Great Western Coffee Shop

Anytime day return - Trowbridge to Cheltenham Spa - 22.30
valid via Melksham

Anytime day return - Melksham to Cheltenham Spa - 24.10
not valid via Trowbridge?

Is the longer journey really cheaper?  And A Melksham to Cheltenham Spa season ticket looks cheaper that a Trowbridge one.  I may be doing the journey for 4 days, so a season would also give me weekend TransWilts travel?

If I want to travel from Melksham on the 06:38 (Change Trowbridge and Bristol Temple Meads) and return on the direct train at 17:39 (yes, I understand the irony that I'm using the trains that have been with us for years!) which ticket should I buy?

Edit to add Trowbridge pricing which I somehow failed to include in my copy/paste!

New improved (hah!) Routeing Guide doesn't appear to allow Melksham to Cheltenham Spa via Trowbridge.

Split ticketing would appear to be the only option at the moment.

If we believe the National Rail website is the definitive routeing guide:

Melksham-Birmingham IS valid via Trowbridge
Trowbridge-Birmingham IS NOT valid via Swindon/Cheltenham
Trowbridge-Cheltenham IS valid via Swindon.

I would like to start a little project collating routeing guide anomalies. Anyone interested?

I've gone back and added the Trowbridge - Cheltenham Spa price line which got left off my copy / paste on the original posting - make the whole thing look even odder.   Thanks for the responses thus far; I'll be making a quick decision on how to 'do' the week when I get back to the office at lunchtime today (writing this from somewhere between Hoek and Harwich!)

Since the Trowbridge Cheltenham fare is valid from Melksham would the rules require a TOC to sell Melksham Cheltenham travellers the cheaper far from Trowbridge? Or is it just the cheapest fare from that station.