Going To Preston?
 

hello!
we are trying to plan a trip for 2 weeks from costwold to preston,lancashire.we tried looking up on the internet for ways to get there by rail or bus and ended up with results of 4-5 hrs even 6 hrs time just to get there. Does anybody know how to reach this place in a more convenient way (but still by rail/bus/coach) and perhaps the cheaper way to get there as well. we are trying to watch our budget since we need to come back to costwold again and then to heathrow.

Fastest way is by rail i think. From any of the several Cotswolds stations (Moreton-in-Marsh for example or cheltenham spa, it's about an hour and change to Birmingham and then about 2.5 hours from there to Preston. There are other route possibilities but this route has frequent service. Preston is a dump, I hope you're not going there for sighseeing, because you'll see largely a faded industrial town. As for prices, forget looking at pt-pt, no doubt the BritRailEngland pass will save you lots, you can use it on the Heathrow Express to Cotswolds, then to Preston and back to London and again on the Heathrow Express. 4-day flexipass $189 in second class, $279 in first class gives 4 days of travel in a two-month period. Call Budget Europe (800-441-9413) for more details - I've bought BritRails through them and they're experts on British Rail travel. If you want to compare fares in Britain, go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and compare. You may be able to cut the pass prices a wee bit by buying restricted discounted tickets for off peak travel and bought a certain time in advance, but for walk-ups fares on any train the pass is hard to beat - especially since you can use it on the Heathrow Express, about a $20 value each way. Get schedules off nationalrail site. Put in Moreton-in-Marsh or Cheltenham-Spa for Cotswolds stations. As they are on two different rail lines, you may get different schedules.

Well, "cotswold" is not a town. The Cotswolds Are a fairly large area generally between Oxford and Wales. Where will you be? There are only two rail stations in the Cotswolds proper - Moreton-in-Marsh and Charlbury, and few direct trains to anyplace.

I assume you know why you are going to Preston so I won't go into that - but to get there by train or bus from anywhere in the Cotswolds will take a while and require changing one or more times. Driving would be the only really "convenient" way to get there.

I don't know what PalQ means about taking the Heathrow Express to the Cotswolds -- it only goes into central London.

From the Cotswolds get a loacl service train to Oxford where you can pick up a Virgin west coast service (via Birmingham New St) to Preston. (you may need to change trains at Birmingham. This has to be one of the quickest ways of doing it.

As Janis says, the Cotswolds cover a lot of central England, and if you really are starting from somewhere in the Cotswolds proper, driving is the best way. I do it in 3 hours, though traffic could make things a lot longer.

It's impossible to advise you on alternatives, since none of us can possibly guess whether you're going to start off in striking distance of the three railway stations (Kemble, on the London-Cheltenham line, is in the third) that are actually in the area.

But almost certainly buses are a non-starter.

The easiest solution for you is www.trafficdirect.info, which is supposed to be able to create pecisely this kind of journey by public transport. But you're not going to find any method of public transport that'll do it in less than 4 hours unless you have a strange definition of the Cotswolds.

Don't listen to the anti-Preston prejudice. "Proud Preston" they used to call it. And the hills above it are glorious.

Make sure you visit Ribchester while you're there. Its mini-museum is one of Europe's most approachable guides to the Roman occupation.

Oops!The pre-prandial G+T was a bit strong.

The website that claims to let you build journeys from all of Britain's public transport options is www.transportdirect.info

Sorry for not having more info on my post. well, we are planning to stay and see places in costwold such as chipping camdem, stratford upon avon,broadway, maybe a little time to go see the oxford university in oxford then from there planning to leave from moreton in marsh rail station to go to preston. we assume that moreton in marsh is in worcestershire area but when we typed it in, it says is in the gloucestershire area (?)
But i've tried looking up other railways station in worcester area, it mentioned evesham and honeybourne station. please correct me if i am wrong since none of the replies to my post mentioned these two rail stations. so anyways, we are planning to take either the bus or the train from evesham or moreton in marsh or perhaps another bigger station (??). Checking on transportdirect.info gives me the name worcester foregate st. i wonder if its a bigger railway station.
For Walter, your advise regarding going back to Oxford to take the Virgin trains to preston via birmingham seemed a bit confusing to me. isnt it just going the other direction though when going to oxford? :)
thanks for the replies by the way!

No I didn't mean heathrow express to cotswolds, but heathrow express to london then to cotswolds. But if you want to go to Cotswolds directly from Heathrow, take the airbus to Reading, then go from there to Oxford and then the Cotswolds line to Moreton in Marsh or Evesham, Honeybourne, the three Cotswolds stops on this line, or take the mainline from Reading to Cheltenham Spa, which, though it may not technically be in the Cotswolds, is the capital of the Cotswolds from a regional city type aspect, with superb bus links to Cotswolds wool towns from there. Unless you are already renting a car forget about driving or want a car anyway, forget about driving - unless experience in UK 'wrong side of the road' driving, the train will be more relaxing.

You need to work out the details of this yourself.

Evesham, Honeybourne, Oxford and Stratford aren't in the Cotswolds.

Assuming you're starting from Moreton, if you take the train west, you have to change at Worcester, then again at Birmingham. Taking the train east to Oxford is quicker than going to Worcester, and there are a few direct trains from Oxford to Preston, but none from Worcester to Preston.

So it's more than likely that going via Oxford will be quicker - but this will depend on the time of day, and where you're actually starting from.

To complicate all this, the cheapest way of planning it all from a transport point of view is to get the bus from LHR to Oxford (buying the discounted return), do your stuff in the Midlands, then buy a return train ticket from Oxford to Preston.

I just checked transportdirect.info and typed in Oxford to Preston. Wow, it seems much better travelling with only 2 changes and around 3 hrs.37 Mins rather than 5 Hrs from evesham! This is probably the best option we have so far going to preston! :)

As long as you're going to Preston I'd suggest a little extension to Blackburn.

"I read the news today oh, boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes
it takes to fill the Albert Hall
I'd love to turn you on"

Courtesy of the Lancashire lads from Liverpool.

Would it be rude to ask *why* you're going to Preston?

not at all, we are there to visit a college friend who will be there as well next month. He hasnt any clue about this surprise visit yet. But as PalQ mentioned earlier, there is nothing to see in Preston which is rather dissapointing. At least we can go visit blackpool and blackburn but have the main stop at preston.

Eeh gads! Braeburn is even most ghastly than Preston! I actually love these type of Appalachia-in-Britain type towns full of real unpretentious down-to-earth, with dirt on their boots British blokes, but for what a tourist is looking for, ZERO.
Ah now Blackpool, equally fading from a former grandeur as a Preston or Braeburn - I've traveled the world and Europe for years as a professional travel writer and I've never seen as place as captivating as Blackpool! the flotsam of life, people watching at its best; the Lights are on now - what a show - miles of tacky Christmas lights and elaborate displays lining the kitschy seafront for miles and miles. Hop the equally decorated double-decker trams to glide (well, these trams are not quite as quite as most in Europe) grind by the lights. It's always exhilarating to get off the train at Blackpool! Blackpool will not be everyone's cup of tea, but no one can argue it's a one-of-a-kind place. But it's still hard to think that dowdy Allistair Cook grew up in blue-collar Blackpool!

Spades, the "Merseyrail" train will take you to Liverpool from Preston. If you have a day to spend there, a splendid time is guaranteed for all! There's the Beatles coach tour, the Beatles story exhibit, Albert Dock, and the ferry (cross the Mersey.) In any event, you will have a chance to see England from the point of view of someone who lives there and that's always valuable.

Spades: I honestly hope you can make this journey work and that you'll post a trip report when you return so we can find out what really happened!

PalQ: I was amused by your description of Braeburn but you really do need to know that over here we refer to the area in the mountains as "Britain in Appalachia...but with guns."

Look at www.thetrainline.com - it will show you all the different routes, their durations & prices for the dates you want. Using sample dates of 24-26 September from Moreton-in-Marsh to Preston & back, setting off in the morning, I got outward routes ranging from 3 hrs 57 mins (changing at Worcester & Tamworth, incl. a walk between stations in Tamworth) to 4 hrs 49 mins (changing at Worcester & Birmingham, again with a walk between stations in Birmingham); and prices between £44.60 to £151 per person. Play around with it - the quickest route may not be the easiest as it may (as here) involve more changes (= more to go wrong) and maybe a walk.

Blackpool lights (Illuminations) start on Sept 4 and end on Nov 7. The resort is the middle of huge redevelopment but there're plenty of attractions to fill a day. Try to see a show in the evening - some good ones at the Pleasure Beach (ice show esp). Preston hasn't much going except as a regional shopping centre (spent a day last week). Museum of Lancashire in the old court house and Harris Museum and Art Gallery are recommended. You can make day trips to Lancaster (old county town), Pendle Hill, Forest of Bowland and, further afield, the Lake District (easy train journey from Preston to Windermere, about hourly).