Canterbury to Heathrow

Hello. I would take the train from Canterbury to Heathrow (Canterbury - St. Pancras International - Kings Cross - Heathrow), however, I would be hesitant to do this on the same day in the event of a breakdown, delay, etc. Perhaps spend the last night in Windsor so you will be close to Heathrow the next day. Just to err on the side of caution, I would recommend at 5:30 p.m. flight so you don't have to rush in the morning.

Presumably its a flight to a non-UK destination in which case the customary advice is 'be at airport 3 hrs before flight'.
At best its a 2hr train ride from Canterbury, so I would not choose a 130PM flight.. A rubber tire ride would be 3hrs ( or more).

Or would a 5:30PM flight be better? Or do we need to plan an overnight near the airport and fly the next day?

Those would be the options I would consider.

Happy travels

Caution is getting to very excessive levels when we are saying that Canterbury is too far away for a 5.30 pm flight when it is a 2 hour journey to the airport.
There are at least three rail routes between Canterbury and London, and then multiple routes between London and Heathrow.
HS1 to St Pancras, also the old routes (which take about 2 hours to London) to Victoria from Canterbury East and to Charing Cross via London Bridge from Canterbury West.
If between them you can't get to Heathrow by 2.30pm leaving at 8 or 9am then it will be a newsworthy event.
Even National Express only takes 4 hours, changing at Victoria, every two hours.
So the 0850 bus arrives at 1250.

it might also depend on the day of the week, and time of year. August tends to find the engineers taking over lines for engineering work, and weekends are prime candidates for work on the lines. They do it when commuters are not commuting.

So midweek, in a month when there are not holidays may be more reliable or predictable.

Canterbury can be done for a 1:30 flight. Working backwards, 10:30 arrival at the check in, an hour from London, 9:30. 2 hours from Canterbury, 7:30. Just watch out for those commuters. Doable, not difficult. I'd prefer the 5:30. Then I get a real breakfast to start the day, and calmness prevails.

Hello scarl5050 - obviously you may have your reasons to circle back to Canterbury after your tour ends in Bath, but it seems it would be easier to add your extra days to the front end of your trip since it starts in Canterbury? I am following your post as we are considering the same tour and interested in how others have planned extra days in Southern England.

Many thanks for your replies.
I should start by apologizing for the mistake I have made! As the tour indicates, we will be leaving BATH-NOT CANTERBURY to return to Heathrow.
I should have asked for the best way to transfer from Bath to Heathrow and how much time to allow?
So sorry!

The National Express coach (bus) leaves Bath and arrives into Heathrow.

The coach station in Bath is right beside the train station; an easy 5-6 block walk from the center of Bath.

You can buy your ticket on the day of departure either inside the coach station or from the driver once you board.

I'm unsure what time your flight out is, so might recommend you make the trip the afternoon before your flight and stay one night at a hotel near your departure terminal.

So you will spend a few extra days in Bath, and then fly out of London?

Still think the 130PM flight is an overly ambitious plan. Being on a bus or train by around 6AM sounds miserable and gives you very little "oops" margin.

There is a direct bus from Bath at 0750, arriving at 1010, then at 1115 arriving at 1330. The train at 0743, depending on route is only 10 to 20 minutes faster. With one or two changes the train has more moving parts in the plan that could go wrong.

The difference being that the train is every half hour from very early.

Personally I travel with insurance. So the 0750 bus arrives 3:20 before flight time. So if it is substantially late I have a good insurance claim. On that basis I would take the 0750 bus for a 1330 flight.