After two hours working out how to use the website, managed to book train tickets to get me to Axminster on the 20th June.
Booking the train tickets was a bit of a game. Leamington Spa to Axminster was £99. However, buying two tickets and ‘changing’ at Basingstoke. reduced the cost to £62. Exactly the same train, exactly the same route, but £37 less! (Technically perhaps I should get off the train and get straight back on it again at Basingstoke.)
I’ll arrive at Axminster at 1 p.m., so I could walk to Beer Youth Hostel – 4 or 5 hours – if I wanted. After a night in the hostel, I’ll take the coast path to the start of the cross-isthmus walk at Charmouth, and see what fate has in store for me there.
Having booked the trains and the accommodation, it’s all feeling more real now. Am I actually going to do this?!
- Postscript: After some more experimentation the next day with journey-splitting, got the price down to £58 with three tickets – Leamington Spa to Oxford, Oxford to Basingstoke, Basingstoke to Axminster. Further splitting made the price higher again, but nowhere near the £99 originally quoted. Takes some time fiddling about online, but saves tens-of-pounds.