Getting bikes to Lands End

cframe

Hey all,

A group of us are probably going to be doing a 2 week lejog in September but we're all wondering how best to get the bikes to Lands End in the first place!

Some of us are coming down from Glasgow for it, others from London town.

I vaguely though get the sleeper down to london and then something else across and out to LE. Has anyone had any experience of doing that kinda journey with the bikes in tow? The trains weren't the most helpful service when we were getting 4 bikes back from Inverness a couple of years ago.

Cheers!

andymiller

No personal experience of that particular service, but there's a shedload of information here (including about bikes):

http://www.seat61.com/Cornwall-sleeper.htm

I travel a lot with First Great Western with a bike and I've never had any problem.

nwallace

cframe wrote:

Hey all,

A group of us are probably going to be doing a 2 week lejog in September but we're all wondering how best to get the bikes to Lands End in the first place!

Some of us are coming down from Glasgow for it, others from London town.

I vaguely though get the sleeper down to london and then something else across and out to LE. Has anyone had any experience of doing that kinda journey with the bikes in tow? The trains weren't the most helpful service when we were getting 4 bikes back from Inverness a couple of years ago.

Cheers!

Sleeper to London, Sleeper to Penzance.
Have fair bit of time to waste in London though.

The Scotrail Sleeper has proper guards vans (1 for each portion so 2 on the Lowland and 3 on the Highland), Inverness is a bloody nightmare no matter what

amaferanga

Do you need to go to London from Glasgow? I got the train to Penzance from Sheffield that passed through Bristol. Think I changed at Exeter. It was pretty cheap as well - I booked just when the cheap fares came out (2 months in advance I think) and split the journey up to make it even cheaper. Train back from Thurso was cheap and easy as well. I think total rail fares were about £50 in 2009.

nwallace

Problem is the number of bike spaces on trains.
Scotrail will carry either 2 or 4 on Far North and Highland line trains.
Don't know about XC capacity.

bompington

How about riding? ;-)

barney69

I did it last year and got 2st class Newcastle to Penzance for £50 with no changes booking 3mths in advance (when tickets are released).
Most trains take max 2 bikes (which must be booked in advance ...if they allow it) which is a real pain if more than 2 people are doing the ride.

www.nigelend2end.co.uk

cframe

Thanks for all the tips and info folks - has def given us some ideas and things to look into!

andymiller

I'm assuming that the cframe (the) OP wants to meet up with his mates in London and then go down to Cornwall together.

The Scotrail sleeper trains can be very cheap (I don't know about First Great Western). (http://www.scotrail.co.uk/content/caled ... ain-berths).

Night trains, in theory have the advantage if you can sleep OK that you sleep through long journeys so instead of losing a day you can be riding or shopping or whatever - but the advantage is reduced a bit
if you aren't used to them and don't sleep well.

The Cross-Country service used to have a pretty bad record for lateness - so bad that Virgin lost the franchise - but presumably it's better now. If you're coming from Glasgow you'd presumably need to change in Birmingham - I wouldn't hike all the way over to Edinburgh to catch it.