Did a lengthy trip a few weeks ago from way up North to way down South. Northern services were as simple as usual, not busy either as it was a Sunday afternoon. Passing from Doncaster to Waddington was quick as expected, and being a Sunday it was also expected for Cottesmore Zone to be closed.
Happily mooching along vocally reciting something from an old Sting album, Waddington questioned who I'd like to talk to once nearing the edge of their radar cover (due to Cottesmore closure) and I replied saying that I'd prefer a handover to Brize Norton if the radar coverage overlapped. As it happens it doesn't. The helpful LARS controller then suggested that I freecall Stanstead/Luton or continue on Waddington's frequency under a Basic Service and announce when leaving the frequency in my own time; in case of no response I was to assume to be outside of comms coverage, squawk 7000, and change to whoever I saw fit. They also provided the RPS for immediately South and East of Waddington (i.e. Chatham/Cotswold) as well as reducing my service as I was soon to be approaching the radar limit. I changed to Brize Norton once abeam Leicester still with full response from the LARS.
Perhaps this sort of thing only happens when the airwaves are quiet and only really acceptable under VFR, but blimey what a lovely grown up way to negotiate large piece of big ol' blue!
My very small point here being that maybe this experience was a one off, but I now tend to think of the pictorial LARS coverage pages as guides, as there is obviously some scope to push the boundaries.