London to Aberystwyth (in July)

[Panceltic]

Hello all,

I am thinking about visiting Aberystwyth between 9th and 11th July.

For a day return, I have so far found these three options:

EUS-AYW off-peak return: £74.20

EUS-AYW two advances (£24.50 or £29.50): £49.00 to £59.00

EUS-BHM two advances (£11.00 and £6.00): £17.00
BHM-DVY anytime day return: £21.90
DVY-AYW anytime day return: £3.90
Total: £42.80

Are there any other cheaper options? I haven't found any useful EUS-BHM splits.

Thank you

 

[CallySleeper]

Just to clarify, you intend to visit Aberystwyth for one day between the 9th and 11th of July, and not to travel out on the 9th return on the 11th?

In some ways it's hard to tell which option is cheapest until advance tickets are available for purchase in around three month's time. Speculation aside it might be worth waiting until then to see what your actual options will be.

 

[Panceltic]

Yes, I intend to visit for one day, either on 9th, 10th or 11th.

On BRFares, there are also £11.50 and £15.50 EUS-AYW advances, what are those? I can't get them in the journey planner.

 

[Chapeltom]

Yes, I intend to visit for one day, either on 9th, 10th or 11th.

On BRFares, there are also £11.50 and £15.50 EUS-AYW advances, what are those? I can't get them in the journey planner.

Some tiers of advance tickets do not actually get sold for whatever reason, I've tried searching for certain advances from where I live and even on the most obscure trains at 10-12 weeks in advance they can be found. I think it's just one of those things.

 

[Greenback]

You can get an ide aof likely prices now, but you will have to wait until the Advance tickets are released (no more than twelve weeks ahead of the travel date, usually) before you can see what is actually available.

 

[Panceltic]

Thanks to all of you for suggestions. I will definitely wait until may when the advances are released.

A connected question: if I have an advance ticket for the Birmingham-London leg of the return journey and I miss this train due to the service from Aberystwyth running late, would I be allowed to take the next train to London?

 

[bb21]

If you are using two tickets to make your journey from Aberystwyth to London, which together cover the journey in question, then you will be allowed on the next available service (subject to TOC restrictions) if delayed while travelling.

 

[Panceltic]

Thank you for clarifying that. Just two more questions:

When travelling on split tickets, should I show them all when first asked, or should I only show the first one, then the second one if I get asked after the station where I split tickets has been passed and so on?

What happens if you split at a request stop and the train doesn't actually stop? (This question occurred to me because of Dovey Junction, which is not a request stop itself, but could well be!)

Thank you for helping.

 

[bb21]

There is no standard answer to this one. I myself prefer to show all tickets for a particular leg of journey at the same time, but there have been reports of some guards preferring to be shown one ticket at a time.

 

[Greenback]

I will show both sets of tickets if I am staying on the same train. If I am changing at a splitting point, I don't think the guard will be interested in my future travel once I am off their train, and it may even complicate things.

 

[maniacmartin]

If you want to split at a request stop, I'd definitely show both, or the guard might be annoyed to have made a stop for no reason!

I show all the tickets for the train I am on (and all for the whole journey if under 19C)

 

[MKD]

I've done a couple of day-trips to Aberystwyth from Milton Keynes.

The Arriva Wales trains typically start out every 2 hours at Birmingham International then New St & Wolverhampton before on to Shrewsbury, then "reversing" all the way to Aberysytwyth.

Unless this year's summer timetable changes a lot, there used to be just the same 2 hourly service back, eg leaving around 3:30pm 5:30pm 7:30pm.
That last train was timetabled to Wolverhampton around 10:15pm with about 30 minutes spare to catch the last Wolverhampton to Euston train (usually just pulling in or waiting across the platform) due out at around 10:50pm.

For money saving your problem will be getting to the ATW train from London during peak hours at low cost and/or quickly enough to ensure enough connection slack - as a missed connection on the way out means a TWO HOUR wait, and potentially means NO time in Aberystwyth (assuming you do plan to leave the station there).

 

[Panceltic]

Thanks for your input. Yes, I would like to walk around the town, not just sit in the station. I have checked the timetables and have the following trains in mind:

VT London Euston dep. 0643, Birmingham New Street arr. 0808
ATW Birmingham New Street dep. 0823, Aberystwyth arr. 1125

ATW Aberystwyth dep. 1730, Birmingham New Street arr. 2036
VT Birmingham New Street dep. 2110, London Euston arr. 2243

The tickets would be: EUS-BHM advances, BHM-DVY anytime day return, DVY-AYW anytime day return. It sums up to £48.30. This would of course mean having to change at Birmingham New Street.

If I can get hold of two £24.50 EUS-AYW advances, then I can change at Birmingham International which is perhaps better, and for only 70p more ...

What do you think of this plan?

 

[dvboy]

Changing at Intl is easier than New St

 

[MKD]

Realise that Arriva Trains Wales published timetables are only valid to 17 May 14, and I am not sure when Virgin's run until - for some reason they say from date but not to date on their site, I would suspect to 17 May too, as are eg London Midlands on the West Coast line! So there MAY be some adjustments, hopefully favourable with possibly MORE trains running over the summer.

As has been mentioned lot easier to change at BHI on way up [can be just across the platform] - ie where the ATW train usually starts so you can have best pick of seat (if you haven't reserved) - recognising that first hour to Shrewsbury is 'forward' and next two+ hours to AYW is 'reverse'. The trains CAN get very busy if there is some student timetabled event on at the Uni in AYW [eg an Open Day as I discovered one trip!

Similarly on the way back changing at Wolverhampton, again 'across the platform' to a Virgin train that potentially starts there can be a lot simpler and restful than at BHM.

AYW wise: the ruins of the castle are in a good site but won't occupy much time; the Cliff Railway goes up to some great views (but not much else worthwhile up there); town museum is okay; The National Library is well worth a visit with various exhibitions usually on though a bit of a trek out of town up the hill; plus the Vale of Rheidol Railway railway of course if you want a few hours to while away - and do it on a Tuesday and can get a 'Steak Club' meal at the Wetherspoons that occupies most of the old railway station while you wait for return train.

 

[Panceltic]

Thank you very much for the suggestions, I really appreciate them!

I doubt about the Vale of Rheidol railway though - it would only leave 2.5 hours to explore the city, is this enough?

 

[MKD]

Well probably depends on the weather - if pouring down you'll probably be grateful for the distraction up the Vale! And would depend whether you had any interest in whatever exhibitions are on the National Library.

If doing the railway which as you've noticed would take 3 hours out of your day (did it year before last, and managed a quick scoot around the Shorter Devil's Bridge walk at the top) do take the optional extra audio guide - made sense of the sights and the line although it was meant to be geo-tagged and wasn't working automatically at the time - hopefully long since fixed.

Probably best to just have a pool of things to dip into and see (a) how punctually you get there (b) what weather you face (c) what's on at the time.

 

[Panceltic]

Should I be expecting rain in July? Well I guess one can never know ...

As you have suggested, I will make a list of things to see and do and then be flexible when I arrive. The tickets for the Vale railway can be bought a few minutes before the departure, I hope. Or do the trains get booked in full?

As to the tickets, I have now found a cheaper options which involves Chiltern from London to Birmingham, a walk between Moor St and New St, and ATW on to Aberystwyth. I have changed between Moor St and New St before and it didn't seem too complicated. And it would save me £10!