I'm looking to do a round trip of Redhill - Guildford - Portsmouth - Worthing - Brighton - Gatwick. What is the best way to ticket this and what will the price be? If it makes it any easier, I am happy to avoid Brighton and travel via Horsham instead.
Many Thanks,
Felix
As far as I can tell, a ticket from Reigate to Portsmouth Harbour would be 'just the ticket'. You could get the cheaper 'via Barnham' routed one initially (whether online, at a ticket machine or at a ticket office), and then obtain a 'change of route' excess to change the outward portion to route 'not via London' in order to permit travel via Guildford rather than Barnham. It's unfortunately not possible to buy the excess online or at a ticket machine, but it is possible to obtain it at a ticket office, or alternatively it is 100% permitted to get on the train and obtain it onboard from the guard/OBS.
The Off-Peak Day Return for route 'via Barnham' is very attractively priced IMO, and the change of route excess costs half the difference if you do it just for one portion. Assuming no Railcards and travel during the time when the Off-Peak Day Returns are valid (from 09:30), that would cost a total of £23.65 including the excess of £7.05.
The ticket from Reigate is valid to 'double back' to Redhill and then go on to Guildford. All the tickets in question permit break of journey, so there should be no issue with starting 'late' at Redhill, or finishing 'short' at Gatwick.
Travelling via Horsham is no cheaper than travelling via Brighton in this case.
You may find that, depending on when you are travelling and how far in advance you book, it is cheaper to get a number of Advances to make the journey. However, I think that doesn't represent especially good value on a journey like this where the through ticket is comparatively reasonably priced and gives you a lot of extra flexibility to take whichever train you like.
