I keep thinking that I would love to ride in Scotland, but considering I can see the Channel/Solent out of our window it’s a long way. Has anybody got any tips on how to get cheap train tickets from down south to up there? I regularly look out for some but can’t see them south of £150 return most of the time, Even using tickety split. I’d rather not fly as the bike costs more than my ticket would.

Cheers

D

Bike cost depends entirely on who you fly with. BA is free (as long as in your baggage allowance).

I've got a booking in for next year with EasyJet which comes in at £130. Could do it cheaper if I lived closer to London too. If the specifics of paying separately for your bike annoy you, you can get a BA return from Gatwick for £155 pretty easily... slightly more than your train ticket, but also a sh*tload faster.

That said, I just looked at rail options and there are advance options from Brighton (I can't remember where you are exactly these days) running at £48 each way.

There's a number of railcards that may be worth having. Have a google. We recently got one for 2 named travellers (got to travel together) which saves 30% I think. It's already paid for itself with one trip London to Telford to go and play on the Long Mynd.

Are you booking in advance? Two weeks is normally good.

Just looked for Liverpool to Edinburgh and can get tickets from £34 on a Tuesday morning at the end of the month.

Fridays will generally be expensive

Oli.vert wrote:There's a number of railcards that may be worth having. Have a google. We recently got one for 2 named travellers (got to travel together) which saves 30% I think. It's already paid for itself with one trip London to Telford to go and play on the Long Mynd.

I just got that one. Paid for itself with one trip to London, and we're bound to use it at least once more.

Coach?

and

Paid for itself with one trip to London

I think I'd need paying to go

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Coach?

and

Paid for itself with one trip to London

I think I'll pay for you to go

Fixed your obvious spelling mistake there. No, don't thank me. :)

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I think I'd need paying to go

You know me, I do fancy as much as I do trampy.

You know me, I do fancy as much as I do trampy.

Yeah, that's true ............ and I just struggle with litter infested sh1t holes*









*obviously, not meant.

That's why one has ones chauffeur blindfold me when I'm outside.

Mid-week advance booking with a railcard on the Scotrail sleeper via Euston may be a good option. Winter is usually quieter/cheaper than summer.

Cycle....

Go to the alps.its closer...

South coast here too. July we took train to Glasgow - £8 to London then £35 to Glasgow on Virgin. Book East Coast seats and bike space on West Coast website. Odd but true. Flew back Inverness to Gatwick Easy jet £55 iirc including the £40 bike bit.

Book as far in advance as possible.

I don't ever want to ride to Inverness Airport again though. When the cycle path just ends and shoves you onto that trunk road. Awful.

Just you or you + n?

Are there any other south-coasters who would share a car/van trip up there?

A BB southerners do Scotland trip could be fun.

DickieH wrote:Book as far in advance as possible.

Not entirely true. The cheapest fares available are the "advance" fares, which are purchasable about 12 weeks before the travel date.

Special offers aside that is.

ianfitz wrote:Are there any other south-coasters who would share a car/van trip up there?

A BB southerners do Scotland trip could be fun.

When?

I've done the coach to Aviemore from London Victoria. £50 return if I remember. Goes overnight and they'll take a bike bag. I used a ctc polythene job and then one of the outdoor shops kindly looked after it for me whilst I did the Cairngorm outer loop.
It's a horrible journey as long coach journeys are but you can't argue with the price or convenience.

Blimey, you are a better man than me. I couldn't even consider being on a coach for all that time.

The problem with Scotland is that it really is quite far, the Alps are a similarish distance! It's only that bit of water in the way that makes it a problem

Given the size of Scotland I'd be tempted just to drive then if the weather's bad on one side of the country you've the option of heading over to the other. There aren't many rail lines once you head north of the Central Belt so you start limiting your options.

Having said that, we've got the train to Oban a couple of times to head out to the Isles. The main problem is booking your bikes on the Highland services, we found that you had to reserve the bike on the Glasgow-Oban bit then work out what trains got you to Glasgow to be on that service otherwise you'd start booking trains from home and by the time you'd got to booking the train to Oban there'd be no remaining bike reservations.

I decided to drive when going to do the Cairngorms loop, from the Midlands.
Even a rough petrol & time estimate showed it quite a lot cheaper and faster, at least once you got past Glasgow.

I have to do this the other way round sometimes as my parents live near Portsmouth, every time I look at options I just end up driving it even though it's a hateful drive anywhere south of the lakes. There is always a little cheer once I pass the Welcome to Scotland sign on the A7 coming home

This is one if the reasons I didn't BB200 this year, and why I just avoid some of the other events.

If you think that the amount of hassle/cost/time to get to Scotland barely makes it worthwhile, , just think how I feel about doing the same to get to the South of England.

That's why I'll generally only make a journey like that if I'm planning on spending at least 5 days.

giryan wrote:I decided to drive when going to do the Cairngorms loop, from the Midlands.
Even a rough petrol & time estimate showed it quite a lot cheaper and faster, at least once you got past Glasgow.

Midlands is already "oop north" to us Southerners. You're already a good chunk of the way there.

I'd definitely do the car if there was more than a couple of us, not solo though. Time is money.