Hello,
I am tacking on an extra week to my Scotland trip. I plan to fly or take the train from Edinburgh to London on the 17th, than catch a train to Axeminster and then bus to Lyme Regis. I am struggling a bit with finding a train. It appears also that SW is basically the only company that does this train route and all the reviews I have read say these trains are a nightmare. Is this true? I will be travelling solo as a middle aged woman, and will have a piece of small rolling luggage with me. I suppose the other option would be a bus the whole way. I have book 3 nights in LR. I am going to book a fossil hunting tour, and I am going to do some hunting on my own plus some seaweed pressing.
I will then head back to London for 3 more night before flying home to Ontario.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Cheers!
Michelle 🇨🇦
Posted by
UK
968 posts
People who have good train journeys tend not to review them. People only review train journeys when things go wrong.
It’s absolutely fine. It’s 2hrs 42 minutes direct from London Waterloo to Axminster (note spelling). It’s not the world’s fastest train but it’ll get you there.
Lyme Regis is a beautiful place and you’ll have a wonderful time.
Posted by
London
330 posts
Totally agree, and to be honest I didn't even know you could review trains! Most routes in this country only have one main operator so you just go with who is running the route. Southwestern Rail is fine and I'm sure you will have a great time fossil hunting.
Posted by
Lake District, England
9343 posts
South West Trains in my opinion are streets ahead of GWR, in terms of quality of the train as a whole, especially the seats.
The worst you can say is that there is no catering and no power supply for the standard class seats (but there is in the very modestly priced first class). Good wifi and usually plenty of capacity. When I have the spare time I way prefer that route to Exeter, over GWR.
The reviews are, well, highly subjective to be charitable.
Posted by
Preston UK
1438 posts
If you haven't booked anything yet consider flying to Southampton rather than London - Loganair fly direct. If the 17th is this month then the cheapest prices will have gone but it looks like there are two direct flights from around £163. Then form there there is a station at the airport and you can get to Axminster in about 2-2.5 hours with one or two simple changes. that will be a lot quicker than going through London. The super off-peak price for 17th will be £34.70 - that can be bought any time.
On second thoughts another option. Fly Loganair direct to Exeter (£138 as I type). Then either a bus into Exeter and a 40 minute train ride to Axminster. Or google suggests going to Cranbrook to pick up the train and avoid going the wrong way into Exeter. there's a complex bus route or I might just take a cab - it's only about 3 miles, then only 26 minutes to Axminster for £7.60. Others with more knowledge of the Exeter area might have an even better idea.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Thank you so much. I was reading reviews on TripAdvisor. It is true that many people only leave reviews when they have something to complain about.
I just went to South Western’s website and nothing shows for August yet. How far in advance do I need to book the train?
Posted by
Arctophilia, Northamptonshire, England
34886 posts
a couple of days will be fine, a week or two will have good Advance fares, 8 weeks for the first go at the cheapest.
Posted by
Lake District, England
9343 posts
I'm pretty sure that villages bus route from Exeter Airport to Cranbrook is the one that was axed last year.
The route was barely used
Only the bus route to Exeter survives.
At Cranbrook the bus stop is a fair distance from the railway station. I got caught by that arriving by train and leaving by bus. It looks a lot closer on paper than it really is.