Train Norwich to Portsmouth?

[Brains]

30 years is a long time in the City of London
When she walks out of Liverpool Street Station she will not recognise anything

Here is your 3 miles route. https://cycle.travel/map

You will probably exit the station onto Bishopsgate, however if you can find the hidden Liverpool St exit its easier.
Basically, if in doubt, keep heading downhill, ideally you want to go via Bank (no vehicles permitted)
You are aiming for CS3, which is the main east/west cycle route along the north side of the river.
I would recommend the easiest bridge to cross over the Thames is Blackfrias
(or the most scenic is the Millennium/Wobbly footbridge, in which case aim for St Pauls)
Along Upper Ground
and to Waterlooo
Keep going past the main entrance with the steps (follow the rest of the cyclists and the taxis)

Time:
Regular Brompton commuters probably have it down to 15 minutes
I'd allow an hour between trains, you can get the selfies in front of the Bank of England, the Mansion House, St Paul's, The Wobbly bridge and the Tate Modern on the way!

 

[mjr]

Thanks for all the responses - if we go by train the Norwich - London bit is fine, I know Norwich station and presumably since bikes are reserved they have a specific area for them (do they still have guards vans?). Will we need to remove all panniers from them or be able to leave them fully loaded?

Current trains still have so-called driving van trailers at the opposite end to the loco. Bike loading closes 5 mins before departure AIUI. I think you will need to remove luggage because the racks are close together.

New trains arriving from May (edit: will be used for only some services at first) have folding seats and straps to attach bikes to the wall. Their position on the train is marked with a green stripe and bike symbol (similar to gold for 1st and red for reduced-mobility). I expect loading would be allowed until the doors close 1 min before. Still remove luggage because 3 bikes have to fit each side.

The Mrs claims she knows the way from Liverpool Street to Waterloo, but as her knowledge is probably 30 years out of date how long should we leave to get there? - heavily loaded we will not be rocketing away from the traffic lights, and may walk busy bits.

Hard to say without knowing her route! It's about 20mins via Bank and Blackfriars if you get stopped by most lights, then allow at least 10mins to navigate each station and add a guess at how much you'll walk.

The Portsmouth train where no reservations are possible - how does it work? Are bikes counted through at the gate? Where on the train do they go, and do we have to unload them?

Others who have done it more recently may correct me but it's first come first served, with no counting through the gate. Put it in the bike space if there is one (it's quite likely bikes not in that space will be the first told to disembark if busy) or the offside doorway if not (or wherever staff tell you), take bags off and put them in a nearby luggage rack to make them smaller and fit more neatly. I also think it shows the guard you're trying to fit in as well as our crap trains allow.

If there are too many bikes, the guard will toss some off. For this reason, if you have to use doorways, go as far forward on the train as possible because the guard usually starts at the back on most trains

Sorry for all the questions, but we have never taken bikes on the train before, and as it is the vital first part of the tour want to get it right. Once we are on the continent we can relax and make it up as we go along for a few months!

No worries. Except for Thameslink's new ones, I think London and SE region trains are amongst the worst in western Europe for cyclists.

 

[mjr]

Here is a picture of the bike space on a SWT Desiro, which is likely to be your train, give or take a SWR paint job:

Cc-by-sa by Matthew Black from London, UK from https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bike_area_on_Class_444.jpg

Edited to add: I'd use my own cam-buckle luggage strap to connect the bike top tube to the horizontal rail, to reduce the stress from those "wheelbender" slots as the train bounces around and reduce the risk of the bike falling over, especially if it's in the outermost slot.

 

[Ice2911]

Here’s a picture of bike on train from Norwich. Obviously took bar bag with me but able to leave panniers on. Other trains had vertical bike racks and so had to remove them.
I was a wuss and wanted to make sure I made my connection so bike went in a taxi across London. Will be different next time probably

 

[mjr]

View attachment 461966 Here’s a picture of bike on train from Norwich.

That's great. There seem to be few pictures of inside the Anglia Mark 3 Driving Van Trailers online, so may I upload your picture to cyclescape and Wikimedia Commons under a creative commons attribution-sharealike licence, and if so, how would you like your name to appear?

 

[RobinS]

Final (hopefully!) question - does anyone know what time of day the Portsmouth train is likely to be least busy? Other than avoiding the peak time Norwich to London trains (for cost purposes!) we have all day to get there, so can choose the least busy time - I was thinking that early afternoon should be OK?
And one last thought - cheapest tickets are specified train only - how does that work if if your bike gets turfed off that train?

 

[Ice2911]

That's great. There seem to be few pictures of inside the Anglia Mark 3 Driving Van Trailers online, so may I upload your picture to cyclescape and Wikimedia Commons under a creative commons attribution-sharealike licence, and if so, how would you like your name to appear?

Of course no problem.
Paul Andrew

 

[mjr]

And one last thought - cheapest tickets are specified train only - how does that work if if your bike gets turfed off that train?

Belatedly answering this: it should be treated like if the stated train was cancelled, in that you can use the next one, and claim the money back for delay repay if it makes you too late. See https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/cyclists.aspx