Coventry to Bath via Bristol or Oxford?

[blimmo]

Planning a return trip from Coventry to Bath leaving around 10-12 on Tuesday 2nd Sep on the outbound and 1700-1730 on Friday 5th on the return.
I think the best ticket option is going to be the super off peak return (not via reading) but my question is about routeing (hence the choice of forum, apologies if this should go in Fares Advice).
Journey times are very comparable between going via Bristol and Birmingham vs Didcot and Oxford so I probably want to choose the route that's less busy.
If possible I would like to go on different routes out and back but not at the cost of a seat on the crosscountry leg!
I was planning to break my journey in Oxford on the way back but if the BHM-BRI leg is going to be really busy I'd rather swap them.

 

[jfollows]

Coventry-Bath “any permitted” shown by maps

• BI + BW Birmingham Cheltenham Bristol
• SM + PC Oxford Didcot

at https://rgpp.iblocks.co.uk/maps

Via Didcot is also the shortest route anyway, so the routeing guide allows you to go via Birmingham and Bristol in addition.

 

[blimmo]

Ah my question was which route I should take (based on the likelihood of the crosscountry trains being effectively sardine tins) rather than which are permitted.

 

[SteelWeelApeal]

Look out for double voyager sets on realtime trains, which form a minority of services on both routes, and try to stick to those.

 

[blimmo]

Is it possible to know which these will be in advance? I might try to get seat reservations.

 

[Topological]

The Bristol to Manchester has the advantage of starting at Bristol. Only a single Voyager but it is empty at Bristol.

Out via Oxford and back via Bristol would make sense from that perspective. Depends on the problem with full voyagers, whether it is getting a seat, or experiencing the full train.

 

[blimmo]

The seat is definitely the priority although of course a reservation is likely to solve that problem. Obviously if one route is much more likely to be busy I might still avoid it not least since using a seat reservation on a completely full train can be difficult.

 

[blimmo]

Also, thanks for the suggestion of getting the Bristol to Birmingham from its origin. The 1800 seems to only run BRI-BHM anyway so that would hopefully minimise competition with longer distance passengers.

 

[A S Leib]

I know that seats on Nottingham – Cardiff services might not be much more readily available, but is changing at Gloucester a permitted route?

 

[30907]

I know that seats on Nottingham – Cardiff services might not be much more readily available, but is changing at Gloucester a permitted route?

Yes.