Newcastle away, cheap train details — travel
Cheap (well, it’s all relative) advance train tickets are now on sale for QPR’s trip to Newcastle on November 22.
Ground Name: St James’ Park
Capacity: 52 387
Address: St James’ Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne , NE1 4ST
Main Telephone No: 0191 201 8400
Ticket Office: 0844 372 1892
By Car:
A straight road, but a long one. Take the A1 out of London and follow it all the way up to the other end of the country, past the Angel of the North, and Newcastle . Take the A184 from it, and then the A189 over the Tyne and the ground should be visible from there. Follow the dual carriageway up to the stadium. The guide also recommends taking the Westerhope exit from the A1, crossing two roundabouts and parking around the Royal Victoria Infirmary. About five hours and 252 miles at the speed limit from Loftus Road.
Map:
Parking:
A city centre ground means you can either brave the traffic and pay and display car parks in the immediate vicinity or park out of town and use public transport. The guide recommends Heworth near Gateshead next to the A184 and getting the Metro direct to the stadium - £2.40 return for the Metro, £1.10 for the parking. On previous visits we got into a multi-storey no more than two minutes from the ground with no problems at all, and straight out afterwards as well.
Train:
East Coast services from Kings Cross for this one, and basically if you haven't booked yet then get on it quick because this isn't a cheap journey.
Northbound singles are available at 08.30, 09.00 and 09.30 arriving 11.40, 11.49 and 12.37 for £37.25. Coming back 17.59, 18.30 and 19.04 arriving 20.51, 21.42 and 22.18 are priced the same.
You can bring that down slightly by splitting the journey at York. Try the 08.11, arriving 10.10 for £20.60 and the 19.02 going back, arrives 20.56 for £13.60. Then the 10.48 from York arrives 11.46 for £8.30 and the 17.26 from Newcastle arrives 18.28 for £9.30. So that’s a round trip of £51.80 and a saving of £25 per passenger.
The station is no more than a ten minute walk from the ground through the city centre — come out of the main entrance and cross the road in front of you, walk up pedestrianised Pink Lane, cross Westgate Road and then continue up pedestrianised Bath Lane before turning right onto Stowell Street through Chinatown and then left up St Andrew's b Rosie's Bar. Finally, left up Gallowgate to the ground.
Coach:
No coach details from club or LSA as yet.
Pubs:
Away fans have traditionally congregated in the three pubs opposite the station and I'm sure that will be the case again although I'm told that all three refuse to admit children on matchdays. The ground is right in the city centre so there will certainly be no shortage of bars.
Tickets:
No details on how much it will cost us to sit in that cloud this season as yet.
Links >>> Official website >>> Detailed fans' guide to St James’ Park
The Twitter @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images
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