Where to go?

[MrCub]

Tomorrow is Saturday. I have an Annual Gold Card (which is NSE Railcard in disguise). I'm based just outside London. I have the whole day to go travelling - as early/late start/finish as you like.

Give me your suggestions, if you please, for a nice day out. The criteria are:

• A couple of hours' continuous travel is fine
• More hours but split up and with changes also fine
• There should be a reasonable destination at some point to stop for a snack (not London!)
• There should be something interesting on a railway theme along the way somewhere (interesting station, nice buffet, nice route, decent stock.... whatever)

So... any suggestions?

 

[Ivo]

I had a day out by train in East Anglia on the 1st of May. A lovely day, and a bit of banter with some Norwich City fans thrown in! I went First Class up to Norwich (great value by the way, even if it is a bit lacking), and explored the area by train. Having only done the GEML and to Lowestoft before then, it certainly added some areas to my hit-list! If you fancy a run on a heritage line, you've got plenty of choice. And plenty of rural backdrops for a spot of lunch as well.

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

I had a day out by train in East Anglia on the 1st of May. A lovely day, and a bit of banter with some Norwich City fans thrown in! I went First Class up to Norwich (great value by the way, even if it is a bit lacking), and explored the area by train. Having only done the GEML and to Lowestoft before then, it certainly added some areas to my hit-list! If you fancy a run on a heritage line, you've got plenty of choice. And plenty of rural backdrops for a spot of lunch as well.

A bit lacking? You're entitled to bugger all! You get no freebies....

 

[theblackwatch]

A bit lacking? You're entitled to bugger all! You get no freebies....

Not even a power point when I did it earlier this year!

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Being a bit predictable here .. .. ..

.. .. .. but .. .. ..

you could travel over my avatar to Inverkeithing or Kirkaldy and back.
KGX dep on an HST at 10:30 and back on an HST returning at 22:20 with no changes.

You'd have at-seat dining in first class on the return journey and the full range of hot and cold snacks on the northbound (or from the buffet standard class on the return).

You could leave earlier and change at Edinburgh. That would give you the option of getting as far as Dundee or spending time somewhere on route (such as York, Newcastle or Edinburgh)?

Or,
Glasgow and back (via ECML - no changes) dep KGX at 9:00, spend an hour walking along the clyde or through Merchant City in Glasgow (or a loop round the minature underground railway) and back to London at 21:45

Proper trains!

 

[MrCub]

Delightful replies there but I don't feel you're really picking up on the Network Railcard hints being dropped....

 

[Ivo]

Delightful replies there but I don't feel you're really picking up on the Network Railcard hints being dropped....

Okey dokey.

How about a run along the south coast? Start at either Ashford or Weymouth, and stop in Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Chichester, Brighton and Eastbourne. Of course, this route may be a bit lacklustre, but that's what you have to expect in the South East...

Alternatively, go all over Kent. And when it comes to stopping somewhere to eat or the like, choose somewhere like Pluckley or Staplehurst - or, better still, allow a trip into East Sussex and have a pit-stop in Rye.

 

[atomicdanny]

If it helps any one the network railcard covers this area in the map below! (second map!)
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/print_maps/LondonAndSouthEast.pdf

Network Card - Map -
http://www.railcard.co.uk/clientfiles/File/map.pdf

You could always try Worcester or even exeter? if you want to get away from the Electrics?

 

[Greenback]

I'd go for a spin down to Weymouth myself! But it's too late now, the OP's already gone!