GWR Advances

[Kilopylae]

My partner and I are planning a trip from Oxford to Exeter, leaving on Friday evening and returning on Wednesday morning, with an overnight break at Bristol on the way there, so that the itinerary looks something like:

Fri 27 October (evening) Oxford - Bristol Temple Meads
Sat 28 October (evening) Bristol Temple Meads - Exeter St Davids
Wed 1 November (morning) Exeter St Davids - Oxford

GWR's website claims that Advances are on sale until December. But when I started having a look on Trainsplit, the costs for this journey were over £200! Perhaps I was being optimistic, but I was expecting it to be achievable for something more like £70.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on, or any suggestions for how to get the price down? In general, we're happy to accept slower trains or routes, especially on the Bristol to Exeter leg.

 

[hexagon789]

My partner and I are planning a trip from Oxford to Exeter, leaving on Friday evening and returning on Wednesday morning, with an overnight break at Bristol on the way there, so that the itinerary looks something like:

Fri 27 September (evening) Oxford - Bristol Temple Meads
Sat 28 September (evening) Bristol Temple Meads - Exeter St Davids
Wed 1 November (morning) Exeter St Davids - Oxford

GWR's website claims that Advances are on sale until December. But when I started having a look on Trainsplit, the costs for this journey were over £200! Perhaps I was being optimistic, but I was expecting it to be achievable for something more like £70.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on, or any suggestions for how to get the price down? In general, we're happy to accept slower trains or routes, especially on the Bristol to Exeter leg.

I think some of your dates must be wrong? Presumably October and November?

When you say £70, do you mean all three legs for £70 in total or about £70 for each leg?

 

[Kilopylae]

I think some of your dates must be wrong? Presumably October and November?

When you say £70, do you mean all three legs for £70 in total or about £70 for each leg?

Well spotted, correct, I meant the dates around Hallowe'en. Always a risk with forum-posting pre-caffeine.

With two adults on two 16-25 Railcards booked over a month in advance, I might have hoped to do an Oxford to Bristol return for £45 and a Bristol to Exeter return for £25, although that's purely based on memory and could be optimistic. Even if it proved to be more expensive than that, I wouldn't have expected it to be over 200 pounds.

 

[tspaul26]

Fri 27 October (evening) Oxford - Bristol Temple Meads
Sat 28 October (evening) Bristol Temple Meads - Exeter St Davids
Wed 1 November (morning) Exeter St Davids - Oxford

As a starter for £110:

Oxford to Bristol Super Off-Peak Return, not via Reading

Bristol to Exeter Off-Peak Return, Any Permitted

With Two Together railcard discount (extra £30 if you don’t have one already)

Also works with 16-25 discount (info about railcards held provided after original post)

 

[alistairlees]

You both have a 16-25 railcard?

 

[tspaul26]

With two adults on two 16-25 Railcards booked over a month in advance, I might have hoped to do an Oxford to Bristol return for £45 and a Bristol to Exeter return for £25, although that's purely based on memory and could be optimistic.

The forum Trainsplit site is offering plenty of Advance options for roughly £45 and £35 respectively on the dates desiderated.

 

[Kilopylae]

You both have a 16-25 railcard?

Correct, we do

The forum Trainsplit site is offering plenty of Advance options for roughly £45 and £35 respectively on the dates desiderated.

Maybe I was looking at the wrong dates or I had some arcane advanced option set because I was definitely seeing prices over 100 being highlighted as the cheapest.