We plan to travel from York to Oxford but are now considering a stop in Worksop (my ancestral hometown SE of Sheffield). The original plan was to take the train without trying to stop but my curiousity about Worksop makes me consider renting a car in York and going to Worksop and then on to Oxford in the same day. We don't have experience driving in England. Does this seem like a good plan or will the travel time and hassle of driving make me regret this decision. Any opinions?
Posted by
2399 posts
Looks easy enough to me as most travel will be on dual highways such as the A1/M1.A43 & M40. You can get the route here (I have already checked out Worksop > Oxford and it is 133 miles which the AA reckon you should do in 2 hours 35 minutes). You might wish to open Google Earth & then zoom down & try and follow the route to gain a better idea of whether you are up for it..http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp#fromNode=0%7CWorksop%7C%7C-1.122745%7C53.309302%7CtoNode=0%7COxford%7C%7C-1.257726%7C51.752021
I hope you realise that if doing longer rail journeys, you should pre book in advance to get the cheapest prices. So, you could still do the journey by train - including Worksop as a detour. Go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and put in for YRK > WRK. You will see it can be done in 1 hour 11 minutes with 1 change at Retford. (You will need to take a short walk from one station to another, I think).
You would need a separate ticket for the second leg of the journey from WRK > OXF. This journey will take 3 hours 26 minutes and you will need to change in Sheffield. You will probably find a high price of about £79. To try & reduce this, you will need to split the ticket with Sheffield the probable split point. Put in your date on this site and departure from Worksop - say 14.00? Then click on the options and see what it advises. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/split-cheap-train-tickets/
However, with a York > Oxford journey time of only 3 hours 6minutes by through trains & with fares of about £44, it may make it tempting not to bother with Worksop.
Posted by
OP
Portland
19 posts
Thank you for this information!