Bristol/Cheltenham - Newcastle

[Class377]

Quick query - I'm kicking myself that I missed the fare release date for this!

Outbound 3rd December (looking to arrive early afternoon), return 4th December any time. Nearest station is Trowbridge but fully aware best split point is Cheltenham from there, so realistically booking advances from there (unless via London is better?)

Best I can get is splitting at Burton and Sheffield, but only knocks about 50p off the direct advance of £25 each way? I thought XC advances could become a lot cheaper with splits?

Any advice on where to split to get the cheapest tickets is therefore much appreciated.

 

[Romilly]

It can be worth trying to split at Cheltenham, Birmingham, Derby, Sheffield and York (although sometimes you are better off without the Birmingham split) if there are no through Advances. But the direct Advances you have found are, as you have discovered, going to be hard to beat.

By the way, are you quoting railcard-discounted prices?

 

[Class377]

It can be worth trying to split at Cheltenham, Birmingham, Derby, Sheffield and York (although sometimes you are better off without the Birmingham split) if there are no through Advances. But the direct Advances you have found are, as you have discovered, going to be hard to beat.

By the way, are you quoting railcard-discounted prices?

Thanks for the tips. And yes, sorry I forgot to mention, this is all with a 16-25 railcard!

 

[Searle]

Quite frankly, I'd just be pleased with £25 for Bristol to Newcastle, and I'd book it before the quota runs out!

 

[Romilly]

If the OP comes back on the 1035 from Newcastle (changing at Birmingham and Bristol), it might be possible to do Newcastle-Trowbridge for £25 by splitting at York, Sheffield, Derby and Birmingham (there's a good Birmingham-Trowbridge Advance on the 1342 from Birmingham).

Outward, it would be possible to do Cheltenham-Newcastle for £21.80 using the splits I suggested on the 1011. The expensive bit then will be Trowbridge-Cheltenham, bearing in mind that it will be subject to the pre-10am £12 minimum fare if using a 16-25 railcard.

 

[Class377]

Many thanks for finding those fares. There are a few cheap advances from Trowbridge to Cheltenham on the Wednesday and I don't mind killing a bit of time at the latter (chance for some breakfast perhaps) so will take your advice.

I also have an NUS Extra card so the Birmingham-Derby, Derby-Sheffield, Sheffield-York and York-Newcastle advances would also be subject to 10% off, taking the whole lot to just over £40. That seems a bit better than the original £100+ walk up fare!