Rover Help

[Southern Beau]

Hi Everyone

I am planning to do a short notice ALR in the next couple of weeks or so. I've never done anything like this before, but thought I would give it a go. My rough plan is as follows, any advice would be greatfully received. The w/e part involves picking up my unhappy partner !!!!

MAny thanks


Wednesday
London Kings Cross - Edinburgh
Edinburgh - Glasgow - Irvine (B & B)


Thursday
Irvine - Glasgow - Crewe
Crewe - Holyhead
Holyhead - Bangor – Llandudno (B & B)


Friday
Llandudno - Stafford
Stafford – London Euston (Home)


Saturday
London Kings Cross – Kings Lynn (Wetherspoons Lodge)


Sunday
Kings Lynn – Ely – London Kings Cross
London Paddington - Penzance Sleeper (Train)


Monday
Penzance - Paignton - Taunton (Family)


Tuesday
Taunton - Castle Cary - Weymouth
Weymouth - London Waterloo (Home)

 

[Gizmogle]

Be sure to make backup plans. I did an ALR recently, and even second backup plans were needed for some parts. Be prepared for delays and cancellations to mess things up and make sure that you can always get to your destination at the end of the day.

Best advice though, is just to have fun!

 

[Techniquest]

One of the beauties of the ALR is that it allows you to be totally flexible. So why stick to a rigid plan? Plus some of those daily plans seem very empty. London - Kings Lynn only on one day? Seems a bit of a waste to be honest.

If I do an ALR, I've decided I'm sick of making massive plans for one so I'm going to just be totally random with some of the trip. By which I mean I'll have an idea of where I want to be, but I won't plan to be on certain trains only. I might have already bashed the 390 on a Crewe - Glasgow move, for example, so I might plan to go to Glasgow on a required 390 to London, Tube to KXSP, HST to Sheffield, Voyager to Leeds, and up the S+C to Carlisle with Voyager onwards. Or something like that. The best way to do things.

Otherwise you may as well do it on AP fares...

 

[Gizmogle]

One of the beauties of the ALR is that it allows you to be totally flexible. So why stick to a rigid plan? Plus some of those daily plans seem very empty. London - Kings Lynn only on one day? Seems a bit of a waste to be honest.

If I do an ALR, I've decided I'm sick of making massive plans for one so I'm going to just be totally random with some of the trip. By which I mean I'll have an idea of where I want to be, but I won't plan to be on certain trains only. I might have already bashed the 390 on a Crewe - Glasgow move, for example, so I might plan to go to Glasgow on a required 390 to London, Tube to KXSP, HST to Sheffield, Voyager to Leeds, and up the S+C to Carlisle with Voyager onwards. Or something like that. The best way to do things.

Otherwise you may as well do it on AP fares...

Yes, but could that not end up being more expensive than an ALR? I've never priced it up.

On AP tickets, obviously if you miss a train or have to take a different route or whatever, then you can end up rather stuffed.

Also, I find it much better using a solid plan rather than being random. For a start, you know that you can get back to where you're staying with a plan.
You can plan where to eat and how long you get there, avoid long connection times, and get the maximum amount of coverage/mileage/whatever possible.
You can make the best of your time and get the most out of the ALR.

 

[Jord]

When i did an ALR in the summer, i didn't plan and every day i was up and at Birmingham New St. for half 5 then ust take off and be back about 9 ish, and staying in Birmingham, is brilliant as it's a central position.

 

[mrcheek]

one piece of advice for anyone going on an ALR:

go first class.

considering the amount of money you will be forking out for the ticket in the first place, the amount it costs for a full upgrade really isnt that much (£565 as opposed to £390, something like that). and its a real advantage to be able to get a seat in first class when standard class is full to overflowing on busy commuter routes. plus its nice to be waited on with free tea, coffee and orange juice. and FGW's leather seats cant be beat.

I planned every day of my 14 day ALR in advance, with a set route and set train times every day, and generally stuck to the plan. but it helps if you aim to finish at say 9-10 pm each day, so that if there has been a delay at some point, you can still generally get to your final destination.

hope you enjoy yourself! I did my ALR about a month ago, and it was the best holiday Ive ever had. and Ill do another next year as well!

 

[ShamMan]

I did an ALR earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed it as i went first class and drank and ate a load of freebies all week!. The route i followed was...

Sunday 13th May

319370 & 319446 - 0618 St. Albans to London Bridge

455809 - 0712 London Bridge to Waterloo East

159003 & 159012 - 0815 Waterloo to Plymouth

150244 - 1340 Plymouth to Gunnislake

150244 - 1445 Gunnislake to Plymouth

43003 & 43153 - 1545 Plymouth to Paddington

- Circle Line To Kings X St.Pancras

43044 & 43059 - 2030 St. Pancras to Leeds


Monday 14th May

185104 & 185113 - 0033 Leeds to York

185131 - 0228 York to Manchester Airport

185109 - 0534 Manchester Airport to Leeds

43314 & 43008 - 0710 Leeds to Dundee

158720 & 170403 - 1152 Dundee to Stirling

- Bus to Glasgow Queen Street (Overrunning EW)

221105 - 1410 Glasgow Central to Lancaster

390048 - 1629 Lancaster to Euston

317340 - 1936 Kings Cross to Hatfield (Wash & Brush Up!)

365538 & 365523 - 2226 Hatfield to Kings Cross

43314 & 43008 - 2330 Kings Cross to Leeds


Tuesday 15th May

185121 - 0254 Leeds to Manchester Airport

185121 - 0515 Manchester Airport to Doncaster

222104 - 0905 Doncaster to Hull

156452 - 1014 Hull to Bridlington

158759 - 1204 Bridlington to Scarborough

185136 - 1247 Scarborough to Leeds

153328 & 153351 - 1449 Leeds to Carlisle

390013 - 1906 Carlisle to Crewe

220005 - 2157 Crewe to Preston

221143 - 2308 Preston to Manchester Piccadily


Wednesday 16th May

185123 - 0039 Manchester Piccadily to Manchester Airport

185124 & 185108 - 0122 Manchester Airport to York

185135 - 0419 York to Manchester Piccadily

390038 - 0617 Manchester Piccadily to Birmingham New Street

220xxx - 0810 Birmingham New Street to Bristol Parkway

43168 & 43040 - 0942 Bristol Parkway to Cardiff Central

158829 - 1055 Cardiff Central to Llanelli

175102 - 1229 Llanelli to Swansea

43031 & 43122 - 1330 Swansea to Reading

458030 & 458009 - 1612 Reading to Ascot

458017 & 458028 - 1710 Ascot to Waterloo East

465245 & 465036 - 1816 Waterloo East to London Bridge

319431 - 1844 London Bridge to Kings Cross Thameslink

317346 - 1936 Kings Cross to Hatfield


Thursday 17th May

317340 & 317337 - 0542 Hatfield to Stevenage

365513 - 0608 Stevenage to Cambridge

170270 - 0705 Cambridge to Norwich

90013 - 0900 Norwich to Liverpool Street

43117 & 43038 - 1200 Kings Cross to Inverness

67007 - 2040 Inverness to Edinburgh


Friday 18th May

90027 - 2040 ex Inverness, Edinburgh to Euston

- Northern Line to Waterloo

444036 & 444008 - 0835 Waterloo to Brockenhurst

1498 - 1029 Brockenhurst to Lymington Pier

1498 - 1044 Lymington Pier to Brockenhurst

221106 - 1058 Brockenhurst to Bournemouth

444032 - 1125 Bournemouth to Weymouth

150219 - 1351 Weymouth to Castle Cary

180102 - 1405 Castle Cary to Exeter St. Davids

150233 - 1534 Exeter St. Davids to Barnstaple

150233 - 1650 Barnstaple to Exeter St. Davids

43091 & 43159 - 1820 Exeter St. Davids to Penzance

57605 - 2200 Penzance to Paddington


Saturday 19th May

166221 - 0547 Paddington to Oxford

220016 - 0708 Oxford to Manchester Piccadily

185138 - 1027 Manchester Piccadily to Manchester Airport

185113 - 1148 Manchester Airport to Manchester Piccadily

185121 - 1227 Manchester Piccadily to York

91110 - 1440 York to Doncaster

185137 - 1542 Doncaster to Cleethorpes

185132 - 1828 Cleethorpes to Doncaster

91127 - 2004 Doncaster to Stevenage

- Bus to Hatfield.


Only two pit stops for the week but it wasn't too hot so didn't get too smelly!

Hope you enjoy yours as much as i did mine...

ShamMan.

 

[Techniquest]

You sure you got 43159 near the end of the week? I was under the illusion it didn't go into Brush for MTUing until much more recently. Certainly it was parked up outside Landore last week.

I'd have some plan, some idea of what I'd want to do (the rest of Scotland, Kent, Anglia being the key areas for me), but I like the idea of being implusive with it.

 

[Max]

Sounds like you had a good week ShamMan! Personally though, I would have preferred to book cheap B&Bs/hotels a few nights though to get a wash and some decent sleep. The coach journey from Berlin last week was hell so I'm not sure I would have survived without a bed/shower for a week

 

[1D53]

Use the sleepers to your benefit, travelling overnight to other areas without losing time. Why waste a day getting to Inverness when you can easily do it overnight!
?

 

[yorkie]

Use the sleepers to your benefit, travelling overnight to other areas without losing time. Why waste a day getting to Inverness when you can easily do it overnight!
?

Maybe, but climbing up to Druimuachdar summit behind a Valenta is quite something!

 

[Donny Dave]

Doing the full run is brilliant. First of all, the ECML racetrack as far as Darlington, then the Royal Border Bridge and running along the coast to Edinburgh. And just to top it all off, the challenge of the Highlands to Inverness. Be warned though, any delays en-route, and the HST will lose it's path to Inverness, and the sleeper will go first.

 

[Techniquest]

Indeed, that happened to us when we went there in March.

Cracking run with a pair of Valentas on the 1200 KGX - INV though. But using the sleepers to your full advantage to cover miles in order to do other areas without using the daylight time to get there is definately a wise idea. I always put plenty of sleeper moves into my ALR plans!