Freedom of Severn and Solent

[Gord]

Ok, so half term is coming up and i've got a week off work.

Me and my wife already have our voucher for London Midland's great escape and we're looking forward to a cheap day to London.

But i have been increasingly tempted by the Freedom of Severn and Solent 3 out of 7 days ticket. Looks like amazing value.

The problem is, I would have to use it from Worcester Foregate Street and I would like to get right down to the south coast...but it looks so slow.

I can't use Reading or Basingstoke on this ticket. So do you think its really worth it from Worcester or do i run the risk of being stuck for the night somewhere further south?

I've been playing around with timings on thetrainline.com and it does look tricky to get the most out of it if you can't go via Reading from Worcester.

I was thinking a day in Weymouth, a day in Southampton/Portsmouth/Lymington and the 3rd day in Bristol/Cardiff.

Has anyone ever used this ticket before and wish to share their experiences?

[teccuk]

One of the most enjoyable 4 days i ever had was using a freedom of Wales pass. If you have never been on central wales line and cambrain coat route, i recommend it! You can even go on the narrow guage steam train from Porthmadoc to Blenau on it.

Worcester to Weymouth (lovely line via Bath and Yeovil), back up to Briz and back up to Worcester shouldn't be too much to ask from our decreped regional railways surely!?

Hang on, are you not planning to stay over night anywhere? If you could stretch to a B&B in Weymouth, you could spend one day down and another up and do a day trip somewhere. Bris is underated well worth a day looking about.

[Gord]

Thanks for the advice. Might wait until i can do an overnight somewhere. Or wait for the long summer days so I can get a good couple of hours by the coast. (I've always lived by the sea until I came to the West Midlands..except my two years in Ohio...and I miss the beach so much!)

The Wales rovers look like excellent value. Might look into seeing if I can get a round trip done in a day on the Mid and North Wales ticket....Shrewsbury to Chester, Chester to Llandudno Junction...Llandudno Junction down to Porthmadog (Will pay the extra for the steam railway!), then Porthmadog back to Shrewsbury. Although I think you choose 3 out of 7 days on that ticket as well. Could go back to my old Uni city of Bangor!

I also noticed the coast and peaks rover ticket...that covers a huge area.

[teccuk]

Gord,

Seriously tempeted to get one of these for day trips. I can't find price info anywhere!

How much are they? How do you buy them?

[Gord]

I just google searched it and it led me into the First Great Western site...£40 for 3 days out of 7 and £60 for 7 days out of 15. I'm going to leave it until the summer so I can make the most out of the longer days.

However, I did manage to get a trip in. Used a London Midland Great Escape ticket to get to Liverpool then bought a Lancashire day pass. Had fish and chips in Blackpool and admired the snowy hills in Hebden Bridge before coming back down through Manchester Victoria towards Liverpool.

£10 for London Midland to Liverpool and back and £18 for the Lancashire ticket. Fantastic day it was. The sea, Fish and Chips, snowy hills and the first time i've ever used Manchester Victoria. Standing in Preston station bought back memories of 14 years ago when I used to go there to visit my brother who was at uni there. The first big train trip I was allowed to do by myself was when I was 16 and went from Lowestoft to Preston providing that my elder brother promised to be there to see me off the train! I'm 31 now and coped with Preston station by myself ok!

Me and my wife are off for a day in Greenwich in London tomorrow..thanks to another couple of Great Escape tickets!

[teccuk]

Doh! My google must be broken

Sounds great! Will use these special tickets for lesuire trips in future.