How can I get my train fare to Cardiff for cheaper?

KatyBird

I have read the MSE article on how to get cheaper train tickets but I have not been able to crack this.

I need to go to Cardiff in April - from the 20th of April (arrive before 12 noon) to the 27th of April (depart about 12 noon.)

I thought that buying my tickets nearly 12 weeks in advance would make this easy to get a good deal. But the tickets are £69 each way! I tried various tricks on the train-splitting thing but nothing did more than to save me more than about £5 each way.

I checked fares for much closer to the time - next week, a month from now - also for same weekdays (Mondays) and times of day - and the fares were more like £25.

Is this because the fares are going to jump after Easter? Or might they come down a bit closer to the date? As far as I know, tickets are non-refundable so I don't want to buy now and then find out that I could have saved more than half my money.

Does anyone have any advice?

I can't really change the days and I can't really change the times of day so it's not really a matter of being flexible for cheaper fares. I can do a couple of hours in each direction, which makes little difference.

KatyBird

Oh! I see there's another sub-board that is more appropriate. Sorry. I will repost there.