Rail/Train ticket information request

When is the trip?

Take the Trans Pennine train direct from Manchester Airport to Penrith, usually at ten minutes past the hour (it'll have a final destination of Glasgow or Edinburgh). It gets to Penrith just under two hours later at the top of the hour.
The first Sunday train is usually at 1010.
Go out to the front of the station, and you'll see a big bus shelter on your left.
That is where the X5 bus leaves from to go to Keswick (it has a final destination of Workington). That leaves at 20 minutes past each hour, and gets there 50 minutes later.
In the station (or at Booths supermarket in Keswick where the bus stops) you will be able to get a bus timetable book for the whole of the area.
On Stagecoach (the bus operator) both teens count as adults.

All individual bus fares are currently capped at £2 each per person, so it depends how many buses you plan to catch. Normally I would advise a group to buy a North West Gold 7 Day Group MegaRider for £70. This is actually valid for a week- so is a huge bargain. All on bus fares can be paid by contactless
You are there for 4 days- presumably Days 1 and 4 are your travel days [total cost for the 4 of you £8] so on each of Days 2 and 3 you would have to spend £27 between the 3 of you- which is 4 x £2 bus journeys each.
This ticket can only be purchased on the Stagecoach app and shown on your phone- not purchased on the bus.
Normal £2 tickets are purchased on the bus.

To go to London hourly bus X4 or X5 (on opposing hours) back to Penrith, then book a train ahead as advance tickets Penrith to London Euston. Depending how far ahead you book you should get that for the four of you for between £122 and £160- those are fares just 4 weeks ahead so not having to book hugely far ahead. Again both the teens are adults- thus the Family and Friends Railcard doesn't work.

On Day 1 the other route you could take to Keswick is train to Windermere- there the first Sunday train leaves soon after 0730, then the bus to Keswick hourly from the station front at Windermere- service 555. That train route, for the 3 of you, you could expect to be about £30 cheaper, if you book ahead.

Bus Flat fare of £2 each for the 1 hour very scenic journey north.

It would be useful to know your travel date to be able to check for any weekend engineering work.

To bring the fares down a bit it'd be worth your buying 2 x Two Together Railcards- valid anytime on Sunday, after 0930 Monday to Friday

We arrive in a few days, July 2nd at Manchester airport and go straight to Keswick. Then on to London July 6th, and depart London July 11th.

Would the North West Gold 7 Day Group MegaRider for £70 only for Keswick or London too?

Thank you!!
Jewels

that pass, North West Gold 7 Day Group MegaRider, is only valid on buses, only on Stagecoach buses, and only in the specific area.

Details of validity and and usable area can be read on https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/merseyside-and-south-lancashire/north-west-megarider-gold

No the Stagecoach ticket works only in the Lake District.

If you are here for 3 full days + 2 travelling days then you only have to make 3 journeys per day for that to pay. I would buy that ticket now if I were you then it's ready on your phone.

In London there is a flat rate bus fare. Just pay by contactless on boarding each bus. There is a daily fare cap which varies by the modes you have used, but on the bus only cap every ride each day on your 4th ride onwards is free. The computer just calculates that.
There are other threads about how to pay for the teens who my have not have their own cards. As I don't have children that is all rather beyond me in London.

There is no engineering work on Sunday but an advisory that trains around Manchester will be busy due to an event in the city.

It's unclear if you already have your train tickets but there are still advance tickets to Windermere for Sunday.

However I wouldn't buy those as you don't know what time you will actually land (as opposed to what your ticket says). If you go via Windermere the last bus to Keswick is at 6.09 pm, which means that your last possible train from the Airport is at 2.30 pm- a through train to Windermere which connects with the 5.09 bus to Keswick.
Just buy tickets at the airport station- the walk up fare is £30.80 each before railcard discounts.
Via Penrith the last bus is at 7.20pm- the train for that is a through train to Penrith from the airport at 5.10 pm, with an earlier train at 4.10 pm. If you missed the last bus due to the 5.10 being late it would be a taxi for the 18 miles from Penrith to Keswick- they are always sat outside Penrith station.
However I have just checked and the 5.10 pm train to Penrith is cancelled (no staff), so the 4.10 pm train is the last one connecting into a bus at Penrith.

Just be aware that going to London on Thursday Avanti have an overtime ban on this week. Officially all trains are running, but be prepared for on the day cancellations.

If you've not got tickets to Euston for Thursday you need to buy those today as the good fares are already gone- advance fares are now around £70 to £80 each.

Further to Nigel's comment all buses you would use in the Lake District are run by Stagecoach, so it is hardly a limitation. The area of validity extends to Newcastle, Dumfries, Liverpool and almost Manchester - and the whole of Cumbria so that isn't a problem either.
Private operators run a few services, but not ones any short term tourist would use.
The Stagecoach link is even out of date as the area of validity now also extends to Skipton as well (via Preston).

Thank you. So now I've purchased (2) "Two Together Railcard" for the 4 of us. Does that mean I just purchase one ticket per couple (2 total) when you go to purchase the Railcard for Penrith Station to Euston?
How does my TWo Together Railcard connect to my ticket purchase?

No, what you get is 34% off each ticket.

So when you get to Manchester Airport on Sunday morning, just ask the ticket clerk for 4 singles to Windermere with 2 x Two Together Railcards- and show him/her your railcards.

You will pay a total of £81.20 for the 4 of you. If you hadn't spent the £60 on the railcards you would have spent £123.20 on these tickets so you have straight away saved £42.

I was going to say go onto the web and buy your tickets from Penrith to London Euston. There isn't a lot of point to that as all advance tickets have now sold out before the 1422 train.

So you are now paying for anytime tickets which you could buy on the day. However if you have time on Sunday morning, buy them at Manchester Airport with seat reservations, if possible- see below.
If you get the 0855 bus from Keswick on Thursday morning you arrive at Penrith Station at 0933. So book on the 1003 train which arrives at London Euston at 1312.
You will pay a total of £236.80 for the 4 tickets with the railcards- without the railcards you would have paid £358.40 so that is a huge saving of £121.60.
As I write tickets are shown as being off sale for that train and I don't know why as the working (internal) timetable (on Real Time Trains) is still showing the train as running.
If that train ends up not running (due to the overtime ban this week by ASLEF) catch the 0947 or 1050 Manchester Airport bound trains as far as Preston, and then the first available train forward from there. But before you do that check with the very helpful staff at Penrith as to exactly what is happening to the trains and their advice, because what Avanti might do (if the 1003 is cancelled on the day) is to stop a fast train specially at Penrith- I am looking at the 1006 from Carlisle (which is currently open for bookings)- due London at 1454. That might be stopped additionally for London passengers at Penrith at about 1020.

After the 0855 bus from Keswick the next one is at 1020, arrive Penrith 1058.

I will try to remember to keep a watching brief on Thursday morning from 40 miles away- and if I do get any useful information I will post it here- which should then crop up in your e-mails.

Thank you Isn31c and Nigel. I espectially appreciate the detailed explanation. I've downloaded the apps and will seek assistance at the Manchester airport train station for ticket purchasing. I'm glad I have a few options to get to keswick.

Jewels

By the way pack your rain clothes. We are forecast to have a very changeable week of weather in the Lake District, one of those weeks when you don't know from one minute to the next what the weather is going to do.

A really nice introductory walk to do on Sunday evening is to catch a Penrith bound bus out of Keswick as far as Threlkeld (4 miles away- last one at 6.20pm), get off at the first stop after the bus turns off the A66 into the village, then walk the old railway path back to Keswick old railway station which is in the heart of the town. I do it in just under the hour and I'm not rushing, but maybe allow 90 minutes to dawdle a bit. It's light until well after 10pm at the moment.
It must have been an amazing rail journey, now it's a lovely walk as the railway line crosses the beck multiple times on bowstring bridges in mature woodland. In the evening you don't know what wildlife you may see but I've seen deer and red squirrels in the middle of the day.

Good afternoon,

I hope you managed to get your train to London on Thursday sorted out yesterday. The 1003 and 1050 are now showing as train full, and all trains from Cumbria to London that day as mandatory reservations on all ticket types (even walk up)- which is unusual to say the least.
I have been down to our ticket office, and a round of telephone calls later no-one can find out why. The ticketing system here, at least, is just not allowing ticket purchase, even though the train is scheduled to run.
If it was me travelling that day I would just abandon the exercise and take the mid morning National Express coach down. But that is not an option for you.

At least the weather, on the Cumbrian Coast anyway, is a lot better than forecast!!

isn31c - I think the reason that you can't book many trains this week is the overtime ban. I was looking at the Preston to York route this morning, as I'm travelling there on this Friday and was trying to get a feel for what level of cancellations there are. At about 9.30 this morning the trains were showing up to 12 as bookable with one cancellation. After 12 I couldn't book anything so I assume they were waiting to see what cancellations there would be. Just looking again now I can book trains for the rest of the day.

None of which helps the OP.

The odd thing is that early morning and afternoon trains are bookable, just not mid morning ones. The OP could catch one of those but I doubt very much that the family wants to be leaving Keswick at 6am or 7am, and would like to get into London before late afternoon. Tuesday and Wednesday are fine, Friday has the same problem.

The work round would be the 1020 bus from Keswick to Penrith, time to look at the Castle and get lunch at Morrisons or McDonalds, then the 1222 which arrives into Euston at 1603 (if they change at Crewe) or 1654 if they just stay on the train as it goes through the West Midlands.

Well at least I have done everything it is possible to do now, and gone the extra mile to assist the family.

Dear Isn31c,
Thank you for your train purchase recommendation. I did purchase our London return at the station on Sunday so that’s a relief. Only problem was there were no reservations available so we have to seat hop I guess. The only train cars I saw were reserved seating so we had to give up our seats as the reserved tickets came on. Question, is there a non-reserved car that we can sit in that so we won’t have to keep changing seats?

Also, that short hike was a perfect introduction to the area. We loved it!!!
Today we did a guided hike at the TI to Castlerigg stone circle. We lucked out with the weather so far. Not much rain to speak of. Now if if will just hold out so we can climb up Catbells tomorrow then I’ll be thrilled.

Thanks for all your recommendations.
Jewels

Jewels,

If it is a 9 car train the unreserved car is Car C (the 3rd from the back- the food is also in that car). If it is an 11 car train both C and U are un-reserved. Car U is directly behind the 4 first class cars so towards the front of the train (7th car from back).
The station announcements and monitors will tell you whether it is 9 or 11 car.
If it's an 11 car train I usually head for car U- not least because that is closer to the exit at Euston!!
Car C is in the open air at the back of the platform- turn left as you enter from the bus stop. Close by that entrance are the station toilets.
Bus 77A will drop you right at the foot of Catbells, in a glade of trees next to a cattle grid- just ask the driver. Or take the launch across the Lake to Hawes End/Hawse End jetty. There is a walkers special launch to that jetty only at 9.45 am, the boats back are at 40 minutes past each hour- either direct or the other boat at the same time goes all the way round the lake.
Hawes End and Hawse End are interchangeable spellings- even the launch company use both versions.

I hope you manage to get to the Alhambra movie theatre while you are there- they are screening the latest Indiana Jones movie this week. They do a family ticket for £25.

Jewels,

Just a final update. The 1003 Penrith to Euston train is confirmed as running and is an 11 car train- so there are two unreserved coaches- C and U, in the locations previously stated.

The Pendolino trains on the route are being refurbished and you have one of the refurbished trains (set 390141) which means that there are power points (and wireless charging) at every seat for charging your devices (previously only the table seats had that).

Currently there are no delays reported on the line, so all should go well. Have a good journey.