Clive D. W. Feather wrote:

In article , Tom
Anderson writes
If i buy a ticket from London to Norwich, can i go via Cambridge,

Yes.

and, if it's a standard open return, can i break my journey there on
both legs?

Yes.

I want to cycle from London to Cambridge on saturday morning, take the
train to Norwich in the evening, take it back to Cambridge on sunday
morning, then come back to London on sunday evening. I'm thinking a
single big London - Norwich return is likely to be cheaper than a
Cambridge - Norwich return and a Cambridge - London single.

Cambridge is far enough north that this could be wrong, and you should
check (I'm not on line at the moment, so can't). Also look into the
Anglia Ranger, or whatever it's called now, which is valid from
Cambridge to Norwich and puts a cap on off-peak fares.

Oh, and by 'London', i probably mean 'Finsbury Park'.

Makes little, if any, difference.

Ideally, i'd actually do the Cambridge to London bit on monday morning;
i assume i can't break a Norwich - London return leg overnight, right?

If it's an Open Return, you can. Actually, even if it's a Saver, you can
break the return leg.

Also, what's the story with ticket validity on First's trains from
Cambridge to London these days? I remember there being a thread about
it on utl which seemed to generate more heat than light. I assume it's
business as usual at the weekend, but if i wanted to come back on
monday, would i be unable to use some kinds of tickets? How about my
railcard? Until when?

Most off-peak tickets aren't valid in the morning rush-hour. This won't
apply to a Standard Open Return, and might not apply to a Saver (but
you'd need to ask for the latter).

The big fuss was about new restrictions from London in the evening peak.
This won't affect your plans.


For future reference here's a link to the FCC peak time ticket
restrictions leaflet:
http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/uploads/homepage/DL_Leaflet.pdf
(These are the revised restrictions - i.e. those currently in force -
originally FCC were going to include more stations in the off-peak
ticket ban but changed this after a torrent of complaints.)

There have been multiple threads on uk.railway (and possibly here as
well) regarding how to get around these restrictions - in essence they
would seem to be somewhat incongruous with standard ticketing
conditions.