(30 May 2014, 5:35 pm)northern156 wrote The direct train is on Sundays at 4pm ish. Even so, it goes to Leeds before waiting for 30 mins and then continuing on - if I was to do it that way, I would just go to Leeds then connect with another.
Easiest and fastest way for me is get the first 685 of the day to Haltwhistle, get the train to Newcastle (8am) then down to Grantham before changing again. I could get there for 11:30am ish according to National Rail Enquiries.
EDIT: Saturday 5th July is the Tour de France so I would rather not do that! Sat 12th isn't so that seems great to me?
Never looked at timetables to check if East Coast stop there more frequently on a weekend, but whenever I have done Nottingham via rail on a weekend, it always seems to be via Grantham - just like you said.
During the week, booking systems send me there with a change at Sheffield or Chesterfield.