Can you not get cheap advance rail tickets any more ?

[Joolsiam]

Have just logged on to try and grab tickets to Padstow (Bodmin Parkway)from Paddington for November, as they are only bookable from today.

Sadly, there don't seem to be ANY options to book on a specified train time and date and get a vastly reduced price ticket For myself and DP to go down (for my 40th) is going to be £200 - eek. I could fly somewhere hot for that !

I've tried First Great Western, Raileasy, The Trainline and QJump. Are there any other options for getting cheap tickets ?

The only other thing we could do is travel with friends on a Groupsave ticket - that would be half the price, but our friends want to go for the weekend and we wanted to stay longer ...

Any tips gratefully received

I just tried typing those destinations into thetrainline for a couple of dates in November and got quoted £81 for a super off-peak return - will you have to travel during peak hours or something?

Ah - I'm coming from North of London, so rounded up - those are the same prices I've seen

You used to be able to get dirt cheap advance fares if you booked a few weeks in advance - I've gone from Paddington to Cardiff for £22 one way several times and once got an advance First Class ticket for £30 - was hoping for a similar deal on this route

Thanks for looking anyway

Apparently you can sometimes get much cheaper tickets if you split the routes up into sections - there's some useful stuff here

Ooh thankyou

I shall investigate over the weekend and report back

Yes you should be able to. My mum got a first class single London-Edinburgh for £33 a few weeks ago, travelling mid-Sept.

You can never get advances for the furthest date you can book. If you look at 1st November there are loads of singles. Try next week

Thanks GerONTius

I finally twigged that most sites say advance cheapies are available 12 weeks before travel, so will, as you say, try again next week and keep my fingers crossed for a bargain.

It is my 40th birthday celebration, so I was kinda hoping to find a bargain first class ticket and travel down in some style