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  • Greater Anglia – Stadler Trains

    ** And an update on the below, a few months on and many more journeys into using these trains. I must admit that I like seeing them on the network, primarily as it means that there’s more space on them so I can get a seat. I also like their multi-level structure, it adds some character. I’m still not sure I like the single power point between two seats though, and the heater on the floor is a minor obstruction and can be quite hot. Having seen the Azuma trains operated by LNER, they seem to be better designed in terms of at-seat customer comfort, something I’d hoped that these trains would be as well. So, I’m growing to like these trains, but I’m still not entirely sold on them. But I keep doing my best to like Greater Anglia as so often they can be brilliant. And at other times, perhaps they’re not quite as good as I’d like. If it was a choice of reversing the huge price rises on Anglia Plus Rover tickets and having the old trains, or paying the extra and having these new trains, I’d rather return to how things were.

    I hadn’t expected a Stadler train to appear at Wymondham railway station, hence my not very impressive photo. Anyway, this is my first time on board one of Greater Anglia’s Stadler trains, running from Norwich to Cambridge.

    And, I declare a slight bias that Greater Anglia were one of my favourite companies. But this train is nothing like what was promised to me a few years ago by staff. There were going to be no price rises, there was going to be excellent wi-fi, plugs at every seat and more tables.

    On the plugs at every seat, there’s one wi-fi and one normal plug socket. That’s not ideal and isn’t what I’ve seen on other trains across the European Union.

    I got a table, but there don’t seem to be any more on board than before. I suppose technically there will on average be more carriages, so by default more tables, but it’s not quite what I was led to believe.

    The seat heads are cheap and have already become stained.

    I do like this though, very clear.

    The seats are worse than the previous ones, the armrest has been shrunk in size and there’s a plug socket behind my knee on one side and a large air conditioning / heating block by my other knee. It seems a really clunky design, a beautiful train technically let down by some really cheap interior fitting quality.

    I will though credit Greater Anglia with the investment, as technically these seem to be decent units and so punctuality will improve. That is an appealing thought, as the delays were becoming too frequent across the Greater Anglia network.

    The train at the station. I will also say that I think disabled access has been hugely improved, which is a big advantage for many people. The current trains were quite difficult to manoeuvre around, so the accessibility improvements are notable.

    Technically, the train’s wi-fi isn’t functional and I can’t see any improvement in phone signal, which the meshed window is meant to deliver. I do though note that the tickets I buy have gone up 24% in price since last year and I’m unsure what extra benefit I’m getting from that. I’m a little disappointed in Jamie Burles if I’m being honest about a whole host of things about Greater Anglia, a company which seems in decline from my experience as a passenger.

  • Thetford – Tank Track Marks on Bridge

    I would have never noticed this, but there’s a wonderful Heritage Trail board nearby which explained what these marks are. They’re from a tank which drove down here, which is Nuns’ Bridges Road, during the Second World War. I can imagine the concern of the tank driver when he realised that his vehicle had damaged the bridge and perhaps threatened to knock the entire wall down into the stream below.

  • Thetford – Thetford Priory (Gatehouse)

    I’ve never visited this gatehouse before, which is accessed from the main priory site by using a path across a private garden. I was having a little rummage about the area ready for my heritage walk this weekend and was surprised at just how impressive this gatehouse is. The above photo is taken from the priory side of the gatehouse, so it was the other side which would be visible to the townspeople.

    The gatehouse is the best preserved of any of the priory buildings and was first constructed in the late fourteenth century. It is well built and that is at least evident by the fact that it hasn’t fallen down over the centuries. Any travellers visiting the priory, or indeed anyone wanting food, would have knocked on the door of this gatehouse to ask for assistance.

  • Birmingham Canal Canter Challenge Walk 2019 – Heart of England LDWA

    After a weekend in Birmingham, it was time for three of us (glamorous Susanna, Bev and myself) to take part in the Birmingham Canal Canter 26-mile walk operated by the Heart of England LDWA.

    We had a short twenty minute drive from the upmarket delights of the Ibis Budget in Birmingham city centre, and we were ready to roll (not literally). I won’t dwell on food so early on in this post, but I did make time for a very large breakfast at the Ibis Budget in the morning, making a substantial dent in their cheese stocks…..

    The signing-in process was efficient and well managed and the tally card was all ready for me, with a number that I couldn’t quite read. I was full of confidence at this stage, planning how I could take part in next year’s 100. Fortunately, reality always soon bites on these walks.

    We’re off!

    This isn’t a great photo as it doesn’t really show much, other than the first checkpoint had toast, jams, marmite and porridge available. I didn’t bother with all that rubbish and had half a pack of biscuits instead, which were far more nutritious. It’s a very generous spread for a first checkpoint though, so my first impressions of the food were positive.

    Another entrant at the event told us that we’d be likely to see numerous herons along the route, and this transpired to be the case. We were also fortunate to see a heron flying above the river and Bev told us that this was a sign. She didn’t know a sign of what, so I wasn’t sure that this was the sensationally exciting omen that we might have wanted.

    Bob Holness and Blockbusters…..

    Checkpoint two was under Spaghetti Junction, but the barren surroundings added somewhat to the whole atmosphere. There was fruit here such as nectarines, pineapples and bananas, although I tried not to fill up on these as there were also jelly babies. And in addition, there were also bottles of Lucozade available. I know that these aren’t quite the glucose treat that walkers need since the sugar tax has made them take out the good tasting bit, but I found them useful and I think it’s a marvellous idea from the Heart of England group.

    I took a lot of photos during the day, more I think than on any other challenge walk that I’ve taken part in. I’ve only uploaded a fraction of them here, but the very nature of the walk means that there were a lot of canal photos. I never really got bored of walking along the canal as the scenery changed so much, it proved to be an interesting day.

    There were a lot of runners taking part in the event and they always made their presence known, because otherwise we’d have been in danger of stepping sideways and knocking them into the canal by mistake. When Bev got a bit emotional she also discovered that running along shouting “runner, make way, runner, move along” was effective at getting people out of the way. Until she remembered she can’t run.

    This was though my favourite canal scene of the day, nicely atmospheric.

    One of the highlights of the day for me (other than the food) was the section when we walked through Birmingham city centre, which was primarily between checkpoints three and four, although there had been a little between checkpoints two and three.

     

    A train crossing a bridge just before checkpoint three. We found the stretch between checkpoints two and three to be interesting terrain, but the time seemed to drag just a little. Perhaps it was slight tiredness, but also perhaps it was the excitement of arriving at the next checkpoint for lunch.

    Checkpoint three and this is the lunch stop, which had a BBQ. This is no insignificant turn of events, this is inspired thinking from the Heart of England LDWA, and it certainly set me thinking of what little BBQ arrangement Norfolk & Suffolk group could come up with…… By “set me thinking”, I really mean browsing hundreds of on-line shops looking at BBQs.

    I must admit that I feared that the quality of the sausages and burgers might be a little on the low side, because this was not an expensive event to enter. Fortunately, I shouldn’t have had any concerns, the professional of the Heart of England showed through and the quality was just fine.

    It was at this point that we then retraced our route for around 1.5 miles, which was a deliberate part of the route and wasn’t any bad planning on our behalf. But this meant we were able to see how many people were behind us on the course. We soon discovered that there were nearly no people behind us….. But, such is life.

    This is checkpoint four and the cake competition, with the carrot cake being my favourite. I liked the jelly babies as well, but they unfortunately weren’t included in the voting for the cake competition.

    I had a niggling issue with the heel of my foot which was slowly developing a blister, something which I rarely get now. In a bid to head that off I put a blister plaster on, although unfortunately I didn’t do a great job as it fell off thirty minutes later. This required an ad hoc stop by the canal to bandage around my entire foot. I was very brave and frankly it’s clear that I’m a loss to medical science given just how professional my bandaging was.

    I wondered why I kept thinking about chocolate….

    Checkpoint five was the final stopping point on the walk and was a collection of tables located by the canal, meaning we didn’t have to go off route. There were jelly babies, crisps, peanuts and all manner of other healthy products available here, as well as Lucozade. I was also very impressed at the marshal’s taste in food and drink, since there was a Greggs cup on the table….

    A final stretch of woodland before the end. As usual, by this stage of the walk I’m just glad to get back as 26 miles of walking felt sufficient for the day. The weather during the day was pretty good and wasn’t too hot, although it did rain for short periods. Overall, I was entirely happy with the temperature though, especially as there was often a breeze by the canal.

    At this stage I started to speed up a little bit, managing to overtake a few other walkers. My intention wasn’t to deliberately overtake walkers, but just to get back to the hall so that I could start on my final meal. By final meal, I mean of the event, not ever, as my foot wasn’t that bad.

    And the end of the walk…… This the hall and most of the other entrants had finished and gone home by the time that we got there. However, it’s not about the time taken, it’s about the journey and the experience. Although perhaps one day it’d be nice to have a faster journey and experience, but for the moment, just finishing is good enough.

    The finish food, which was a healthy bowl of jelly babies, a chocolate dessert, a bowl of chorizo & bean stew and some tiger bread. And half a banana, although I was full and decided to put that back. There were also jacket potatoes and other toppings, but I was more than content with the stew and this was of an excellent quality.

    And, evidence that I finished…. The J White seemed a little unusual, but perhaps they got bored of writing first names on the certificates. Personally I’m fortunate that Norfolk & Suffolk type them, it means less writing for me…. Anyway, Susanna and Bev also finished and were equally, well, worn out.

    Leaving the rugby club the weather took a turn for the worse and I felt sorry for the walkers still on the course. Although I then remembered that there weren’t any left out there, so I felt less concerned for them….

    This event cost me £10 to enter, and that proved to be something of a bargain and a reminder (not that I need one) of what good value the LDWA is. Given all of the food and drink provided, I more than felt that I get my £10 worth of value from the event. All of the marshals along the route were well humoured and friendly, so I’d like to think that everyone enjoyed themselves on the event.

    All told, this was a really professionally run challenge event and everything seemed to go to plan. Or at least, if it didn’t go to plan then I didn’t notice anything. The feedback for the event from others that I’ve seen also seems to have been really positive, so perhaps I’ll be back another year to walk the route again….

  • GeoGuessr – Location 1 (The Exact Spot)

    For anyone who wants to see the exact spot (and I’m not holding out much hope that this will be more than around two people), this is the GeoGuessr result screen…… It’s the image with the little black and white flag logo on.

  • GeoGuessr – Location 1 (A Little History)

    I won’t go on about history for too long (well, not yet), but this is our first location, St. Osyth, from over 150 years ago. The exact location that we were given by GeoGuessr is on the right hand side of the above map, in what was then a much less built up area. A bypass has since been built across the northern edge of the town and a residential area has developed near to our random location.

  • GeoGuessr – Location 1 (Working It Out)

    OK, so we have our first location.

    The web-site allowed us to explore the location area, using Google Streetview in the usual way. We used numerous clues to try and work out where we were in the country, trying to read from bus stops and signs, but they didn’t help initially. We were able to follow a bus on Google, although that only told us that it was a First bus, which didn’t help.

    We then saw a logo, which Nathan thought was Wales and I thought was Cambridgeshire. But then a bus-stop gave us a clue after some more exploring and we knew that we were in Essex. Hardly great sleuthing, but this is new to us. At first this was disappointing, as I thought that Essex wasn’t entirely glamorous. But that’s entirely unfair, just because it’s sort of close to Norfolk.

    There was another clue in that we saw a sign with the town name on, which I accept is a bloody big clue. And it was St. Osyth, which I had never heard of. I went off to explore Google Maps and discovered it was potentially in Jaywick, which I think is still the poorest area of the UK. I wasn’t entirely sure that this GeoGuessr thing was doing much for us at this stage….

    But, after some more analysing maps, we discover that St. Osyth is a pleasant looking village a few miles away Jaywick, not a huge distance from Colchester. This was sounding better….

    Then we discover that there was an episode of Time Team filmed there, as well as two pubs, a priory and a fish & chips shop. I’m now bloody delighted at this new game of ours. Nathan got excited that the pub had a burger meal for under £5 and I was already starting to watch the Time Team episode.

    So, this little adventure is underway and we have train tickets now to get near there. I’ll leave the excitement of that journey for another post, especially as we’re not going until October, but the train tickets were a bargain £16 return with Greater Anglia. We might not be so fortunate when we select our next location, which will be at the moment that we physically reach our first location.

    Quite where this adventure leads us who knows, but I’m sure it’ll be one of our better ideas. Which, frankly, wouldn’t be difficult.

  • GeoGuessr – Location 1

    There’s some background to this……

    This is our first location. I’ll be bloody impressed if anyone I know is aware of this location that was randomly provided to us by GeoGuessr……

  • GeoGuessr – The Beginning of the Challenge

    Sometimes it’s not sensible to let two idiots (well, part idiots) go to the pub unsupervised by adults, as bad things can happen. Fortunately, Nathan and I set off on a pub crawl making sure we limited ourselves to no more than three pints. It’s important to set a self-imposed limit so ensure that things don’t go wrong, although we decided that since we imposed the limit we could also break it.

    Anyway, that’s a distraction to this little story. Although I get distracted easily, which is usually evident in my long-winded and often winding dialogue of events. So, at the moment there’s this really awesome guy who has decided to walk across Wales in a straight line. What he has done is fun, and pointless really, but is also quite inspirational.

    The guy who has posted these videos, who incidentally has a great sense of humour, also posts a lot of videos about GeoGuessr. These videos are surprisingly entertaining, and to cut a long story short (see, I can do that!) the web-site gives viewers a random Google Streetview image and they have to guess where it is.

    I’ve found this a highly entertaining web-site, but I thought also that it was likely to be a little bit niche. However, when discussing this walking across Wales in a straight line video, it transpired that Nathan was also a fan of GeoGuessr. How wonderful to have such an equally distracted (that’s the most polite word I can find in my mind at the moment) friend….

    Right, back to why this is relevant. I like adventures, and I’d been toying with the idea of just going to wherever GeoGuessr came up with. And so, the rest of this story is probably starting to fit together, but for those who are confused (I can name them, but they’re mostly Nathan’s friends and I can say that because they’re not likely to read this) we thought that’s what we should do.

    Our rules, I think, were that we’d go to anywhere in England and Wales. It was surprisingly exciting, as when the image loads we firstly have to find clues to work out where we’ve got to get to. And, unless it’s impossible, we need to get there by public transport. And yes, this is all a bit pointless, but there’s some excitement in having no idea where we’re going.

    Or is it pointless? There’s a theme behind this, which is that I believe there’s fascinating history and culture nearly everywhere (I said nearly) and that there are very many places that I don’t know about that I would want to visit. However, how can I visit them when I don’t know about them? This is where random comes in.

    Until we get bored of this, we’re going to try this theory, by going to whatever random place GeoGuessr comes up with. We’ve set our first location, but more of that in the next post…..

  • Birmingham – Rudy’s

    I hadn’t heard of this small chain of pizza restaurants before and we found it by chance on a Saturday night in Birmingham as other restaurants we tried were full. It has only recently opened but it seemed a popular location given by how busy it was.

    Rudy’s don’t take advance bookings of any kind, which means they’re prepared and experienced in how to deal with waiting diners. We gave a phone number and a text was sent around ten minutes before our table was free. This gave us time to pop to another Good Beer Guide pub, so win-win.

    I think that this pizza looks reasonably good, but it tasted even better. A soft crust, but sufficiently crispy base, gave contrasting textures. The sausage was spicy and full of flavour, the tomato base was sweet and the cheese wasn’t too strong. All rather lovely.

    The tiramisu, which was well presented and light in texture with a suitably rich taste of coffee.

    The pricing here is off the scale, but in a good way. Pizzas were reasonably priced at under £10 each, side salads were £2 and desserts under £5. The quality was far better than the prices might have otherwise suggested.

    The service was excellent as it was efficient, engaging and knowledgeable. We were never left waiting for service at any time, with the pizzas being brought over promptly. There were also some pizza and dessert specials to add to the fixed menu, with plenty of interesting choices. There is also an open kitchen, so you can watch the pizza being prepared. Well, you could if you didn’t have your back to the kitchen, but it’s a good concept.

    The storage set up reminded a little of Five Guys and how they stack their potatoes up in the restaurant. And everything about this restaurant felt on-trend and fun, without being too artisan or overdone. The pricing makes this particularly good value and I’d certainly return here again, and also to other outlets in the chain. How lovely.