Seven day rover - ideas please!

[gillygolightly]

This summer, I am getting a seven day rover ticket and now that I can get a railcard, I am going First. My welcome to retirement treat.
Would love some ideas for ‘musts’ to include and tips if others have done this too. Want to cover as much of UK as possible and ideally all train companies. Set off is Oxford.

 

[eastwestdivide]

I did a similar thing, mostly themed around locations I'd been wanting to photograph -write-up here:

All line rover trip report (now with added photos)

Earlier in April, I treated myself to a week's first class all-line rover (ALR). The aim was to visit some classic locations that I'd not really photographed in any detail, and to sample the first class offering around the country. So here's a trip report, in a summary format. Price of ticket...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[gillygolightly]

I did a similar thing, mostly themed around locations I'd been wanting to photograph -write-up here:

All line rover trip report (now with added photos)

Earlier in April, I treated myself to a week's first class all-line rover (ALR). The aim was to visit some classic locations that I'd not really photographed in any detail, and to sample the first class offering around the country. So here's a trip report, in a summary format. Price of ticket...

www.railforums.co.uk

Thank you! Really enjoyed reading this.

 

[anothertyke]

I suppose the first question is how many nights on the road are you planning? Taking it to its extremes, is it seven day trips from Oxford or a week's tour of the UK or something in between? Second question--- what floats your boat--- scenery, destinations, traction, mileage? I guess riding on all the TOCs implies spending quite a bit of time in and around London.

 

[gillygolightly]

Good question Anothertyke
Happy to stay away most nights, with perhaps one return during midway. Want to get the very most from this.

 

[VT 390]

Exactly what you do will depend on what you are most interested in and prioritising over the week (high milage, different train classes, first class service, visiting places outside stations...). On my recent 14 day first class all line rover my priorities were high milage, visiting first class lounges and working through first class menus.

As you are going first class some first class service options I would recommended:

• An LNER Signature menu Breakfast and Rest of Day service
• Reserving a place on a GWR Pullman dining service (there is an additional charge for this)
• Transport for Wales Mark 4 services for both Breakfast and lunch/dinner if possible (there is an additional charge for this)

As you want to get the most from the ticket I would recommend getting in some high value journeys in such as:

• Full West Coast Main Line on an Avanti class 390 Pendolino
  
• Full East Coast Main Line (including using an Intercity 225 for part of the route if possible

Do remember when planning that there is a 10:00 restriction for boarding and alighting Avanti West Coast, LNER, East Midlands Railway and Cross Country at certain stations, but most of these are easily worked around using other services for a short part of the route.
If you stay away using the Caledonian Sleeper on any night you will need to make a seat reservation (for free) or book and pay extra for a room, the Night Riviera seats do not require a reservation.

 

[gillygolightly]

Thanks very much for this reply VT390. Yes, I am also looking for high mileage, first class service, looking about the towns/stops where the stations are - and lots of looking out of the windows too.

Great suggestions - I will check out LNER and Wales Mark 4. Also, good point about the full west Coast Main line on the 390 Pendilino.
Does anyone know what would be the most scenic route across Scotland in particular?

 

[156401]

Pretty much all of Scotland is scenic outside of the central belt of Glasgow and Edinburgh- and there are even scenic bits within that. For the real scenic stuff you would have to sacrifice the first class as it is unavailable except between Inverness, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

My personal recommendations in no particular order are
Girvan to Stranraer
Helensburgh Upper to Oban or Mallaig
Dingwall to Kyle of Lochalsh
Golspie to Wick
Perth to Inverness
The Forth and Tay bridges.

However I am not sure I would devote an entire day of an all line rover to these as each individually would use most of a days validity.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Does anyone know what would be the most scenic route across Scotland in particular?

Making the most of your first class would be a big loop LNER Edinburgh-Inverness (only 1 per day), Scotrail to Aberdeen and LNER to Edinburgh (or vice versa). Mountains and coast and two great bridges. But arguably better scenery on something like Glasgow to Fort William

 

[Buzby]

Does anyone know what would be the most scenic route across Scotland

Top of my list is the coastal sections north of Newcastle > Berwick > Edinburgh, the Forth & Tay Bridges to Dundee. Glasgow to Oban bus to Ft William then return from there to Glasgow. Whilst the flow country north of Dingwall and East to Kyle I’d avoid if only 7 days as the distance is considerable and services slow.

 

[Tester]

You might consider saving much of Scotland for a possible future Highland Rover - anything beyond Inverness/Aberdeen is poor use of a first class All Line Rover!

 

[anothertyke]

So from a scenery and tocs and coverage point of view, something like

day 1 Oxford to Penzance
day 2 Penzance--Bristol- Cardiff--Chester
day 3 Chester-- London surburbia (numerous tocs)--Oxford
day 4 Oxford--Birmingham--Leeds-- Carlisle--Glasgow
day 5 Glasgow-- Aberdeen--Inverness
day 6 Inverness--Kyle-- Broadford-- Mallaig--Glasgow
day 7 Glasgow-- Edinburgh-- London--Oxford

In terms of scenic, that would cover several of my favourites including Devon/Cornwall, the Marches Line, the Settle and Carlisle, the Kyle Line, the West highland line and the ECML past Holy Island and then Durham. If you gave up on day three, then adding the Central Wales Line might be an option (not much first class though). It's all a trade off, that's half the fun.

Edit--- saving the northern Highlands for a separate rover ticket is an idea, in which case Glasgow-Inverness--Aberdeen--Edinburgh might come in the picture

 

[VT 390]

I agree with suggestions to save scenic Scottish routes for a separate trip to get the most out of the first class All Line Rover.

Though if you can plan around an Inter7city ScotRail service or the daily LNER Highland Chieftain then a trip from Edinburgh (or Glasgow) up to Highland Mainline and back south via Aberdeen (or reverse) then this could be worth it. Personally if you did do this I would recommended getting the Highland Chieftain LNER service to/from Inverness to get first class service and use ScotRail (on an Inter7city set if possible) via Aberdeen.
If passing the Aberdeen first class lounge is worth a visit as while light on refreshments it is a very nice lounge to wait in with great views over the station.

 

[VT 390]

Thanks very much for this reply VT390. Yes, I am also looking for high mileage, first class service, looking about the towns/stops where the stations are - and lots of looking out of the windows too.

Great suggestions - I will check out LNER and Wales Mark 4. Also, good point about the full west Coast Main line on the 390 Pendilino.
Does anyone know what would be the most scenic route across Scotland in particular?

Just to add, for LNER in particular I would recommended making a seat reservation as first class on LNER can be quite busy on some services, you can do this for free with a seat selector through the LNER website.

Its certainly possible to get good milage in an All Line Rover trip as on my recent 2 week version I managed 14,323 miles, though this was very rail intensive with limited breaks leaving stations and full days.

 

[Bevan Price]

If looking for overnight stays, for example, you will probably find better value in somewhere like Ayr or Stirling than in Glasgow city centre.

As for routes to cover, it depends on what you like or have done before. Settle & Carlisle has good scenery, but no first class trains. Although it is tempting to maximise mileage, beware of getting so tired that you fall asleep on the train on some days. In addition to WCML and ECML, I would suggest visiting Cornwall, West Wales, and East Anglia if you have not done them before. Also beware of weekend engineering work and rail replacement buses when planning which dates to choose....

 

[Vexed]

I'm currently planning my first ALR this summer, but on a Two Together railcard to make 1st class affordable. It will unfortunately only be valid after 10am (my friend might be eligible for a disabled railcard; if so I can be a companion and this would remove the 10am restriction but as both of us live near London it's after 9:30am anyway).

We've both been over a decent chunk of Scotland so we can stay at home most nights as distances aren't so far. And we've both done London to Ediburgh a few too many times and my friend isn't a great fan of 390s. The plan is to tick off a few 1st class menus and interesting InterCity routes. Note some days were drafted before I realised we'd have a 10am restriction so might not be possible.

Day 0: Sleeper to Penzance
Day 1: GWR from Hereford. Penzance-Taunton 1st IET, Taunton-Newport-Hereford GWR & TfW, Hereford to Paddington 1st IET
Day 2: Everos and 810s. Euston to Chester 1st Evero, Chester-Holyhead TfW, Holyhead to Crewe 1st Evero, Crewe to Derby/Nottingham depending on what Class 810 diagrams are running and get that back to London
Day 3: Clockwise rotation to Scotland. Euston to Glasgow 1st Pendo, Glasgow Central/QS to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Kings Cross 1st IET
Day 4: My friend loves Class 91s so we were going to try and spend of much time on one as possible... With the 10am restriction the best way is to drive to Grantham, get on the 1016 to Leeds then stay on the same set (Grantham-Leeds-Kings Cross-Newcastle-Kings Cross-Grantham) all day. The Newcastle-Kings Cross passes Grantham at 2020 or stay on and get off northbound at 0033. Might regret this one a bit!!
Day 5: GC 1st Class & Whitby branch. King's Cross-Eaglescliffe 1333 GC 1st, Northern Eaglescliffle-Middlesbrough-Whitby-Middlesbrough-Newcastle, LNER Newcastle to London.
Day 6: GWR Summer Saturdays to Pembrooke Dock from Paddington. Then back on the IET to Newport, try out TfW 1st Class up to Crewe (cheaper than Manchester) and stay in out only hotel
Day 7: Get up to Manchester than TPE West Coast Kitchen 1st class up to Edinburgh. Edinburgh to York on LNER (or TPE?) then over to Sheffield and catch a EMR diversion via Melton Mowbray.

Unrelated to planning my ALR, but on my website I have the EAS National Maps in a more easily accessible format than Network Rail's website with PDFs. While these aren't definitive (enigneering work may be cancelled or added after the maps are published, and some aren't included) it gives a decent overview of where engineering work is taking place across the country.

EAS Maps - Full Screen - Vail Data

vaildata.uk

 

[VT 390]

I'm currently planning my first ALR this summer, but on a Two Together railcard to make 1st class affordable. It will unfortunately only be valid after 10am (my friend might be eligible for a disabled railcard; if so I can be a companion and this would remove the 10am restriction but as both of us live near London it's after 9:30am anyway).

We've both been over a decent chunk of Scotland so we can stay at home most nights as distances aren't so far. And we've both done London to Ediburgh a few too many times and my friend isn't a great fan of 390s. The plan is to tick off a few 1st class menus and interesting InterCity routes. Note some days were drafted before I realised we'd have a 10am restriction so might not be possible.

Day 2: Everos and 810s. Euston to Chester 1st Evero, Chester-Holyhead TfW, Holyhead to Crewe 1st Evero, Crewe to Derby/Nottingham depending on what Class 810 diagrams are running and get that back to London

You may be aware but depending what day you start and noting that you plan to work through first class menus on the class 805 Evero services (all Chester/North Wales trains) on Weekends the first class service is not available and you have to collect a regular meal deal from the onboard shop.

 

[Vexed]

You may be aware but depending what day you start and noting that you plan to work through first class menus on the class 805 Evero services (all Chester/North Wales trains) on Weekends the first class service is not available and you have to collect a regular meal deal from the onboard shop.

Thank you, I didn't know that. We have had to change the start date since planning it anyway so we might need to swap some days.

 

[gillygolightly]

Making the most of your first class would be a big loop LNER Edinburgh-Inverness (only 1 per day), Scotrail to Aberdeen and LNER to Edinburgh (or vice versa). Mountains and coast and two great bridges. But arguably better scenery on something like Glasgow to Fort William

that's a great idea - thank you. I will check out the times for Edinburgh to Inverness and also the scotrail option

 

[gillygolightly]

Top of my list is the coastal sections north of Newcastle > Berwick > Edinburgh, the Forth & Tay Bridges to Dundee. Glasgow to Oban bus to Ft William then return from there to Glasgow. Whilst the flow country north of Dingwall and East to Kyle I’d avoid if only 7 days as the distance is considerable and services slow.

thanks for these suggestions. I like the idea very much of seeing the Forth and Tay Bridges to Dundee. Hadn't considered branching out to a bus too.

 

[gillygolightly]

You might consider saving much of Scotland for a possible future Highland Rover - anything beyond Inverness/Aberdeen is poor use of a first class All Line Rover!

ah now that's an idea. so do this first class one, to get my bearings and so forth, then return and focus solely on Scotland for a week.

 

[gillygolightly]

So from a scenery and tocs and coverage point of view, something like

day 1 Oxford to Penzance
day 2 Penzance--Bristol- Cardiff--Chester
day 3 Chester-- London surburbia (numerous tocs)--Oxford
day 4 Oxford--Birmingham--Leeds-- Carlisle--Glasgow
day 5 Glasgow-- Aberdeen--Inverness
day 6 Inverness--Kyle-- Broadford-- Mallaig--Glasgow
day 7 Glasgow-- Edinburgh-- London--Oxford

In terms of scenic, that would cover several of my favourites including Devon/Cornwall, the Marches Line, the Settle and Carlisle, the Kyle Line, the West highland line and the ECML past Holy Island and then Durham. If you gave up on day three, then adding the Central Wales Line might be an option (not much first class though). It's all a trade off, that's half the fun.

Edit--- saving the northern Highlands for a separate rover ticket is an idea, in which case Glasgow-Inverness--Aberdeen--Edinburgh might come in the picture

thank you so much for taking the time to think through this for me. I am going to study your ideas. I'd hoped to fit in Norwich/ that area too and had an idea of going out as far as Bangor. But I can see when you put it like this, there is only so much you can do, even in a week!

 

[eastwestdivide]

that's a great idea - thank you. I will check out the times for Edinburgh to Inverness and also the scotrail option

I suspect the timings for LNER Inverness point to an overnight in Inverness, whichever direction you do it in. 0755 departure from Inv southbound or 2008 arrival northbound.

 

[VT 390]

that's a great idea - thank you. I will check out the times for Edinburgh to Inverness and also the scotrail option

I suspect the timings for LNER Inverness point to an overnight in Inverness, whichever direction you do it in. 0755 departure from Inv southbound or 2008 arrival northbound.

If possible I would recommend doing LNER from Inverness southbound in the morning as the full breakfast service (Signature menu) on LNER is very good.
Of course if you could fit a morning LNER signature menu in somewhere else on the trip it may not be required here, but could be a good opportunity to fit it in if not.

 

[Tetragon213]

Regarding the Caledonian Sleeper, you can buy just the Room Supplement if you have an ALR. Could be a good way to shove in some more rail time and get a unique experience as well. Iirc the seats require a phone booking, while the rooms can be purchased online; albeit at the typical Cally markup.

Still, it's a unique experience I'd recommend if you want to go up to Scotland in the daytime, and be back in London/Birmingham to start another journey the next morning.

 

[VT 390]

Regarding the Caledonian Sleeper, you can buy just the Room Supplement if you have an ALR. Could be a good way to shove in some more rail time and get a unique experience as well. Iirc the seats require a phone booking, while the rooms can be purchased online; albeit at the typical Cally markup.

You need to be careful that the supplement is actually cheaper than just buying a full sleeper ticket as with a railcard (as mentioned in the original post) I have found the railcard discounted classic/club rooms are usually cheaper than the room supplement, providing the specific railcard held gives discounts on the sleeper.

 

[sh24]

You might consider saving much of Scotland for a possible future Highland Rover - anything beyond Inverness/Aberdeen is poor use of a first class All Line Rover!

Yes. The loop Central Belt-Perth-Inverness-Aberdeen and back is worth doing with a First class ALR as you can do the whole thing on LNER or Scotrail First. The West Highland/Kyle/Far North make more sense with the Highland Rover.

Strong recommendation to do GWR Pullman all the way to Plymouth (at least) in summer so can you enjoy the seawall section from Dawlish Warren though to Newton Abbot.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

As a fellow traveller who has recently entered his 7th decade, was half thinking of doing a 7 day ALR visiting the most Northerly, Southerly, Easterly and Westerly stations I haven't yet boarded or alighted at in each of England, Scotland and Wales.

Then Oulton Broad North got flambee'd...

 

[gillygolightly]

As a fellow traveller who has recently entered his 7th decade, was half thinking of doing a 7 day ALR visiting the most Northerly, Southerly, Easterly and Westerly stations I haven't yet boarded or alighted at in each of England, Scotland and Wales.

Then Oulton Broad North got flambee'd...

Excellent!

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Excellent!

The others are - Arisaig, Thurso, Reston and Annan (Scotland); Johnston, Hawarden, Gwersyllt and Waun-Gron Park (Wales); Acklington, Carbis Bay and Falmouth Town (England).