Lewes to Canary Wharf - ridiculous commute?

[BirdsDoIt]

This is half daydream, half serious question! I’ve been looking at houses in Lewes and wondering if we could move there - currently in SE London with 1 hour commute to work (me) and 45 min commute to work (DH). If we moved, I’d probably be in the office for 2 or 3 days per week, with a marginally longer commute - taking the direct train to Victoria. Not too bad. But would the commute to Canary Wharf be horrific? Looks like about 1 hour 15 mins from Lewes to Canary Wharf but once you’ve faffed around getting there - and factored in delays - is it too much to do four or five days a week? Would be great to hear if anyone does this commute (or used to pre Covid) and how it is in reality. I know we’d see DH less in the week but the upside would be weekends at the beach / in the countryside! And much more space.

Sorry no idea on how stressful the commute would be - but living on the outskirts of Lewes I can confirm that it is a lovely place to live. X

I used to do bracknell to canary wharf which was around the same length of time though without the pretty part 😂 it was hard but fine for a job I loved.

Next London stint was Suffolk border to Barbican which was also similar length but I hated the job so not worth the lengthy commute.

I'd definitely try doing the journey on a normal weekday a few times before making a decision!

@Shouldbeworkingnotreadingtalk that’s good to hear! I think Lewes would be perfect for us - if only it were about 20/30 mins closer to London... Hmm. Need to see if there’s any chance of DH getting more flexible working arrangements! @hilariousnamehere good shout about trying out the commute on a weekday: maybe an Airbnb for the week and see what it’s like. Lots to think about.

My brother and dad have both done it at various times. Lots of people do. The only thing I’d say is that it’s a long commute, southern rail are really really shit (lots of cancellations), and you’ll be standing most of the way (train fills up in Eastbourne).

How long your patience lasts with that I don’t know - I hate long commutes, and don’t plan to live more than an hour away from work again if I can help it. But it may not bother you.

I've commuted intermittently from Seaford to London, so further out and involves changing at Lewes. It was ok for a couple of days a week but no more than that and not now I have children as the trains are too unreliable.

(Sorry, should have mentioned I was working in b Canary Wharf too).

It is definitely not 1hr 15 - I have just come back from Lewes to Brixton this evening, and it took 1hr 45, and I thought we made pretty good time. Allow at least two hours each way, realistically.

What I would hate about it is that you have absolutely no time away from work except for weekends - your whole evenings are spent commuting. Especially if there are cancellations. Realistically, my dad left before we got up and never got home before we went to bed, so we only saw him at weekends. He couldn’t go to the gym or do any hobbies in the week, because he didn’t get home until 9pm. He basically ate tea and went to bed. That was my experience of a (different) long commute too, and I hated it as well. Living close to work has given me about ten hours a week of free time back again.

@ChristmasCarcass that’s my worry - we looked at travel times etc again last night and came to the same conclusion. Sounds like I’d be solo parenting during the week and DH would be knackered from the commute too. Which would really negate the benefits of moving out of London! Back to the drawing board...

Yes, the non-London worker will definitely be doing 95% of the housework and childcare - the commuter just won’t be present enough to split the work 50/50.

For some people that is worthwhile - if the other partner wants to be a SAHP, or wants the dogs-and-horses country lifestyle and is prepared to do all the housework and childcare in return. Lots of parents at my school did that.

I can’t imagine two parents could both work in London and commute. You’d need s live in nanny until the children were basically adults.

DH did the Lewes to London commute for three years, Brighton to London for thirteen years before that (we are now in Sydney). I have very mixed feelings about Lewes tbh, beautiful place but I found people quite insular (I'm not British) and we had a bad experience with the local High School. The Lewes commute turned into a bit of a nightmare but that was partly because of the hours required in DH's job, he often didn't get home until after 9am so I had to stop working (3 kids). The Brighton - London commute in comparison was easy, fast trains, first station so always a seat but unfortunately when we needed a bigger house after an unplanned third child we just couldn't afford what we wanted where we wanted it and I had one child in a primary school in Lewes at the time so it seemed like the obvious choice. Good luck with whatever you decide.

That's nothing! Brighton to Rickmansworth, now that was a long haul five days a week.

I had a colleague who commuted from the outskirts of Worthing to Canary Wharf. Not sure if Lewes would be similar.

He left the house at 6.20am and got to his desk about 8.55am if all ran smoothly. So 5+ hours commute per day.

Twice a week would be doable, you could treat the extra commute as an extra days’ work per week and judge if it’s worth it.

Could you get a train to London Bridge - then it’s just the Jubilee line. Victoria to CW would be a pain.

How about around Haywards Heath/ Burgess Hill/ Balcombe? All on the London to Brighton and around 20 mins outside Lewes

As @Pacmangarlic says, there is only one area in Sussex where the regular commute into London isn't soul destroying and that's the area around haywards heath. Dozens of a trains an hour. Can get a seat on 80% of the rush hour ones if you have flexibility to play around with starting hours. 45 mins into LB or VIC. Even then, the commuting parent will only see their kids for less than an hour a day. So be prepared for that if you are the non-commuting one.