Penzance to Wick in a calendar day soon possible?

[Llandudno]

Thanks for the unlock.


Short answer: 1
Short-ish answer: about 40% of RTT/OTT runs were successful before this one...


Perth was definitely the easiest connection!



So after alarms at 4am and thereafter every 15 minutes on a phone I couldn't reach from my bed I made the 05.03 with 5 minutes to spare.

The night before I watched the sleeper pull in from the sidings and definitely had a twinge of envy towards those about to board.

Sunrise came with breakfast on the way to Plymouth, followed a long (but in hindsight also very short) time later by almost on-time arrival at Paddington.

Cross London was neither leisurely nor frantic, and boarded with 10 minutes to spare onto a very packed train. Thankfully the passenger in the wrong end of the train didn't cause enough of a fuss to cause a deboarding...

Lunch was a Croque Monsieur and my second energy drink of the day to make sure I was still awake at Edinburgh. All the while spent scrolling OTT watching the 3 trains in front.

Thankfully the Leeds was the only one picking up any delays and it turned off just in time to not cause an issue. For once the Lumo didn't hold us up at all - in fact we had longer dwell at both stops due to early arrivals

Found my way into the wrong end (south end of the 5th coach from the front on a 9 car arriving into platform 9 is the option of choice for anyone still wanting to try this...) of coach H for a 1 minute early arrival at Edinburgh. I can't say exactly how long it was from RTT arrival to doors open, but it felt about two minutes.
Quick jog to be up on the footbridge before the crowd and from there it was leisurely-ish.
Most of the distance done, and only half of the time gone...

We picked up some delays on the way to Perth but the guard phoned ahead to make sure the HST would wait for us - not needed on the end.

Perth to Inverness was the best part of the trip. Comfortable seats in a proper train with a beer and a caramel wafer watching the scenery go by

Inverness to Wick for the final stretch with eyelids heavy. Tucked into "dinner" and hoped the enjoyable clickety-clack wouldn't rock me to sleep. Courtesy calls made to my emergency hotel in Tain to let them know I wouldn't be making my reservation and to let my Wick hotel know my scheduled time of arrival and I settled in for the long haul. Thankfully laptop juice lasted from when the sun went down to nearly my arrival at Wick.


So ...

Doable? Yes

Advisable? Not unless you Want to tick it off some strange list...

Likelihood of completion? 40%-ish without further timetable improvements. Without a few minutes of GWR delays and a better tube connection the 10:15 Lumo departure may have been possible in order to buy a few extra minutes of leeway at Edinburgh, but I've no idea what the loadings were like on that service - the LNER was 95% seats taken from what I saw.

Tickets were an advance from Penzance to Plymouth plus an anytime from Plymouth to Edinburgh - giving me lots of flexibility plus the greatest delay repay refund for if something went wrong. Cheap single split tickets north of Edinburgh finished it off.

Worst part? Refreshments or the lack thereof. I wish the train companies could put in some more effort here. No service north of Inverness meant I had to stock up on non-perishables the night before, and the other offerings were nothing to write home about...


Would I do it again? Ermmm... I'll let you figure that one out.

Probably best done on the longest day of the year!

Which route did you take to get back home?

 

[Uncle Buck]

Bakerloo to Oxford Circus for the Victoria. Faster, more frequent, way more reliable.

Either that or Elizabeth Line to Farringdon the Thameslink to St. Pancras and run across the road? But probably the route you describe. I feel like the Circle/Hamermsith lines are always slow and inconsistent.

 

[reduke]

I checked tfl on approach to Paddington and chose the h&c as it was closest, due shortly, and had no changes or delays. If that had delays I probably would have headed for crossrail.

Return via sleeper back to London after exploring Scotland.

 

[Sealink]

I wouldnt risk those connection times.

Edinburgh isnt so bad, since I would imagine the Kings Cross to Edinburgh has a few minutes recovery time, so if its on time, no problem.

Inverness might actually be the toughest connection, since congestion at the ticket gates at Inverness is very common. It wont be a long way to get from one train to the next, but you could easily find yourself stuck behind a queue at the gate getting out, and getting back in again, unless youre lucky enough to be on adjacent platforms.
Although I suppose the Wick service might be likely to be held if there are minor delays.

They normally hold the 1831 to Wick if the Perth Inverness arrival is within about 15 minutes late.

 

[Thames99]

TfL's journey planner suggests Bakerloo and Victoria lines from Paddington to Kings Cross, but like others I prefer H&C with no change of trains. Position yourself in a carriage near the centre of the train coming into Paddington to be near the footbridge and walk to the front of the H&C seems fairly fast even if there is a few minutes wait for the tube.

I suspect that journey planners time journeys from the Lawn at Paddington which makes the Bakerloo more convenient.

We need a few people to time journeys from first setting foot on the platform at Paddington to exiting at Kings Cross using both routes to settle this!

 

[Harpo]

We need a few people to time journeys from first setting foot on the platform at Paddington to exiting at Kings Cross using both routes to settle this!

Its theoretically possible to do KX to Paddington Sub in about 11 minutes. The reality is a 5 minute headway that becomes 10 (or more) if a train is absent plus regulating holds at Edgeware Road and/or Baker Street.

If time is tight, 50 years of cross-London experience tells me to avoid the SSLs like the plague!