Day Trips from London
 
 
That'll Be the Day!
 
It's here. The Summer 2012 Day Trips from London Programme!
 

And look, if you know the score, and just want to know what's on when – just click here for a table, laid out in chronological order, of all the out-of-town trips we'll be running from April through October 2012 in the London Walks programme.  And a tip of the hat to walker Chuck B. who came up with idea ("please set them all out in order in a single table"). 

 
But for any newbies, well, let's bash out here a quick purview of the practicals – cost, modus operandi, etc.
 
First thing to say is: our Day Trips from London are hugely different – "better different" – from coach tours.  We're a niche operator in the matter of out-of-town trips. But what a niche! Here, at last, is "the third way"– the real alternative. For which there was a crying need. (You want an analogy: it's the difference between factory farming and "small is beautiful" organic farming.)
 
Not to put too fine a point on it, we've slipped the surly bonds of the motorway and the coach!
 
And, for that matter, ditto the other end of that dismal spectrum: the headache and expense of hiring a car – or hiring a costs-an-arm-and-a-leg driver-guide. (For the record, we've even come through for you in the matter of driver-guide pricing – but for that band of the London Walks rainbow you need to click here.)
 
You want it in four words: we go by train.
 
It's fastly superior. It's much more comfortable. It's much faster (which of course means there's time to properly see the places you're paying to see). And it costs less. So it's win win win.
 
Cue the cost: we break the cost of a London Walks Day Trip from London into two parts (so you can see exactly what you're getting for your money).  What we call the Tariff is the cost of the fares (and any relevant admission charges). On top of that, there's the guide's fee, which is £16 for adults; £14 for students and over 65s; and £12 for people with the London Walks Discount Card. Kids under 15 go free (in the matter of the guide's fee).
 
So if you add together the guide's fee and the Tariff (which of course is different for every destination – to see the Tariff for any given destination simply look at the tail end of the "blurb" for that destination) – that will give you the total cost of the trip. But please do be aware that the Tariff we list is the full adult one – there very often are further reductions for Seniors and students. And there are always significant further reductions for kids.
 
As for modus operandi – we do two entirely different guided walks on every* Day Trip from London. One right after we "detrain", i.e., reach our destination. And a second one in the afternoon after lunch. Then there's a bit of free time – to do a spot of shopping or have a cream tea or visit a museum or go off photographing or just do some general freelancing. Then we meet up again. Hop on the train. And hey presto we're back in London in time to catch a show. Usually about 6.30 pm. In one or two cases quite a bit before 6.30  pm. Sometimes a bit before, sometimes a bit after. we have one or two trips – Stratford, for example – that are late returners (well, late by our standards, i.e., 8 pm, certainly not by the 10 pm or 10.30 pm of some coach trips). But we always make it clear – on the blurbs – when a trip is a "late returner".
 
*The Bletchley Park trip is the exception that proves the rule. Because that site is such a cornucopia of wonders it's important that people have a hefty block of free time after lunch for whatever it is up there that takes their fancy. So that one's a singleton. But some singleton. It's an extremely comprehensive, over-arching, extensive, full-on Introduction to Bletchley Park Tour. Takes the whole morning and then some – even with our early start.
 
Okay, those are the practicals. Herewith the programme:
 
The moveable feast day for us is Saturday. In short, it's a different destination every Saturday. Click here for the Saturday Day Trips schedule.
 
The Monday Day Trips schedule is partly so (a moveable feast, I mean). There's lots of variety there, depending on the date. But on every other Monday (from May 14 through October 1) we go to Cambridge.
 
On Tuesdays we go to Stonehenge & Salisbury
 
On Wednesdays we go to Oxford & the Cotswolds (from April 11 through October 17)
 
On Thursdays we go to Bath (from May 17 through September 27)
 
On selected Sundays we go to The Cotswolds or Bletchley Park or St. Albans
 
On Fridays we rest.
  
Ok, scroll down for the full programme, including the Saturday cornucopia.
 

                                                Photo by Michael Gray
 

Bath – Roman Baths to Georgian Elegance

Bletchley Park 

Cambridge – "can such places be?"
 
Charles Dickens Christmas Festival
 
 
St. Albans – "an England in miniature"