Getting There

[pensnest]

I don't know at what point it's appropriate to start talking about travel arrangements, so it may as well be now!

Our booking actually starts at 4pm on the Friday evening, but apparently there is a pub about half a mile away (looks as though it is called the Craven Arms), and I propose that those of us who travel to Ludlow earlier that day should make our way to this pub and have a convivial luncheon there.

We have to be out of the place by 10 on Monday morning (though I imagine many if not most of you will leave at some point on Sunday).

Anyway, the point of this post is,Travel Arrangements. Can I suggest that people comment to this thread with things like

- where in the UK you're travelling from, and when you expect to be travelling

- if you have discovered a convenient and reasonably-priced means of making the journey via public transport, do share the details

- if you can give a lift/would appreciate a lift. If there are some who can collect others on the way, I'm sure suitable arrangements regarding petrol can be made.

ephemera_pop and I were discussing travel arrangements a few weeks ago - unfortunately her might-have-been-available minibus Is No More. But perhaps there is among the London contingent someone who would be willing to hire a car for the weekend, and could make it a peoplecarrier, and thus bring a good handful of you? I know there are several London-dwellers who, ahem, will be signing up, and probably some of our Euro-sparklers will be flying in, and glad of a journey in company. Cost shared between six or seven ought to be quite reasonable, and a lot more convenient than trains.

It may well be necessary for us to figure out who will be dashing off to not-too-distant bus or railway stations to pick up people, so if you're planning on driving and are willing to be drafted for this duty, say so!

I hope this will be a reasonably easy way for us all to figure out where we can help each other. At least, it should provide a place to start.


The postcode of the cottage is SY7 0HH, if you want to check it on www.streetmap.co.uk, and I'll put up a reminder of this, plus the directions I have received, when we get into March.

Comments

[pensnest]

Actually, I'll start. I live a little way north of London, and I'm planning on heading to Ludlow by car on Friday morning. I may have one passenger seat booked already (hi, ninjetti75); given that I will be taking quite a bit of Stuff with me, in the form of Food, I can't guarantee having room for more than one further passenger (who is welcome to stay chez Pen on Thursday night). Turlough, possibly?

However, I am most handily situated for Luton Airport, so if anyone is intending to arrive there on Thursday or earlyish on Friday, I could be better employed collecting you from there (other visitors will be able to join the from-London contingent). Or, of course, delivering you back there on the Monday - I am intending to stay at the cottage on Sunday night.

[turlough]

Oh yes, please! *uses the Adorable Kitty Eyes of Doom* As I've said before, I'm staying with my sister and I'm arriving in London late Tuesday afternoon and will leave from London on the following Tuesday afternoon. (Unfortunately by way of Heathrow which is situated at the other end of London from were my sister lives, but flying to and from London Airport was much more expensive.)

[stellamira]

If I can actually get off my ass and book a flight, I'll be coming in 7:25, Friday morning, to Stansted airport, which might or might not be near London. There are also shuttle busses (and possibly trains) to London center. To be frank, I have not found a way at all yet how to get to Ludlow by public transport, because I can't figure out how British busses and trains work. A little pointer would be appreciated.

Alternatively, and if there's no other way of being picked up, I was thinking about maybe hiring a car (even though I'm not so hot about driving on the left side...), if there are enough people who'd join me. I think if there are 4 or 5 people, it might not be that expensive. And definitely faster. In any case, I can probably provide a navigation system, very handy for driving in foreign countries.

[turlough]

rikes, iconis, and cardalia from Finland and bubbleforest will all arrive at Stanstead around noon on Friday, as you can see below. Perhaps you can arrange something together?

[ephemera-pop.livejournal.com]

if the Stanstead contingent can't find a hire option that works, there's three of the London Contingent coming from the same side of London, and I'm very happy to a) meet up and cat-herd and b) and help people figure out the travel systems ...

[nopseud]

I live in the East Midlands near Leicester, and I'll be driving down to Ludlow on Friday morning and back home on Monday morning. My Other Half also intends to come to Camp Sparkle, unless prevented by work. Assuming he can make it, we'll have two cars available between us, which means up to six passenger spaces.

I'm happy to put people up here for a night or two beforehand. I can pick people up from East Midlands airport, or from Leicester or (preferably) Hinckley stations. Possibly one of us can also make a detour to Birmingham airport on the way to/from Ludlow, especially if there are two or three people arriving there at roughly the same time.

[rikes]

I'll arrive at Stansted on Friday at 12:15, and leave from Stansted on Monday at 17:50. I would definitely appreciate a lift both ways, or at least good tips for the best possible public transport method.

This applies to cardalia and iconis as well, unless they state otherwise. :)

[cardalia.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm on this flight as well. And like rikes said, tips on the best way to get to/from Ludlow would be great. If a bunch of us hiring a car would be the best/cheapest option then count me in as long as I don't have to drive. *g*

[bubbleforest.livejournal.com]

It looks like I'll be arriving at Stansted at 11.20, if you guys want to meet up? Help a Danish girl who's pretty much never traveled on her own before? :)

[stellamira]

I'll already be at Stansted when your flight comes in, and saba1789 too, if I remember her flight times correctly. I'm sure we can all meet up somewhere.

[rikes]

Of course! sheherazade_ii is coming from Denmark as well, so in case you're on the same flight you'll be able to get company even earlier. :)


(Also RE: car rental - no, I won't drive either. :D)

[bubbleforest.livejournal.com]

I haven't exactly ordered my ticket yet (slacker!), but ideally I'll be arriving at Stansted at 11.20 on Friday and have to be back on the plane at 6.15pm on Sunday. I'm coming from Denmark, if anyone is from here as well maybe we could figure something out. :)

People have already asked from directions to/from Ludlow I see, so I guess I don't need to ask that. I'll just go back to biting my nails. Yay Camp Sparkle!

[pensnest]

It looks as though there is a sizeable Stansted contingent, then - if you can find a driver among you, I'm sure that hiring a vehicle will be by far the easiest, quickest and cheapest way to get to Ludlow. And also, probably a nice fun way to start the weekend!

I think I counted seven of you (so far), and a minibus (seats 12) would be £165 or so for the weekend, which works out at about £24 each (plus petrol, mileage is included but there may be optional extra insurance). And as with Camp Sparkle itself, if more people join in, everyone gets a better deal. I also looked at 'people carriers' and they are fractionally more expensive (£168) for a 7-person car, and quite a lot more for an 8-person car, though undoubtedly more comfortable, and probably more familiar to drive than a minibus. If it turned out that having two vehicles would make more sense (I suspect it depends on when your return flights will be, and how many drivers there are!), the smallest class of estate car (lots of luggage room!) is £108, and non-estate cars are available for well under £100, obviously variable depending on what you want. Again, compared to public transport, this is a *very* good bet.

The site I'm looking at is http://www.thrifty.co.uk though I haven't checked all the options to see whether that is the cheapest.

[nopseud]

I was looking at 5th Gear, which seemed to give some reasonable prices too:

http://www.car-rental-hire.co.uk/car-hire-stansted.htm

Hiring group transpot seems like a very good option at the moment -- the train journey is both long and expensive.

[rikes]

Can you even drive a minibus with a normal driver's license in Britain? Because as far as I know, you can't in Finland.

Isn't there anyone coming from London who could drive us? Because apart from the apparent lack of drivers this would be fabulous.

[cardalia.livejournal.com]

The renting site that nopseud linked to says so about minibuses:

Passanger carrying vehicles including minibuses
Driving Licence Category D (9 or more passenger seats) or Category D1 (9 to 16 passenger seats). All drivers of minibuses (9-16 passenger seats) are required to hold a valid driving licence showing either Group A on an old style UK Licence or Category B & D or D1 on a new EC style Licence issued in any EU Country. Drivers who passed the car test (Category B) after 1 January 1997 and who wish to drive a minibus are required to take a further Statutory Driving test for vehicles in Category D or D1. A further Driving Test may be required to tow a trailer (Category E). However; certain drivers who passed the car test (Category B) after 1 January 1997 are permitted to drive a vehicle in Category D1 (minibuses) without the need for a further test so long as the following conditions are met:-

# A full driving licence has been held for at least two years
# The driver receives no payment (or any other consideration) other than out of pocket expenses (i.e they are a volunteer)
# The vehicle is driven for social purposes only
# There is no trailer attached
# The maximum authorised mass (mam) of the vehicle does not exceed 3.5 tonnes, or if fitted with specialised equipment used for disabled passengers, does not exceed 4.25 tonnes.

So apparently someone with a B license (like me) could drive a minibus. Am I reading this right? But the problem is that minibus riders need to be 25 years old. This is the point where I'm disqualified.

[stellamira]

I don't think a minibus is possible. I, at least, only have a driver's licence for class whatever, and I can't drive around more than 8 people. But I think without ninjetti75 and turloughishere, we are exactly 7 people coming from outside of the UK. At least of the ones who have registered yet, so that might work out (if we find a driver, that is...).

Do you know how much the public transport would be?

[simply-fly-away.livejournal.com]

I'm still looking into public transport (I'd much rather sleep away the journey than drive!) but at the moment it looks like I'll be driving down/across from North Lincolnshire, a journey the AA tells me will take just over 3 1/2 hours. I think I might have a trumpeterofdoom along for the ride. I'm aiming to get there before lunch on Friday (if traffic, weather and family commitments all fall into place, that is.) My car is tiny but I'm good for collecting people from stations, etc, if I arrive in time.

[trumpeterofdoom.livejournal.com]

There's a possible complication to this. My one and only class in the week for this term is scheduled to end only at 2.15pm on a Friday afternoon, and including time to the station and collecting my bags from my room and such, probably would only reach the station at around 4pm or so. Including the travelling time by train (if it's too late for Charlie) I'll arrive in Ludlow around 9pmish and definitely will need a ride from the station. And that's just too late.

Then again it's not uncommon to have classes rescheduled for the last week of term (which is when Camp Sparkle happens), and no English student in their right mind would want their last class in uni EVER to be on a Friday afternoon, so there's a big possibility that the class will be rescheduled. I'll know this by next Saturday. Barring that happening, I can always attend the seminar for the other group or something.

My other issue here is that I'll be continuing on to London from Ludlow after Camp Sparkle. I'm meeting a friend in London and vacationing for a week with her there, and a ride to anywhere with a train or tube station is muchly appreciated. I'll also need to leave fairly early on Monday and I'm not so sure if that's going to be an issue. (I'll already have left my friend in London for one day on her own, so I'm already feeling bad for her, but, Camp Sparkle!)

[saffronra.livejournal.com]

Well, me and seiyaharris will be travelling together from London (though not entirely sure when yet) and neither of us drive. So offers of lifts would be greatly appreciated. If not, I'm sure we'll cope by public transport.

Prices I'm pulling up for the moment for London to Ludlow tickets (return) on the train are £33.65 with a young persons railcard, £51 without a railcard. From London Paddington and includes a change at Newport Gwent.

As for coaches, I'm drawing a blank.

[ephemera-pop.livejournal.com]

I'm doing the same trip, up Friday and back Sunday, and am about to dig into the coach options. Why is rail so damned expensive?

[saba1789.livejournal.com]

Um, like stellamira already mentioned somewhere my flight lands in London Stansted too (at 10:25am to be exact) and so I'd need transport from there to Ludlow too.
My flight back is on Monday at 6:45pm btw.

[stellamira]

So, what do you say, car, train or coach?

[rikes]

Nationalexpress.com doesn't recognize Ludlow. What do you suggest that I search for instead? I tried Stansted - Birmingham and got some pretty good coaches. Even with no changes, imagine that! But Birmingham's still pretty far away,

[nopseud]

How about a coach to Birmingham, and then a train to Ludlow?