Dover to London via Southampton?

[I Luv Crusin]

We are arriving back to Dover the beginning of July.  My husband's grandmother was from Southhampton and he'd like to visit.  He'd like us to get transportation from the port to Southhampton, probably spend a night and then onto London for a day or so before flying home. 

 

Any suggestions of the best way of doing this?  (Not sailing until 2021)

 

thank you!

[Bob++]

All public transport between the two ports goes via London. If it were me, I would do it the other way around; Dover to London, stay a few nights and then train or coach to Southampton. It's then easy to get a coach from Southampton to Heathrow.

 

I suggest you have a look at a map before you decide.

[John Bull]

As Bob has posted, Dover to Southampton by bus or train means into central London and out again.

And Heathrow is west of central London, the direction of Southampton.

So I agree with his suggestion of making Southampton your last full day,.

 

Take either the direct train from Dover Priory to London Victoria train station (fare £38), or the direct National Express bus from Dover town centre  to London Victoria coach station (slower than the train but  the fare as little as £5)

Hotel in the Victoria area (good location for London sight-seeing and wide range of lodgings)

On your last full day, the direct Nat Express bus from Victoria to Southampton coach station (fare as little as £5)

Southampton hotel overnight (a lot cheaper than central London).

Then direct Nat Express bus from Southampton to Heathrow (fare £21.50)

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

 

Using National Express means that incorporating a visit to Southampton will add very little to your costs - in fact the cheaper hotel cost might outweigh the bus fares.

But it does take a chunk of your time. 

Is it worth the effort?

I'm local - are there any parts of Southampton you particularly want to see?

The city's probably changed a lot since grandma's day, Two of my childhood homes no longer exist, and it'd be a shame if you were to travel down only to find that grandma's house is now the site of an office block or a flyover.

 

JB 

 

[Highpeaklad]

Can you fly home from Southampton? 

[John Bull]

48 minutes ago, Highpeaklad said:

Can you fly home from Southampton? 

 

Good thought, but no cigar.

Southampton airport only handles domestic & european flights

( I seem to recall some years ago a jumbo with technical issues making a precautionary landing at Southampton - a lot of grief lightening the load so that it could take off again !).

 

It's possible to fly from Southampton to a European hub like Paris or Amsterdam then switch to a trans-Atlantic flight, but unless folk want to visit those places en-route it's simpler & cheaper to fly home direct from London's Heathrow or Gatwick airports.

 

JB 

[scottbee]

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

Good thought, but no cigar.

Southampton airport only handles domestic & european flights

( I seem to recall some years ago a jumbo with technical issues making a precautionary landing at Southampton - a lot of grief lightening the load so that it could take off again !).

 

It's possible to fly from Southampton to a European hub like Paris or Amsterdam then switch to a trans-Atlantic flight, but unless folk want to visit those places en-route it's simpler & cheaper to fly home direct from London's Heathrow or Gatwick airports.

 

I can't find any record of that JB; and I can't recall ever hearing about a widebody at SOU.  I have a friend who worked at Swanick ATC and lives in Eastleigh, and he would have mentioned that sort of thing.

 

Also if they were having issues in the area, BOH's runway is somewhat longer, and gets frequent 747s (The Qatari's 747 was often there)

[John Bull]

13 minutes ago, scottbee said:

 

I can't find any record of that JB; and I can't recall ever hearing about a widebody at SOU.  I have a friend who worked at Swanick ATC and lives in Eastleigh, and he would have mentioned that sort of thing.

 

Also if they were having issues in the area, BOH's runway is somewhat longer, and gets frequent 747s (The Qatari's 747 was often there)

 

Hi Scotbee,

 

Yes, BOH has even had a Concorde 

Chartered by a Bournemouth T/A for a trip to distant lands (USA?), it had to fly out of elsewhere (LHR?) because BOH was too short to take off with full passenger-load and tanks. But the return flight landed at BOH - from there it could take off without passengers and a (figurative) thimble-full of fuel to get to to LHR or CDG or wherever. 

That I do remember.

 

But OK, I'm hazy about a 747 at Southampton.

An aircraft way too big to operate out of SOU, which dropped in due to a technical issue.

But it was many years ago and 747 was a guess.

 

Just checked around the web.

Thought I was exonerated when I saw that The Donald flew into SOU on Airforce One a few months ago for the D-Dy commemorations. .

But "Airforce One" is any aircraft the Pres happens to be in, and the 747 being too big "Airforce One" was given to a C-32A (military version of a 757-200) 

 

JB 

[scottbee]

6 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Yes, BOH has even had a Concorde 

Chartered by a Bournemouth T/A for a trip to distant lands (USA?), it had to fly out of elsewhere (LHR?) because BOH was too short to take off with full passenger-load and tanks. But the return flight landed at BOH - from there it could take off without passengers and a (figurative) thimble-full of fuel to get to to LHR or CDG or wherever. 

That I do remember.

 

But OK, I'm hazy about a 747 at Southampton.

An aircraft way too big to operate out of SOU, which dropped in due to a technical issue.

But it was many years ago and 747 was a guess.

 

Just checked around the web.

Thought I was exonerated when I saw that The Donald flew into SOU on Airforce One a few months ago for the D-Dy commemorations. .

But "Airforce One" is any aircraft the Pres happens to be in, and the 747 being too big "Airforce One" was given to a C-32A (military version of a 757-200) 

 

 

The 757 is quite a hot-rod, often using less runway than the smaller 737.  Not surprised it got in/out of SOU.  Likely stopped at PIK for fuel before heading home.

 

As for runway length; SOU s 5600',  BOH is 7400' and LHR's are 12000 and 12800'.

 

I'd forgotten about Concorde into BOH; thanks for reminding me

 

 

 

 

 

[Bob++]

JB, I wonder if this is the incident you were thinking of?

 

 

Quote

Monday 29 December 2014 16:27

 

A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 has landed safely after being forced to make a “non-standard landing procedure” at Gatwick because of a landing gear problem.

The Jumbo jet, flight number VS43, took off at 11.44am for the 5,200-mile flight to Las Vegas. It is believed that the flight crew became aware of a problem with the landing gear soon after take-off. 

The aircraft had been flying circuits over Sussex while dumping fuel to reduce its weight. The drama has caused chaos at the Sussex airport where dozens of flights have been, or will be, delayed or diverted affecting thousands of passengers. 

Soon after 3pm the aircraft descended to 2,000ft to fly over Southampton airport so that air-traffic controllers could look at the undercarriage and report its condition to the pilots.

 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Bob++

[John Bull]

16 minutes ago, Bob++ said:

JB, I wonder if this is the incident you were thinking of?

 

 

 

 

Hi Bob,

 

No, not that one.

Or the more widely-reported emergency landing at Southampton when a cockpit window blew out & the captain was held half-in half-out (he survived)

https://home.bt.com/news/on-this-day/june-10-1990-miracle-of-ba-flight-5390-as-captain-is-sucked-out-of-the-cockpit-and-survives-11363985642960

 

But the incident that you mention reminds me of something I don't understand.

In these days when mini cc tv's monitor me walking into my own property, wandering around shops, driving in bus lanes and such, why aren't cameras fitted to vantage points on the aircraft for just such situations??? Including occasions when passengers have to alert the crew to a problem and a cockpit crew-member comes back to look out of a window, or one a few years back in the Midlands when an engine failed & the crew switched off the wrong engine. 

 

Back to the over-size aircraft that made a precautionary landing at Southampton.

Can't remember. And no clues on the web.

Mebbe it was before the web.

Or more likely muddling two incidents in a seriously-suspect memory. 

Whatever - I don't actually believe than aircraft can fly, yet I'm on one next week. So no more on the subject from me 'til we're safely back in Blighty. 

 

JB 

 

[Bob++]

I thought this might be you JB

 

 

The very first aircraft to take off from the Southampton Airport site belonged to local man, Edwin Rowland Moon. Edwin made and tested the Moonbeam II aircraft on the North Stoneham Farm Meadows

 

[John Bull]

Ahhh, Edwin Rowland Moon, aviation pioneer of this parish.

 

He built the aircraft in a corner of the Wool House, on Town Quay, where the family had a boat-building business.

If anyone remembers the Southampton Maritime Museum which closed a few years back when the SeaCity museum opened at the Civic Centre, or has frequented the Dancing Man pub and micro-brewery which took its place, it's the self-same building which has had a variety of uses since it was built as a wool warehouse back in the 14th Century.

 

That photo also reproduced in this little history of the building.

https://www.dancingmanbrewery.co.uk/wool-house-history/

 

JB