Several weeks ago I was advised by NRE that one leg of a journey I was
making should be made from Putney to Vauxhall on a train which turned
out to be a circular one going from Putney via Kingston, Wimbledon etc.
to Vauxhall. Obviously this is a bad choice because there are much
quicker trains going the other way around the circle.

My question is... if NRE say you can go from Putney to Vauxhall on a
via Kingston, via Wimbledon etc. service does that make it a valid
route and could someone with a zone 1 and 2 travelcard make that
journey but abandon it at, say, Kingston?