FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast - Manchester to Morecambe June 8th

[martint235]

That reminds me, I need to sort out my ticket for the journey back but I'll be coming back south on the Sunday.

 

[Ajay]

If there's any reccying / info I can help with for the top half of the route then please let me know.

 

[mcshroom]

Before I book the journey home, where are people travelling back from, Morecambe or Lancaster - or don't we know yet? And what time train(s)? It would be nice to travel back together if poss?

Miranda - thanks very much for the offer, but I won't be getting to Victoria until gone 7.30. Will you be on an earlier train from Euston?

I won't be travelling south but I am going to ride back to Lancaster to get home. That puts me back on a direct train to Whitehaven

 

[Andrew Br]

Before I book the journey home, where are people travelling back from, Morecambe or Lancaster - or don't we know yet? And what time train(s)? It would be nice to travel back together if poss?

Simon's/Dell's earlier advice is good; book tickets back from Lancaster. It's a flat ~4 mile ride along a well-surfaced bike path to Lancaster from Morecambe.
IME trains from Morecambe only go to Lancaster anyway and, by the time you've waited for the train and then got on/off it, cycling would have been quicker.

If you're travelling on Virgin from Lancaster, you'll need a bike reservation.
From second hand experience, if you're not subsequently getting off at Euston (or any other place that the Virgin train terminates), make sure that you tell the guard train manager after a crew change. Unless you like travelling on trains for the LOLs or you have a pirate "magic key".
Anecdata: a friend of mine was travelling from 't North to Stoke. The guard train manager changed at Preston but he didn't tell the replacement guard train manager about the bike. Friend ended up at Milton Keynes although, to be slightly fair to Virgin said friend found that that there were train personnel waiting on every platform to help her on her journey back to Stoke.
Preston seems to be a regular crew change point so it might be worth seeking out a new crew after there.
FWIW, the bikes on Virgin Pendolinos are (usually) stored in the "locomotive" at the back/north end of southbound trains. If you're paranoid and want to keep an eye on your bike, try to book a seat in Coach A. Fortuitously it's a "Quiet Coach". It isn't, however, 1st Class so if you want to indulge your inner hedonist and have peace/piece* of mind, you'll have to lock up your bike and take all the nickable bits off it.

This public information has been brought to you by a smug git who already has a £6 ticket with bike reservations to Manchester. All I'll have to worry about is trying to get the luggage out of the bike space. Perhaps I shouldn't be so smug after all..................

* After an all night ride it could be either.


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[User10119]

Can I be a tentative attendee please? The calendar says it should be do-able although I'd need to check a couple of things. I've even been practising hills of late. A bit, anyway...

 

[Flying Dodo]

Before I book the journey home, where are people travelling back from, Morecambe or Lancaster - or don't we know yet? And what time train(s)? It would be nice to travel back together if poss?

Lancaster makes more sense (and would be cheaper). For London bound trains, none of the cheaper trains up to lunchtime had bike reservations available, so you might have to try later on in the afternoon. I'll have a bike bag with me anyway, so it won't be an issue for me!

 

[mcshroom]

Just to follow up on Andrew's comments on Virgin (which are very good btw), they almost always seem to recrew at Preston (one stop after Lancaster), and also it isn't that uncommon for them to forget to let you out at Euston either (you can walk a bike down the middle of Coach A and get out the door at the far end). I've had to do this three times recently, once boarding at Preston and twice leaving the train at Euston - though I tend to be using them late on a Friday night for some unknown reason

To get on the train you need a member of station staff to let you on not the guard usually, so it is worth finding them in advance when you arrive at the station. Oh and they will check cycle reservations zealously

 

[ianmac62]

On the Friday, I'm booked on the 2057 CrossCountry service from Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly arriving at 2235. £7.90 with a bike reservation code (which I "take to the station window" with my .pdf passenger ticket for a bike ticket). My seat is in the Coach D with the bike spaces.

On the Saturday, I'm booked on the 1457 Virgin service from Lancaster to Birmingham New Street arriving at 1655. £5.95 with a .pdf passenger ticket and a bike reservation code which I've already entered at my local station and had the two parts printed out. My seat is in Coach B.

I think the Friday service's final destination is Piccadilly and the Saturday service's final destination is New Street so I'm not too uptight (yet) about getting the bike off the trains. (I was once standing on the platform of Birmingham International banging on the side of a Virgin train having the nightmare that my bike was travelling on to Euston on its own.)

DZ - my email is on its way. Thanks.

 

[CharlieB]

Tickets booked. Hurry people - mine cost £60 , so I guess it can only go up.

 

[400bhp]

I had a look at the blog-appreciate if you would rather respond by pm/email, but what time does the ride start/likely to end? I guess there is breakfast at the end too?

 

[ianmac62]

Tickets booked. Hurry people - mine cost £60 , so I guess it can only go up.

Ouch! Big ouch!

 

[Aperitif]

Tickets booked. Hurry people - mine cost £60 , so I guess it can only go up.

Think Colnago - think money. 'The Importance of Being Ernesto' right, Charlie?
(Will you/do you have it?)

 

[CharlieB]

Think Italian - think domani. And as we all know, domani non viene. (I think. A-level Italian students, please feel free to correct me)

 

[Aperitif]

Think Italian - think domani. And as we all know, domani non viene. (I think. A-level Italian students, please feel free to correct me)

Volevo dire, hai la moto ancora - non i soldi! (Sounds good - "Allez Campagnolo!")

 

[ianmac62]

Volevo dire, hai la moto ancora - non i soldi! (Sounds good - "Allez Campagnolo!")

Strewth! Thank goodness for BabelFish. I failed O-level Italian in 1964.