Reading vs London for West and South West day tripping

Shoeburyness?? I love it!

Edit: there WAS a post that referenced Shoeburyness and it’s gone. I still love the name.

Not a bad idea at all. If you're going to do day trips to different areas, it makes sense to stay somewhere cheaper. And Reading is well connected by trains and buses.

Although I see no reason to worry about cancelled trains when you're going to Heathrow, I'd recommend the direct bus that runs between Reading and Heathrow.

I absolutely think it's a good idea.

Much cheaper hotel costs. And Reading is quite an interesting town to look round.

To places like Bovington and Salisbury I would book to Basingstoke then a separate ticket from Basingstoke- a lot cheaper than a through ticket with a few days notice- possibly cheaper if booked both tickets by midnight tonight.

I also like the frequent bus to Oxford from straight outside Reading Station- a very nice route.

You can actually get to Heathrow by bus from Reading- the Lion X4 to Bracknell, then the Flightline 703 via Legoland and Windsor. It's a lot slower than the train, but a useful back pocket route for if the railway line was having problems. Combined cost of £4.

Also the much more frequent and fast, but far more expensive rail link coaches from Reading Station to Heathrow.

There are also 3 evening Reading Buses London line double decker buses from London Victoria to Reading for £2 each way- a slightly over 2 hour journey. (and three to London before 7am).

BTW yes the District Line trains to Shoeburyness are a well known piece of underground history. The LTS (now C2C) and district line sharing of route are why there are abandoned platforms on the C2C tracks at several of the tube stations west of Upminster.
Shoeburyness, as well as a resort, was a big army base until quite recently (in fact parts of the base are still in military use). Enough trivia, from someone who lived in Southend for 10 years when working in London. I originally worked at Shellhaven Oil Refinery, then just never moved when the contracts took me up to London. Only the station cat lived closer to Westcliff station than me!

We stayed at a friend's Reading apartment for a week. Took day trips to Oxford, Moreton in Marsh, London (of course), Windsor and Bath (but we drove for that). Had a great time. Walked along the canal and even watched the filming of a movie or TV show at Reading Minster. Never figured out what show it was though.

I've received a number of emails that do not show up on this thread, so something is out of whack. Anyway, if this shows up, my day trip to Bovington Tank museum from Reading was perhaps a bit too far, especially when the inevitable train delays were factored in. It looked like a 2 and 1/2 hour trip, but was more like 3 to get there. Then, on the way back, the train from the terminus in Weymouth to the wool station was delayed around 30 minutes. Then somewhere between Southampton and Winchester or maybe a bit after the train crawled along for a very long time - they announced we were stuck behind a freight train. I didn't get home until 9:30 after leaving the Tank museum at closing at 5. I was pretty tired. But today I did a great short trip from Reading to Winchester and had an enjoyable day.

Thanks for all the replies, some of which don't show on this thread but I received via email since I'm the original poster. Thanks Rebecca for your ideas, and to answer you question, I did know I was near Stonehenge when I was at Salisbury. I choose not to see Stonehenge because I saw it 30 years ago (time flies !!) and while I don't mind seeing things twice, I have to admit I was underwhelmed when I saw it way back when, and was saddened that we couldn't actually get close or inside it. I believe it is still restricted now, so I'm not going to bother this trip. That is totally my own subjective opinion - worth seeing once but not twice, If you disagree I totally understand.

Yes, several postings have got removed by their contributor, which is why the thing about Shoeburyness makes little sense (not that it matters to your plans from Reading). There was another thread, which all got a bit unfortunate and this thread got caught up in that. All not very helpful.

Thanks isn31c, and thanks for your ideas about the bus to Heathrow from Reading. Very good idea.
I'm leaving Reading tomorrow morning - just booked Friday and Saturday night in Portsmouth, then I've scaled back over ambitious Dover/Hastings plans down to just Canterbury for Sunday and early Monday then maybe train it back to Reading in the afternoon and evening Monday. Then Tuesday out to Heathrow for 2:50 pm flight home.
Thanks for all your great ideas and advice.

Oops, I just took a look at the train and bus schedules for getting from Portsmouth to Canterbury. Too long and convoluted considering my short and diminishing time frame. Maybe day trip from Portsmouth to Brighton instead, and then back to Reading and day trip to Windsor.