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York to Oxford via Worksop

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?

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2599 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.