London - Barrow-in-Furness routing query

[Barclay]

Hi folks

Over the second May bank holiday I am planning on completing a coast-to-coast cycle ride from Barrow in Furness to Sunderland.

If I buy a return ticket to Barrow from London, will the ticket be valid on the East Coast mainline South of York? That way I would just need a Sunderland-York single for the return journey.

Cheers
Simon

 

[philjo]

I'm not sure about that. I can't check the RG at the moment.
I have used Letchworth-Windermere tickets via Leeds/Skipton/Lancaster in the past, so a ticket from Stevenage would do this (though maybe not via York, only via Leeds?). whereas one from London probably would not.

One possibility : Maybe try booking to somewhere on the Cumbrian coast such as Ravenglass - I think these tickets are also valid via Carlisle & Newcastle? (or via S&C back to Leeds) I looked at this route to get to west cumbria from Stevenage next month, but managed to get an advance fare from Euston instead. In which case, your journey would be covered both ways on the same ticket though the fare may be higher than splitting it up.

 

[John @ home]

If I buy a return ticket to Barrow from London, will the ticket be valid on the East Coast mainline South of York? That way I would just need a Sunderland-York single for the return journey.

If you know when you're starting you're cycle ride, but want to keep the return leg more flexible, then an Advance single London - Barrow and a £36 Off-Peak Single Sunderland - London route Grand Central Only may well give a lower total fare. The £36 fare falls to £23.75 if you have a national Railcard.

 

[cuccir]

Barrow is related to the Carlisle and Lancaster routeing points. However, under my understanding of the routeing guide, as London > Carlisle return is more expensive than a London > Barrow return, Carlisle cannot be used a routeing point for this journey.

For London to Lancaster Group you can use map 'MM' which would seem to suggest that you can use trains out of St Pancras, changing at Chesterfield, towards Leeds to travel up to Barrow-in-Furness. You could then, in theory, have a single from Leeds to Sunderland and continue on the Cross-Country train from Chesterfield up to Sund, but of course this would take a while. (This might explain why the bog-standard return fare BIF-London and Leeds-London are exactly the same?)

This would cost £83.70 for an off-peak return to BIF and £38.50 for an anytime single Sunderland to Leeds (no railcard discounts included, you may be able to get this cheaper by splitting/booking advance). So you might well be best doing as John suggests if you can

All of this comes with a health warning that a lot of people have more experience than me using the Routeing Guide so I may be wrong!

{edited as I thought you were cycling the other direction}

 

[yorkie]

This would cost £83.70 for an off-peak return to BIF and £38.50 for an anytime single Sunderland to Leeds (no railcard discounts included, you may be able to get this cheaper by splitting/booking advance). So you might well be best doing as John suggests if you can

Sunderland to Leeds is cheaper by splitting.

Barclay - Are you getting the Grand Central? This is the best way to go, especially with a bike as they can put it in the power car and you can sit next to it in either standard or first class (I am pretty sure they can use either power car). I have no idea about Adelantes as I've never got on one with a bike.


Sunderland - Hartlepool £5.40 (Anytime Day Single, Any Permitted)
Hartlepool - Sherburn-in-Elmet £10.90 (Off Peak Day Single, Not Darlington)
Cycle Sherburn to South Milford (about 1 mile)
South Milford - Leeds £4.40 (Anytime Single, Any Permitted)

TOTAL = £20.70

Or, if no suitable train to Sherburn, replace South Milford to Leeds with Church Fenton to Leeds for £6.50. If you want a fast train to Leeds, then it's £10.40 for a Off Peak single.

If you are using Grand Central, which I recommend, then split at York only:

Sunderland - York Anytime Single £11.00 (Anytime Single, GC Only)
York - Leeds £10.40 (Off Peak Day Single, Any Permitted)
Total - £21.40

As for the cycle ride, I take it you are going via Parkhead, Waskerley and Consett? A group of us on this forum have done this ride a few times, from Stanhope to Newcastle / Durham / towards Sunderland (the routes diverging at Consett), although we didn't go all the way to Sunderland (we actually got to just before Annfield Plain when we realised we were going to miss one of the few trains from Chester le Street so we diverted to Lanchester and took the route to Durham insted. We are aiming to go again some time. Which route are you taking beyond Chester-le-Street / Washington? The route seems pretty obvious until here where there seems to be a couple of alternatives, one north of the river and one via South Hylton.

 

[cuccir]

I presume he's doing this


http://www.cyclingw2w.info/route.htm

 

[yorkie]

Ah in that case, no. But I have done Bishop Auckland - Durham - Sunderland, a fair bit of that is on railway paths.

 

[Barclay]

Thanks for the replies, guys. It is the W2W I'm doing, although I've done the C2C before.

Having done a little research on the tickets, I can find a £36 return to Barrow, but the cheapest single is £59! Bonkers. So I guess I'll buy a return ticket and not use the return portion. Is it legal to sell a return portion on Gumtree/Ebay?

On the way back from Sunderland I'll use Grand Central, even if I can't get an advance purchase a £36 walkup fare is good value.

 

[John @ home]

I can find a £36 return to Barrow, but the cheapest single is £59! Bonkers.

That's odd. In the Fares Manual the cheapest London - Barrow return is £83.70 (without a railcard).

It sounds like it may be 2 Advance singles. Can you tell us the date, time and which site you were using to plan your journey, please?

Thanks,
John