Water - Weybridge - Woking - Salisbury - Westbury (change to WE) - Taunton - Plymouth - Penzance.

I shudder to think how long the journey would take, particularly given the infrequent service from Edinburgh to Glasgow via Carstairs!

 

[SeanG]

How about this as a starting point, going via London? I think it can be improved a lot, especially south of Lancaster, but using the Inverness to Aberdeen line, Glasgow South Western, and Cumbrian Coast all increase the mileage considerably.

The first part of the journey uses maps IE, EG, and LM: Wick - Inverness - Aberdeen - Dundee - Kirkcaldy - Haymarket (change to EG) - Carstairs - Motherwell - Glasgow - Kilmarnock (change to LM) - Dumfries - Carlisle - Whitehaven - Lancaster - Manchester - Stoke - Birmingham - Coventry - Northampton - Milton Keynes - Euston.

Then continuing using maps WC and WE: Waterloo - Clapham Junction - Hounslow - Virginia Water - Weybridge - Woking - Salisbury - Westbury (change to WE) - Taunton - Plymouth - Penzance.

I shudder to think how long the journey would take, particularly given the infrequent service from Edinburgh to Glasgow via Carstairs!

From Birmingham, would it be longer to go to Reading, then Waterloo and as per your suggestion?

 

[TUC]

The Any Permitted singles and returns are cheaper than the Via London options

 

[Alex365Dash]

Although overnight break of journey would be needed as none of the journeys available are ones which complete within the sane day.

I mean, it’s not required - you could always get a reservation* in the seated portion of a Caledonian Sleeper or GWR Night Riviera service, or buy a berth supplement!

*Or in the case of the GWR Night Riviera, just turn up and find a seat.

 

[busestrains]

Would this be a value route for a Wick to Penzance ticket:

Wick - Inverness - Aberdeen - Dundee - Perth - Kirkcaldy - Edinburgh - Carstairs - Glasgow - Kilmarnock - Carlisle - Workington - Barrow - Carnforth - Skipton - Leeds - York - Doncaster - Peterborough - Ely - Ipswich - Colchester - Chelmsford - Shenfield - London - Gatwick - Brighton - Worthing - Southampton - Upwey - Yeovil - Exeter - Plymouth - Penzance

If so that would add a lot of extra mileage to the journey.

 

[Haywain]

Would this be a value route for a Wick to Penzance ticket:

Wick - Inverness - Aberdeen - Dundee - Perth - Kirkcaldy - Edinburgh - Carstairs - Glasgow - Kilmarnock - Carlisle - Workington - Barrow - Carnforth - Skipton - Leeds - York - Doncaster - Peterborough - Ely - Ipswich - Colchester - Chelmsford - Shenfield - London - Gatwick - Brighton - Worthing - Southampton - Upwey - Yeovil - Exeter - Plymouth - Penzance

If so that would add a lot of extra mileage to the journey.

No.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Why would anyone want such a convoluted itinerary, unless someone is maybe attempting to track bash on a budget. Even using the most direct route, it's a long enough journey as it is!

 

[Huntergreed]

Why would anyone want such a convoluted itinerary, unless someone is maybe attempting to track bash on a budget. Even using the most direct route, it's a long enough journey as it is!

I would say it’s worth spending an extra hour or two travelling to avoid 13 hours straight on a 220!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I would say it’s worth spending an extra hour or two travelling to avoid 13 hours straight on a 220!

Good point and well made!

 

[plugwash]

I would say it’s worth spending an extra hour or two travelling to avoid 13 hours straight on a 220!

NRE tells me the fastest way from Wick to Penzance is

Wick->Inverness (Scotrail)
Inverness->Crewe (Caledonian sleeper)
Crewe->Birmingham (Crosscountry)
Birmingham->Taunton (Crosscountry)
Taunton->Penzance (GWR)

Departing 16:00 and arriving 13:07 the following day

Though it tells me no fares are available, I dunno if that is a reservation availability issue or a permitted route issue.

 

[Jan Mayen]

Can anyone advise on the longest possible mileage on a permitted route between Wick and Penzance?

Ignore split tickets - just concentrate on the (astronomical) through fare.

I was tempted to have a go during a quite moment, but have just discovered 42 map combinations between Dingwall and London on the routeing guide. So gave up. I'm sure someone who knows the routeing guide better than I do can come up with the definitive answer!

 

[NorthOxonian]

I was tempted to have a go during a quite moment, but have just discovered 42 map combinations between Dingwall and London on the routeing guide. So gave up. I'm sure someone who knows the routeing guide better than I do can come up with the definitive answer!

It isn't quite as bad as it looks because some of the map combinations are very similar - for example 35 out of those 42 are actually just seven different routes from Dingwall to the Central Belt and then five different routes onwards to London (via Carlisle). But the number of possible routes is still gigantic...

 

[philthetube]

If you took the longest/slowest allowed route and could not complete in 2 days would a ticket still be valid on the third?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If you took the longest/slowest allowed route and could not complete in 2 days would a ticket still be valid on the third?

Might need to be a 7 day ALR!

 

[JB_B]

Might need to be a 7 day ALR!

Or - to cover the specific route mentioned in the thread title - better to get a return Penzance-Wick off-peak (not London) or super off-peak (via London) and use the month's validity for the return journey

 

[Enthusiast]

Although overnight break of journey would be needed as none of the journeys available are ones which complete within the sane day.

Indeed. The last train into Penzance is the 22:38 ex-Plymouth arriving at 00:35. This connects with the 18:36 ex-Paddington (via Reading, Taunton and Exeter). There is no way you could join either of those trains anywhere if you left Wick on the first train of the day (06:18).