Park-and-Sail, No Tow Bar: Five Train-Friendly UK Weekends

Towing a boat to the coast on a Friday evening is a special kind of purgatory: the trailer, the weight limits, the slipway queue, the hunt for somewhere legal to leave the car and trailer for two nights. There's a simpler version of the weekend. Put the boat somewhere that already has a station nearby, travel with a duffel bag, and spend Saturday and Sunday actually afloat.

These five all work on public transport from most of the UK. They assume your boat lives there, whether on a mooring, a marina berth or a club pontoon, so if you're between boats, plenty of these places will rent you something for a weekend instead. Book visitor berths and moorings ahead, check tide tables before you commit, and remember that a 40-litre duffel beats a wheelie case on a pontoon every time.

1. Lymington, Hampshire

Getting there: South Western Railway from Waterloo to Brockenhurst, then the little Lymington branch shuttle. Lymington Town station is a five-minute walk from the Quay and the town-side marinas. There's no left luggage at the station, so pack as if you're carrying it, because you are.

Kit logistics: Most of the marinas here will let you use a trolley, and the boat's own lockers do the rest. Leave the car at home entirely; parking in Lymington on a summer weekend is a competitive sport.

The weekend: Saturday, head west out of the river and across to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, which is barely an hour and a half even at displacement speeds. Pick up a visitor mooring or anchor in the harbour, have lunch ashore, and come back through the North Channel if the tide allows. Sunday, either run up the Beaulieu River to Buckler's Hard, watching the shallows and paying the river dues, or keep it local and poke east towards Keyhaven. Home by teatime.

2. Falmouth, Cornwall

Getting there: Great Western Railway to Truro, then the branch line down to Falmouth Docks or Penmere. From Falmouth Docks it's a ten-minute walk to the marinas around the docks and Port Pendennis.

Kit logistics: The branch line is relaxed about bags, and both marinas have trolleys and showers. If you're on a swinging mooring, ask the harbour office about a dinghy drop-off before you arrive, because turning up with a duffel and no plan is grim in the rain.

The weekend: Saturday is Carrick Roads at its best: out past Black Rock, over to St Mawes for a visitor mooring, then a hop up to St Just in Roseland if the tide is friendly. Sunday, either the Helford River, which is quieter and greener, or east to Fowey if you've got the weather and the appetite. Watch the tide running past the Black Rock; wind over tide here is not the place to be brave.

3. Woodbridge, Suffolk

Getting there: Greater Anglia from Liverpool Street to Ipswich, change for the Lowestoft line, and get off at Woodbridge. The station is about ten minutes on foot from the Quay and the Tide Mill.

Kit logistics: The Deben dries and Woodbridge has a limited high-water window, so your arrival time and the tide need to agree. Time it wrong and you'll be watching your boat float from the pub. There are trolleys at the yard, but the walk from the station is short enough that a duffel and a rucksack is the whole answer.

The weekend: Saturday, drop downriver with the ebb past Ramsholt, through to Felixstowe Ferry, and anchor or pick up a mooring near Bawdsey for the night. Sunday, come back up on the flood, and if you've got the time and a settled forecast, carry on to Orford. The Deben bar and the Ore entrance both want local knowledge and a fair tide, so don't wing it on your first run.

4. Oban, Argyll

Getting there: ScotRail from Glasgow Queen Street, roughly three and a bit hours through Crianlarich, and the station is practically on the North Pier. You step off the train and you're at the water.

Kit logistics: Transit pontoons at the North Pier make a bag drop easy, and Oban Marina over on Kerrera runs its own ferry. Waterproofs on top of the duffel, not in it, is the local method.

The weekend: Saturday, slip round Kerrera and into Loch Spelve for a mooring and a very quiet night, with a stop at the Falls of Lora only if you know what you're doing and the tide is slack. Sunday, out past Lismore light and back into the bay. This is weather-led boating: if the forecast is poor, the CalMac ferries are a perfectly good plan B.

5. Conwy, North Wales

Getting there: Transport for Wales from Chester or Llandudno Junction into Conwy. Deganwy station is the closer of the two for the marina; from Conwy station it's a twenty-minute walk over the bridge.

Kit logistics: Conwy Marina has a lock, so arrival timing is set by the tide rather than your train. Trolleys are available and there's a chandlery on site for the things you inevitably forgot.

The weekend: Saturday, out past the mussel beds, round the Great Orme, and across to Puffin Island if the sea is kind, with a look into Llandudno bay for the view back at the town. Sunday, through the Menai Strait towards Y Felinheli, keeping well clear of the Swellies unless you're with someone who knows them. The tide rips through there, and it deserves respect.

Making it work

The trick with all five is to treat the train as part of the trip rather than a compromise. Check your tide gate before you book the ticket, since a cheap advance fare is no use if it lands you at the marina two hours after the sill shuts. Take a folding trolley if you're on a mooring, keep a set of waterproofs and deck shoes permanently on the boat, and use the marina laundry rather than carrying a week's worth of gear in a bag.

And if the weather turns, remember that a weekend in a marina town with a decent pub and a book is not the worst outcome. You got there by train. You can go home by train. The trailer stays exactly where it belongs.