England Travel Forum

Hi, I'm going to England soon with a bunch of friends. We'll be arriving at Harwich at 20:00. From there we'll have to take the train and bus to London. We'll arrive in London at about 0:18 (I was very surprised at this... ***ty public transport system, anyone?).

The problem is, we're staying in Canterbury, and, according to NS international, there's no train to take us there after 23:00 or so.

Could we take the bus? If so, where can I find more information about it? Or is it possible to take the train?

Any help would be appreciated.

yep, in most EUropean countries, the mass transit stops running around midnight. It ain't New Yawk! the subways are much cleaner for it, and the people adjust their lives to it. I have heard that there is some skeleton bus service in the downtown London area. One of our English colleagues is sure to offer you more pinpoint advice.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm looking at the different services right now, and I've found something:

http://www.nxea.trainsfares.co.uk/Buy_Tickets/matrix/journey_details.asp?jindex=1&jtype=Outward_Journey&SLFLG=false&T2ID=3176_2008718144519

Just one thing bothers me: It would mean arriving AND leaving at Liverpool Street at 22:42. Am I missing something here or is that impossible?

Nevermind the last post, the link isn't working correctly and I've found a train which pretty much goes straight to London.

Still, it arrives at 22:42 at Liverpool St and we can't find a train to take us to Canterbury before the next day after that. We've tried looking for taxis, but we're having a lot of trouble with that... we can't find a single website for it.

You could try sorting out your journey on www.traveline.org.uk

It might be far less hassle to book into a Premier Inn or Travelodge in Harwich and complete the journey the following morning.

Thanks for the replies.

The train trip to London is set. We have two options:

1. Going to Canterbury by taxi
2. Staying in London at a hotel

The taxi will only pick us up from the train station if we have a creditcard, for some ridiculous reason. We don't have a creditcard.

We've found a hotel to stay at in London, and the subway should take us close to it. So, the next question is: Is there any paying/reservation *** at subways in London? I'm hoping to just hop aboard, pay the fee and go where I want to go.

...Unless anyone knows a taxi company which will bring us from the Liverpool St station to Canterbury east station without any creditcard hassle.

(sorry for the double post)

You would be able to pick up a taxi in London either at the station or your hotel - if you stay in one - and pay in cash for an agreed fare.

But it is about 60 miles from London to Canterbury so a 120 mile round trip for the taxi driver - it would be a LOT of cash given the high fuel costs, not to mention the driver's time, wear & tear on the vehicle etc!

Much better to stay in Harwich and travel the next day by public transport. A London hotel will cost more than one in Harwich.

The train trip to London has already been set. It came with the ferry. I called two taxi companies, both will only pick me up at a "public place" if I have a creditcard. Which I don't.

Right now we're thinking about staying in London for one night. We've found decent prices we're willing to pay, but they're whining about creditcards as well.

I'm sure it wouldn't be any different in Harwich anyway.

I am pretty sure they would accept cash.Ask them what their fare will be and have it ready to hand over when they collect you from your London Hotel. ( The Hotel should be able to book the Taxi for you)

I think you can just about do it. I have a few ideas for you to work on.

Go to http://nationalrail.co.uk/ and modify your searches. it might make a difference depending on which day you are arriving. Weekend times are often slightly different to those during the week. The website allows lots of time to get from one mainline station to another, several of the connections are not necessarily the quickest route.

Liverpool Street Station is not far from London Bridge Station where many of the trains you want will call on the way out of London. About 5 to 10 minutes by taxi possibly £10. Try a few searches for trains to Canterbury, remember Canterbury West is also fairly central in Canterbury so try for routes to there as well.

Some later trains which may not go all the way to Canterbury terminate at Ashford International or Faversham 15 miles and 11 miles away respectively you could then get a taxi which will not be cheap but much less than from London.

Give it a try, good luck.

The last London to Canterbury train is at 23.11 but it leaves from Victoria. A taxi from Liverpool Street to Victoria would not make it in time. You really do need to travel the next day. I guess you are from Holland as you mention NS International - if you are remember this is a large country in comparison to Holland and there is not a great need for overnight travel - if there was the train companies would offer it. The transport system is genrally good despite what some newspapers and people may say - for example the UK has Europes newest train fleet.

It seems that trains are completely unavailable after midnight. Considering the time it takes to get to Canterbury, the last train to Canterbury East and West depart at about 21:30, from any station in London. It's really not going to happen.

But thanks for the more specific info, that's exactly what I need.

Last train from London Bridge to Canterbury 23.08, to Faversham, 23.29 and to Ashford international 23.38. Should be able to make all of these.

When are you arriving Gessie?

The lack of an edit function is pretty annoying. :P

My comment about specific info was directed at chrishc.

Britannia, as you said, that's too far, it would take too long. But I'll correct: My comment about 21:30 was about nearby stations. :P

And compared to the Netherlands, the British public transport system is quite flawed, regardless of the reasons.

Hi there! If you go into www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk you'll find a couple of options. Provided your ferry arrives on time here's your journey:

Train from Harwich International Port at 2106 towards London iverpool Street.

Get off at Stratford (arrives 2244) and change to the underground.

Take the first Jubilee Line train to London Bridge and walk round to London Bridge railway Station.

Provided the tube is running OK you should then be able to catch the 2308 train towards Dover. Change at Ashford and catch the 0057 to Canterbury West which arrives at 0118. From Canterbury West it is about a 15 minute walk into the city (and there should be a taxi around to meet the train if necessary).

Traveline has several other options and is well worth looking at as the ferry is sometimes early (and sometimes late).

PS There's nothing wrong with our transport system you just need to know where the information is.

Cheers, John.

"Last train from London Bridge to Canterbury 23.08"
Not on Sunday, unfortunately.

"When are you arriving Gessie?"
This Sunday. Yeah, I know how stupid that is of me.

"Hi there! If you go into www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk you'll find a couple of options."
I'm suddenly finding a whole lot more options than when I searched earlier. Odd. Maybe I did something wrong.

Anyway, that's very helpful. Thanks a lot.

P.S. Sorry for being a bit of a hothead today, I've been trying to settle the trip for a full week now, and only today did I come across the more NS-like websites (meaning less specific and thus more helpful).

HeHe! You should have said it was on a Sunday! Yep, then our system all goes to pot! Anyway hope you can get yourself sorted out and enjoy your trip. Cheers, John.

"And compared to the Netherlands, the British public transport system is quite flawed, regardless of the reasons."

So if I arrived at the Hook of Holland at 2000 I would have no problem at all in reaching a provincial city 150 miles away, by train, where there is no direct connecting route owing to the geography?

Previous poster John has it right - but if the travel is at a weekend there are quite likely to be delays and buses instead of trains (the original post did not state the day of arrival) which would affect the journey. There is a big programme of renewing the electrical equipment on the Ipswich - London railway line. This causes the line to be completely closed from time to time; the equipment is rather ancient and prone to failure, which is why it is being replaced.

I did that style of journey several times when I lived in the UK and I concur with the previous suggestions - on weekdays and Saturdays the 2106 from Harwich International (which is the boat dock) gets to London Liverpool Street at 2236. There is plenty of time to take a bus or taxi the short distance over the river to London Bridge Station. Time for a drink even, then there is the 2338 London Bridge to Ashford arriving 0055, with a connecting train from there to Canterbury West leaving at 0058 arriving at 0118.

It's only a definite problem on Sundays and Holidays. Although the trains run every 30/60 minutes throughout the day, the last trains are earlier than other days and that journey would not be possible at that hour.

The issue about taxis and credit cards is for security. Would you (if a taxi driver) pick up a bunch of people in the middle of the night,wanting to go 60 miles into the darkest countryside,with no idea who they were? I certainly would not, not in the UK in this day and age.

And I cannot remember the last time a hotel, even a modest establishment, would even let me in the door without taking credit card imprints, passports and who knows what.

Oh well, off the soapbox.

Have a nice day in reality everyone.

"So if I arrived at the Hook of Holland at 2000 I would have no problem at all in reaching a provincial city 150 miles away, by train, where there is no direct connecting route owing to the geography? "
Sure. And you wouldn't need a creditcard, either. At 20:00 you'd probably be able to get to the other extreme corner of the Netherlands, but definitely to Groningen, even on Sundays.

But let's not discuss this further, I don't have the time to get into a serious discussion right now.

"(the original post did not state the day of arrival)"
Yeah, sorry about that.

"The issue about taxis and credit cards is for security. Would you (if a taxi driver) pick up a bunch of people in the middle of the night,wanting to go 60 miles into the darkest countryside,with no idea who they were? I certainly would not, not in the UK in this day and age."
Is the UK really that much more dangerous than other EU countries? It'd have to be pretty bad. That's definitely something to keep in mind.

I'm sorry that you didn't take my advice and try your journey on www.traveline.org.uk becuase I have done a random journey on a Sunday and have come up with the following. If you arrive in London just after mid-night, then you will have to hang around until 03.41 (on a Monday morning) but you will be in Canterbury by 06.36. I have cut and pasted the timetable for you, as below. You can find alternative schedules at the suggested website.

28th Jul
0341
Bus
28th Jul
0415

Waterloo Station Stop E
Take London Bus N1
towards Thamesmead, Bentham Road / Titmuss Avenue
and get off at Woolwich Arsenal Station Stop N

Average journey time - 34 mins

Map

Timetable


28th Jul
0421
Bus
28th Jul
0455

Woolwich Arsenal Station Stop O
Take London Bus 96
towards Bluewater, Bus Station
and get off at Dartford, Home Gardens Stop C

Average journey time - 34 mins

Map

Bus Map

Timetable


28th Jul
0456
Footpath


Dartford, Home Gardens [SMS Code: kntawaga]
Walk about 10 mins to Dartford Rail Station.

Map



28th Jul
0506
Train


Dartford Rail Station
Take Southeastern Train
towards Dover Priory Rail Station
and get off at Canterbury East Rail Station

Map

Timetable


28th Jul
0619
Footpath

Canterbury East Rail Station
PLUSBUS integrated train & bus ticket available via this station - visit www.plusbus.info

Then walk for about 17 mins to the centre of Canterbury

Map



28th Jul
0636

Canterbury

"I'm sorry that you didn't take my advice and try your journey on www.traveline.org.uk"
The website was giving me a hard time earlier. Or so I thought. Turned out to be a script blocker my friend had installed.

"If you arrive in London just after mid-night, then you will have to hang around until 03.41 (on a Monday morning) but you will be in Canterbury by 06.36."
Not exactly ideal. Especially if taxi drivers are too scared to even pick people up from the street.

But thanks for the reply anyway.

"I'm sorry that you didn't take my advice and try your journey on www.traveline.org.uk"
The website was giving me a hard time earlier. Or so I thought. Turned out to be a script blocker my friend had installed.

"If you arrive in London just after mid-night, then you will have to hang around until 03.41 (on a Monday morning) but you will be in Canterbury by 06.36."
Not exactly ideal. Especially if taxi drivers are too scared to even pick people up from the street.

But thanks for the reply anyway.

The trip is set, we've packet our stuff and we're good to go tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the help everyone.

From what I can see you could take the following trains & cabs;

2053 Harwich to Manningtree 2114
2118 Manningtree to London Liverpool Street 2242

Don't try and get off at Stratford and take the Jubilee line tube as it's closed this weekend. I would then taking a taxi (cost £6-10) from the rank outside Liverpool St station to London Bridge railway station where you can catch the following train;

2338 London Bridge to Ashford International 0043

At Ashford you have little choice but to catch a cab onwards to your destination in Canterbury but this shouldn't cost any more than £40 with United Taxis and you should be at your destination by about 0130.

http://www.unitedtaxis.co.uk/

Hope that helps and you don't take any negative comments on here to heart, unless you are very specific people can waste their time for by looking up things for people posting on forums and occasionally get annoyed by doing so. Enjoy your stay in the UK.

Clive

As you are "now good to go", it would be interesting to know what route you are taking! Btw, taxis in a rank outside train stations will always pick you up and take you to somewhere in London e.g. transferring from Liverpool Street to Victoria. I hope you have warned your hotel that you will be arriving late, as even if you have booked byh a credit card and they willhold the booking, some places will cancel the booking if you haven't arrived by a certain time e.g. midnight.