It's grisly. I I don't mean The Bears . . .

Leaving the politics aside, the profitable and publicly-owned East Coast line has been sadly re-privatised and is back in the hands of The Dark Side.

This morning this resulted in a Horrid Confusion. Looking at the last hurrah of the East Coast booking site, we see that all the fares have pretty much doubled. Same goes for Virgin (ha!) who are the new operator along with Stagecoach (don't even go there . . . )

But. There is light. Oh yea. The Trainline Click here, possums still has tix at correct prices.

Sure, you'll have to splash out on a £0.75 booking fee. But you'll save around £18.00, dependant on yr ticket type. And, uh, age . . .

Get 'em while they're hot!

Well, I've just booked four first class from Montrose to London Kings Cross at a tad over £50 each with the group discount.

By comparison, the Trainline offered those same tickets for £130 each - a total of £520 - and had the cheek to add a booking fee of £1.50, claiming that they were "saving" me £378.

Caveat emptor. I'll stick with the Dark Side and continue to book with East Coast!!

Many thanks for jogging my memory about ticket booking!

I looked up the fare from Montrose to home: £94.00

Montrose to Edinburgh: £16.65 including booking fee
Edinburgh to home: £18.40 with free 1st class postage

Total £35.05

Worth a bit of internet skulduggery!

It's all quite barmy, I got Montrose to Timperley for £35 First Class....because I'm worth it!

And, you can get a Senior Rail Pass

First Transpennine train's website is worth a look - no booking fees and free postage!☺

Tickets from Montrose? Schmickets from Montrose!

Some of us have had the foresight to arrange for a beautiful lady in an MG to meet us ...

... I just hope my rucksack will fit in the boot