GOGSoc Episode V: The GOG Strikes Back

The X5!

It always feels as though two out of those three hours on the X5 are spent meandering through Milton Keynes / waiting for the new driver in Bedford while you're freezing to death because the first driver just left the bloody door open.

It always feels as though two out of those three hours on the X5 are spent meandering through Milton Keynes / waiting for the new driver in Bedford while you're freezing to death because the first driver just left the bloody door open.

I did once drive from Cambridge to Oxford via Milton Keynes in a bit over an hour and a half. Sometimes I was even under the speed limit

Is there a route without so many roundabouts? I counted 36, at least!

Yeah..erm...taking the train I think. I have no patience for awkward road journeys and will use the chance to work on my thesis.

Don't do that. Taking the train is more awkward. It will take just as long because you need to make 2-3 changes between Oxford and Cambridge. Plus it'll be about ten times more expensive.

Don't do that. Taking the train is more awkward. It will take just as long because you need to make 2-3 changes between Oxford and Cambridge. Plus it'll be about ten times more expensive.

Don't you just get a train from Oxford to Paddington and then hop across to some other Central London station and take a train to Cambridge? Not too difficult, unless you were thinking of a different route?

Don't you just get a train from Oxford to Paddington and then hop across to some other Central London station and take a train to Cambridge? Not too difficult, unless you were thinking of a different route? Plus booking in advance with a Young Person's railcard and the price should be OK. My college daughter used to do that and travel quite cheaply and reasonably easily

On the oxford cambridge journey, I was wondering whether unless you had some need to go through mk, that it would be faster to take the m40 down to m25 and then the orbital across to a1m and through to cambridge, and then thats what google maps came up with to! Far less roundabouts as well and probably quicker. But that's all academic as the x5 will continue to take the same route and the same three hours.

I remember reading about that in Private Eye yonks ago. I didn't realise the X5 was so bad too, it sounds like a chunder bus. One thing I really miss about my undergrad university was the train station on campus - that was so much handier than the public transport at current university. Transport is just such a pain all round.

You're kidding? the mighty train beaten by the bus? Great. Maybe I'll tell them to sod off since I have more chance of being made the All Souls Fellow of Sexiness than winning it anyway...

Bah will book.

Don't you just get a train from Oxford to Paddington and then hop across to some other Central London station and take a train to Cambridge? Not too difficult, unless you were thinking of a different route? Plus booking in advance with a Young Person's railcard and the price should be OK. My college daughter used to do that and travel quite cheaply and reasonably easily

I remember reading about that in Private Eye yonks ago. I didn't realise the X5 was so bad too, it sounds like a chunder bus. One thing I really miss about my undergrad university was the train station on campus - that was so much handier than the public transport at current university. Transport is just such a pain all round.

gah, have just had landlady round, and they are thinking of selling the house (guessed as much, as they've had two valuations done in the past few weeks). They want to extend their own house and can't find another way of finding the capital. Now i don't know what to do - they won't sell it for less than the highest valuation, and they don't think they'll get that, and they'd quite like us to stay so the house isn't empty. It might not even sell, and i could stay here. alternatively, i could just find somewhere else, but it would be a pain to move if i didn't have to, and i like this place. what a pain in the arse....

I think I'm cursed - landlords keep trying to sell the houses i live in....

It's not too tricky - Oxford - Paddington - King's Cross (via Hammersmith+City/Circle Line) - Cambridge, but it is a bit of a hassle. And AFAIK you can't get cheap advance tickets on the London-Cambridge bit of the line, so it's pretty pricey.


Don't trust googlemaps, and really don't go up the A1M - if you must go that way, use the M11. But there's been a massive long stretch of 50mph limit along the top of the M25 for ages, so it's still a bad move. My personal preferred route was A14 - A45 - A43 - M40 (tiny bit) - A34, which is longer than going via MK/Bedford, but more on dual carriageway and a bit more scenic. Can still be done in about 2 hours mostly legally.

It probably wouldn't be so bad if it just went direct Oxford-Cambridge, but I don't think it would make enough money, so they have to have the intermediate stops. I've never actually vomited on it as I don't get travel sick, but it's still pretty unpleasant. Last time I got it was at 7am after Magdalen Ball, when I shared it with 4 rah boys who had clearly just been to their first ever ball and spent the entire journey talking about what "banter" it had been, while I prayed for sleep and thought about ways to kill them.