Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: London

  • Chiltern Railways : London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill

    Chiltern Railways : London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill

    I can’t recall travelling with Chiltern Railways before, but they offered a £12 fare to get from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill, which seemed excellent value to me. Marylebone Railway Station is a fascinating location and one I rarely go to, and it nearly closed entirely in 1986 and was saved only at the last minute. It opened late for a mainline railway station, starting service in 1899 and it was 100 years before another entirely new station of its size was to be built again. It’s compact compared to the other London mainline railway stations, which means that there’s a limited amount of seating and facilities.

    I sat down to check Facebook for the eighth time in an hour, just as the platform number was called, number 4, which was around twenty minutes before the train departed.

    It’s the train on the right and I’m not much into trains or train spotting, but for anyone interested, it’s a Class 168 Clubman diesel. This route between London and Birmingham hasn’t been electrified and it’s a route that was nearly lost in parts, but like Marylebone, it has managed to survive.

    The train was never that busy, so I had my bank of four seats to myself for the entire journey.

    Nicely functional seats, with a pull-out section of the table for laptops and two power points. All comfortable and practical for anyone who wants to get work done. There was a ticket check from a friendly and cheerful guard midway through the journey, although he said he had no scanner to check my digital ticket and so he wouldn’t need to verify it. That seems to be a slight flaw in the ticket checking process, but there we go……

    I wasn’t in a rush, so I was happy to stay on the train for a little longer getting things done if there was a delay. This came to pass as the train in front of ours broke down and we were delayed for 20 minutes at Banbury. This meant that I was getting hopeful of a 30-minute delay so that I would get half my fare back. Unfortunately (for me), the train’s delay was limited to 20 minutes and, as Chiltern don’t operate compensation for 15 minute delays, I didn’t have a Delay Repay claim to make this time.

    And here we are safely in Birmingham Snow Hill. There’s a theme in this post of things nearly being shut down, but with this railway station it was closed in 1972 and demolished in 1977. It was then realised that this was something of a mistake and a new railway station, which was smaller and less architecturally interesting, was built and opened in 1987.

    I had a look at the Birmingham Daily Post from 13 March 1970, when there was some excitement that there would be four tower blocks on the site of the station that they were demolishing, as well as two hotels and a cinema. They were looking at using the rail tunnels to be used by buses instead to help city transit. A completely idiotic decision, as was clear given they had to rebuild the railway station not much more than a decade later.

    Anyway, I was very impressed by Chiltern Railways as they delivered a cheap fare, a comfortable train, friendly staff, updates when there was a delay and there were no issues. All rather lovely and it’s a convenient way of getting between London and Birmingham. It’s not clear what will happen after HS2 opens, but I assume that this service will continue in the same form.

  • London – Islington (Borough of) – Brewhouse & Kitchen – Islington/Angel

    London – Islington (Borough of) – Brewhouse & Kitchen – Islington/Angel

    This chain has 24 locations across the country, but I’ve never managed to visit a Brewhouse & Kitchen before. The concept is that they brew their own beer and customers are welcome to just have a drink, but there is also a substantial food menu as well.

    I deliberately waited until just after 14:00 as I thought it might be busy on a Sunday lunchtime in this part of London. As is evident from the above photo, it wasn’t. I was welcomed immediately on entry and the staff member was helpful and friendly. I didn’t quite understand the ordering system, but it transpired I had chosen the one table without a QR code to the ordering process, something I worked out eventually. The drinks were brought over soon afterwards which meant the system worked well after I had understood it.

    There was some effort to make the decor interesting and a little quirky. I always felt comfortable in the pub, it was clean and there were signs saying which tables had been sanitised.

    The menu, although not many customers were ordering food. Actually, there weren’t many customers to order food.

    What could possibly go wrong…..

    On another matter not related to nine-pint dispense at the table, this is one of those pub chains which is encouraging the shift to flexible working and people visiting pub environments during the day. They offer unlimited soft drinks such as coffee and coke for £10 per day.

    I went for two half pints, one of Myddleton Tropical IPA and one of Hotblack Desiato. They were both fine, the former had a refreshing tropical taste and the latter had a rich chocolate taste. Neither had quite the depth of flavour to make them exceptional, but they were reasonably priced and entirely acceptable. Given these are brewed in-house, it’s not a bad standard at all.

    This location is well reviewed on sites such as Google and TripAdvisor, with the beer tasting they offer seeming to be popular and I thought that’s a rather good idea for a pub such as this. Anyway, I thought that this was a perfectly pleasant visit with friendly staff and a choice of various different beers. I shall look out for others in the chain.

  • London – Redbridge (Borough of) – Ibis Styles London Seven Kings

    London – Redbridge (Borough of) – Ibis Styles London Seven Kings

    [NB, I wrote this post mid-stay, and it got a little worse…..]

    I was very excited to hear about the opening of this new Ibis hotel in Seven Kings, near Ilford. Ibis Styles is my favourite brand within Accor, I like the quirky, informal and innovative design approach which often has some intriguing and brave themes. It’s also located next to a railway station and some rooms have views over the new Elizabeth Line trains (not yet officially called that, but they’re running into Liverpool Street and being tested through the central zone).

    I was eyeing this up to be my new favourite hotel given that it’s this side of London, especially as I’ve stayed at Ibis Styles Kensington 15 or so times over the last year. The omens were positive that Accor could pull something off here. I e-mailed the hotel asking if I could take photos of the public areas, as other hotels have said to ask them that and they can ensure I see everything that they want to show off. This hotel didn’t reply, but since it only opened on Monday, I thought that they might be busy. Although as a side issue, hotels ignoring e-mails does irritate me, it normally shows up wider problems.

    I had good cause to be hopeful, as the Ibis Budget Whitechapel have had a sensationally good renovation and they are absolutely on it. The management there replied to e-mails nearly instantly, they’ve got a cool design theme and they use Instagram to promote their hotel. I really rather love that hotel and will have to stay there more often.

    And before I start writing about this hotel, I know that nearly no-one will care and this post will never get more than 2,000 or so accesses, but there we go….. And I am also aware that the hotel has different rooms which might have led to me writing a very different post.

    The check-in process was torturous, although the team members here are enthused, friendly and clearly trying their best. Three asked if I had been having a good day, so I assume that’s part of the training. Unfortunately, the management here have skipped the rest of the training, with the knowledgeable and personable team member at reception not knowing much about Accor’s loyalty programme. That isn’t ideal for a new hotel opening, but these things happen and I didn’t view it negatively. It did mean I had to request a drinks voucher, which the hotel don’t have yet, but after consulting with a manager, they agreed they would provide a free drink.

    I paid for the room, after some confusion about whether the hotel accepted Amex (they thought they did, but it transpired that they don’t). I then realised that I had already paid for the room in advance, leading to a quick refund being issued. Anyway, I was still quite content at this stage as the team members were really engaging and so it would be unnecessarily harsh not to expect some mistakes here. To reinforce that point, the team members were as friendly as realistically could be possible, they were really doing their best.

    Back to the design, I’m not sure what the hotel’s theme is, I think it’s just an environmental one. I still like some of the mainland Europe themes, like Romans or space, something very different.

    The view from the hotel bar and reception, they’ve got a really good location here. It’s a fast rail route into London Liverpool Street, all really convenient. There’s also free car parking available for those who want to drive in.

    The room is dreadful and entirely inadequate as far as I’m concerned. The room photos for this room type had photos of a desk, but this small room didn’t have one. This sort of room size is in Ibis Budget territory (and Ibis Budget provide a desk) and it’s only marginally bigger than the deliberately designed small rooms of Hub by Premier Inn.

    I’ve on five different hotel advisory panels (including two from Accor, although I suspect with posts like this I’ll be purged) and they come up with some brilliant and innovative ideas. Premier Inn’s Hub concept is really thought through, they’ve made great use of the space, they’ve built in a desk, air conditioning and all I could want in a very small room. Other hotels have put forward for advance feedback some intriguing room concepts. The room designers here haven’t burdened themselves with any design attempt, they’ve shoved a bed in and some clunky lumpy thing in the corner. That green wall might look fine in a larger room, but in a small room it’s made the thing feel really quite drab.

    The next problem here is that the hotel windows don’t open. I don’t like this, but it’s manageable if there’s air conditioning. The hotel is boldly advertising that every room has air conditioning, but they don’t have, they have a cheap centralised air warming and cooling system (although I suspect the hotel operating company will argue they paid a lot of money for it). The rooms are simply too hot and there’s nothing that can be done. No windows, no fans, no cooling mechanism.

    The air conditioning system they’re using seems gloriously ineffective as well at pushing any fresh air into the rooms, it’s like the old aircraft that pump the same stale air around. At least Dreamliners and the like pull in fresh air to circulate, but goodness knows what system is in place here. I’ve digressed to writing about aircraft…..

    As part of the hotel’s plan to make their rooms as dingy, sterile and miserable as possible, they’ve put in sound proofing from the outside. I accept that’s likely appreciated by nearly every guest, but I like road noise, although I can’t really fault the hotel for my strange likings. Internally, the hotel doesn’t feel well built, as sound circulates around the building and I can hear neighbouring rooms.

    Nothing says “welcome” like some smashed biscuits. Although to be fair, they didn’t have to offer this.

    Anyway, rather than complain here when it was too late, I went to tell reception that I didn’t like the room and asked if they had one with a desk. Apparently they don’t, otherwise they’d have upgraded me, only the hotel’s five suites have a desk (which is not what the photos suggest). I did offer to pay more money for a better room (although Platinum guests should be upgraded anyway for free), but they apparently couldn’t help. The team member was polite, but it was clear that this was the best room the hotel had available. The Accor web-site has substantial room availability for this hotel on-line, so I’m not sure if the hotel’s room inventory system is broken (they were having technical problems with their hotel management software).

    Back to being positive, the hotel bar is much better, the designers have put some considerable effort into having a bright and airy feel to the public areas. For customers who want it, they can enjoy a drink with a view over the station for those who like people watching, it’s nice. I have no idea what the food menu is though as it’s not published on-line or in the rooms, but they serve meals.

    The beer selection is the worst I’ve seen in an Accor hotel in recent years, limited to Corona and Budweiser. Two generic beers with sod all effort made at localising the menu or offering some local beers. I’m not expecting decadent craft beer (although some hotels do make an effort in this area), but other Ibis hotels in the city do manage to have local beers from London. Accor were meant to be promoting an element of their localisation of their food and drink, but I can see no evidence that the hotel is reaching out to the community and local producers at all here.

    I think it’s clear that I don’t like this hotel and I can’t recall any Accor I’ve ever stayed at having worse rooms. For a new-build hotel where the rooms are five days old, this doesn’t bode well for the future of the hotel industry if this is the sort of rubbish that is going to be pumped out. Travelodge rooms are simply far better and I think even by their own measure, Travelodge are seen to be at the lower end of the scale in that regard. Really this hotel is operating at Ibis Budget standards, although is still someway behind locations such as Ibis Budget Whitechapel.

    Early media reports stated that this hotel would be the first UK venture for Novum Hotels, who I’ve stayed with numerous times and have been impressed with. They don’t list the hotel on their web-site, but if this mess of a hotel is anything to do with Novum I’ll be extra disappointed [I’ve checked since writing this, and I’m delighted this has transpired to be nothing to do with Novum and I’m not surprised at that. It’s actually run by Black & White Hospitality, part of the Marco Pierre White operation]. I suspect that this hotel will score fine initially in reviews, as I’m not convinced their rooms are all as basic and so I can imagine might be quite exciting with views over the railway and some seem to be more airy. But, I can only judge what they gave me, which was worse than I’d expect in an Ibis Budget.

    A five minute drive or a twenty minute walk away is the Holiday Inn Express Newbury Park, I’d recommend anyone stay there instead. The quality of the whole experience there was in a different league to this Ibis Styles. Incidentally, I should add that the prices here were low, but seem to be increasing, so they might have had lower rates initially to build up occupancy. And I have to credit this hotel with being the first one I’ve stayed in since the pandemic started which is cleaning the rooms daily, with the hotel paying for plenty of staff to be available.

  • London – Barking and Dagenham (Borough of) – Ibis Barking

    London – Barking and Dagenham (Borough of) – Ibis Barking

    Of no great relevance to anyone other than me, but I’ve realised that I’ve never written about the Ibis at Barking, despite having stayed there three times. Given I can be quite a completist, I feel the need to quickly note a few things about the hotel for my own record if nothing else….

    This hotel is about an eight minute walk from Barking railway station or around ten minutes from East Ham underground station, so not ideally located for those using public transport (especially if they’re carrying things), but it’s also not in the middle of nowhere. There’s also an Ibis Budget very nearby, although I’ve not yet been to that one. Perhaps because of the location of the hotel, which is more suited for cars, it’s generally one of the cheaper Accor hotels in London, which is its main appeal to me. There is a reasonable amount of car parking on site, which is of no relevance to me, but it seems reasonably priced.

    The hotel has been clean and welcoming on my three visits here, all entirely functional and comfortable. There’s a small bar and restaurant area at reception which isn’t the largest, but it seems sufficient for the number of customers who want to use it. They have a slightly annoying system that the floor numbers don’t match the room numbers, so that the second floor has room numbers beginning with 3, but fortunately I manage not to let that concern me overly. All of the rooms appear to be the same, so there’s not much to add other than the photo above, with the usual Accor prefabricated shower pod being used as usual.

    The free welcome drink I had last week, which is a perfectly acceptable Brewdog Punk IPA. The drinks selection is not earth shattering, but it’s better than most other Ibis hotels, so I can’t much complain about that. I’ve never had any difficulties with noise, either internally or externally, nor indeed any other problems of note. So, all rather lovely.

  • London – Central London – The London Stone

    London – Central London – The London Stone

    There’s not much that I can add to the collective on-line resources about this stone, but I still find it an interesting survival. It was once part of a larger stone structure that might date back as far as the Saxon period (some say the Roman period), although the written record is more substantial from the medieval period. It’s known that in 1450 Jack Cade, the leader of a revolt against the governance of the country, entered London and struck the stone with his sword, which he claimed made him the Lord Mayor of London. He was dead soon after, the process wasn’t quite as smooth as he might have hoped.

    Here is the stone in its current home, 111 Cannon Street. It was once located at Candlewick Street, which was later widened to create the current Cannon Street. It has been something of a tourist attraction since the sixteenth century (I suppose they didn’t have many other options then, places like the London Dungeon weren’t trading in the way that they are now), although it had to be moved as it was in the way of traffic. Bloody typical that they move items of historic interest to make way for traffic, but nothing much changes. From the seventeenth century, the stone was placed safely in the wall of St. Swithin’s Church, but that was damaged during the Second World War. It was though included in the replacement building to ensure its future.

    The situation became a little ridiculous more recently when the stone became included in the WH Smiths store and got stuck behind the magazine rack. The entire building was demolished in 2016 and today it’s back in a nice alcove so that the public can easily see the stone. It might not be much to look at, but it’s a remarkable survivor and there’s some considerable heritage to the whole arrangement.

    There’s an information board by the stone (clicking on the image makes it larger). I accept that individuals have to use a lot of imagination here when looking at this lump of rock, but I like that it’s there.

  • London – Brewdog Tower Hill (Scramm’s Mead)

    London – Brewdog Tower Hill (Scramm’s Mead)

    My friend Richard was on another of his decadent trips to London at the weekend, which was handy as he was dropping my tent off for my week of camping. We popped into Tower Hill Brewdog and I wasn’t going to write about this, as I’ve written before about this bar which is near to the Tower of London (I’ve taken my main photo for this post from an earlier visit as well). We were slightly surprised to get a table as it two hours before the football started, but, fortunately, the fans weren’t much interested in Brewdog until the football was about to start.

    Two things of note though. Firstly, Richard wasn’t impressed at his avocado and feta bowl (I don’t know why he ordered this, but I didn’t say anything) as it was mostly leaves with only limited sprinklings of anything else. I didn’t bother taking a photo of the meal but would have done if I had known how disappointed he was with it. He was about to tell the staff his thoughts about it, but there was no check back and the staff member who collected the mostly left plate of leaves didn’t say anything either. I was a little disappointed by this, I would have been interested in what they had to say. Probably “why didn’t you order a burger?” or something….

    Anyway, of more relevance was the very decadent Marionberry from Schramm’s Mead which Richard spent a small fortune on. I was fortunate enough to pinch a little of it, because I noticed that this is one of the best rated breweries in the world. Schramm’s Mead are located in Ferndale, Missouri and I’ve decided that I need to have a visit to their taproom at some point in the future. Untappd note that this brewery averages at 4.52 from their 111,386 ratings, a quite phenomenal score. I accept that not everyone gets excited by very high scores on Untappd, but I’m easily excited by this.

    As for the Marionberry, which is a fruit mead (or melomel), this was absurdly good. Made with Marion Blackberries it had the taste of a rich jam and it was moving towards being a red wine in my eyes. Smooth for its 14%, but packed with flavour and a very different drinking experience. Not the cheapest, but I’d absolutely order from this brewery again if I see anything of theirs in the UK. And if not, I’ll just have to wait until I go and see them in the United States. A very lovely drink indeed and full credit to Brewdog for making this available.

  • National Express : Newcastle to London Victoria Coach Station

    National Express : Newcastle to London Victoria Coach Station

    I fear that I’ve been lulled into a false sense of confidence about National Express following a rather brilliant journey a few weeks ago from Norwich to London. This is the National Express bus station in Newcastle, which was perhaps not unsurprisingly closed at 22:45 which was when the bus was leaving to get me to London. Although on this point, I recall in the United States that the Greyhound bus stations I went to remained open if there were services going out. What was more surprising was that National Express haven’t bothered putting more than a couple of benches in the area, leaving most people to stand up.

    Here we are waiting for the service, which was due to arrive into London at 06:30.

    The coach turned up twenty minutes early, but this was mostly so that the drivers could stand in the entrance to the vaping. I have no interest in what they do, but it takes a little away from the National Express message not to smoke or vape on their vehicles if their drivers are doing it. The staff member was greeting customers by, well, saying nothing and just looking at their tickets or phones to ensure that they were meant to travel on that service. He wasn’t impolite to me, but it was all a bit cold. Although I was fortunate, he was quite abrupt with some customers behind.

    I felt sorry for the lad who was about 18 and had managed to buy a coach ticket for the wrong day and he then resorted to trying to buy a ticket from other passengers. I’m not sure what happened there in the end, but I don’t think he was able to travel. Nor indeed were a couple of customers at other stops further down the line who had turned up on spec in a bid to get to London.

    I boarded first and so had the full choice of seats although the first couple of rows on the right of the above photo were reserved. This is always a dilemma, there’s a better seat which is the emergency exit seat at the rear near the toilets, but there were a few groups of friends visible and I thought they’d probably want to chat and the like at the back, so it might be quieter at the front. So I picked the seat behind the two closed off for the drivers, so at least no-one could recline into me.

    Being used to not annoying coach drivers I had already put my bag on the floor and put my seatbelt on, so the driver meandered by me to announce loudly to a few people further back “get your bags off the chairs as this service will be full and you will have people sitting next to you”. It’s probably sensible to tell people to make it easier for later customers to board, but I did wonder how personable this approach was.

    That’s also the difference between the Caledonian Sleeper service I took last week and this coach service. There the stewards were wearing masks, there were big gaps between customers and there was a level of professionalism to the whole arrangement. National Express didn’t bother faffing around with that convenience and safety, they filled every seat. There was a slight disregard from the drivers over customers wearing seatbelts, but I think it did say to wear them on the pre-recorded announcement.

    On this, I note a swathe of negative reviews of National Express for returning to full seating with no social distancing, but their argument is that the Government said they could from 29 May 2021, so that’s what they were going to do. And I can’t much complain about that given the low price of the ticket that they charged me.

    The service isn’t the easiest to sleep on, as every stop the driver turns on all the lights so that customers can board. There’s probably not much that can be done about that, otherwise people would be tripping down the aisles when boarding, but it’s not the most conducive with regards to being a restful environment. At 02:30 we also had the added excitement of stopping at a service station for thirty minutes, although this was handy to use their facilities.

    As for the seats, they were crammed in to the point of being entirely unsuitable in my mind for an overnight service. With every seat full, it was all far too cramped for my liking, although since I seem to be able to sleep anywhere, I didn’t much let it bother me. I’m not sure that National Express themselves would even claim they’re going for comfort here (if they were being honest), it’s simply a way of getting people from A to B. For anyone taller than me (so over six feet) they’d likely be distinctly uncomfortable.

    The drivers didn’t worry about both coming in at the same time to use the toilets at the service station and leaving the coach open and unlocked. I imagine at some point someone will board the coach and nick passenger belongings, or indeed the entire coach, and then some more care might be taken. There were two drivers who took it in turns to drive the coach and although there was no real effort at customer service, they were professional drivers at the wheel and it all felt safe and secure en route. I suppose that I’d rather have this than a driver who is very friendly but yet collides with numerous things during the journey.

    Here we are in London Victoria Coach Station, a few minutes before the expected arrival time. On the plus side, this journey only cost £12 to get me from Newcastle to London. It was also on time, the driving was safe, the USB points worked and the coach was clean. On the negative side, it was cramped, uncomfortable and the drivers were grumpy. I’m not really a fan of coach travel, so the positive here for me is that I’m going to try and take the train in the future, it’s a better way to travel as far as I’m concerned. Although I might try Flixbus now they’re in the UK, as although they used to annoy me, I’ve become something of a fan of theirs.

  • London Euston to Edinburgh Waverley – Caledonian Sleeper

    London Euston to Edinburgh Waverley – Caledonian Sleeper

    I needed to get to Edinburgh this week and I looked at numerous different options. Annoyingly, it was just as cheap to fly, but it’s not very environmental to fly domestically and so I decided against that given there were alternatives. There were some cheap fares to get between the two cities, but then I remembered the sleeper service which operates from London Euston.

    The concourse of Euston railway station. Fun fact, this dreadful station was actually designed to have no seating to prevent people from loitering. Welcome to the world of British Rail customer service. This decision was later reversed and seating has been installed, but there isn’t much for what is a substantial mainline station. Anyway, I’ve digressed already.

    The handy thing I discovered is that the sleeper service can be boarded over an hour before its departure. The platform number was announced, so I thought I might as well board. I’m always early for flights, trains, coaches and indeed everything, so this was all quite handy.

    Here we go, departing from platform 15.

    The train looked modern and clean. I hadn’t realised that the service didn’t operate for a couple of weeks in June due to a strike over staff pay. I’m not getting involved with commenting on that, but that’s a very disappointing state of affairs that must threaten the viability of a service like this moving forwards.

    I must admit that I found all this quite exciting, probably evidence that I need to grow up. A member of staff met me at the end of the platform just to check that I was in the right place and they then directed me towards a steward. He checked my ticket and then guided me towards where I needed to go on the train.

    I had just booked a seat rather than a cabin, as I’m not made of money…..

    One of the carriages with seats, which in normal times might feel a little packed. There was a policy though of having just one person per row, and no-one directly behind, which made arrangements feel really rather spacious.

    I was pleased to get the front seat as that had quite a sturdy little desk arrangement. There was a guide to the service on the table, as well as a little amenity pack.

    Some instructions on how to get to sleep. I’m not sure about this avoiding heavy food, avoiding alcohol, avoiding coffee and avoiding phones is useful, I’d rather just stay awake.

    There is an eye mask and ear plugs included in the pack. There wasn’t really much noise in the cabin, although a couple of English football fans going to Carlisle were politely told to shut up by the steward. He didn’t actually say that directly, he suggested that they go and sit in the buffet car, but it had the required effect.

    There’s a safe above every seat, although they’re not particularly spacious. I just shoved my bag on the floor, it’s currently so heavy that anyone trying to pinch it would just assume I’d padlocked it to the ground. The carriages are professionally fitted out, there’s been some considerable money spent here over the years. The quality of the interior was better than I had expected, so although it’s not Amtrak, it’s really not too bad at all.

    A steward (that’s the name they use, not one I’ve decided to describe them by) came by to offer everyone a menu, with the pricing seeming to be quite moderate.

    I don’t normally feel the need to take photos of toilets on trains, but on this occasion I thought that I would.

    I slept reasonably well and woke up to discover that we were in Carlisle. A few passengers alighted there and I don’t think we picked anyone up. I suspect that I would have been quite uncomfortable if the train had been full with passengers, as there isn’t really enough space to stretch out (not that I ever worked out the reclining function, since I don’t use it). Covid-19 doesn’t have many advantages, but this is one of them.

    This is, I believe, the River Sark, which is the border between England and Scotland. I was quite pleased to be able to get this photo as the train does move at quite a speed.

    There was a screen in front of me informing me of the train’s progress. Carstairs is a relatively small location, but it’s where they faff about doing something with the train and it heads back out in the other direction. The train operates on the West Coast Mainline, although it can also be diverted to the East Coast Mainline if engineering works require.

    As we approached Edinburgh, a plan of the railway station appeared on the screen. I thought that this was really quite useful. I understand that it’s possible to stay on the train for an extra hour or so, to allow for some extra sleep if required, but I had the need to find some snacks at the railway station.

    And safely in Edinburgh Waverley, with an engineer jumping out to fix something (or just to have a play on the track for all I know).

    That was really quite lovely as an experience. The price wasn’t the cheapest, at just over £60, although it meant that I didn’t have to get any accommodation for the night. As is usual, because I’m never in a rush I was hoping that the train might be 30 minutes late into Edinburgh, as then I’d have got half my money back. Unfortunately not though…..

    The service was professional throughout, the stewards were helpful and the train was on time in and out of every stop. I’m sure that the cabin option is much more comfortable (but it’s also much more expensive), but I got sufficient sleep and would use the service again. I just hope they sort out this strike action, as if staff keep going on strike (for whatever reason) then the train is perhaps in danger of being withdrawn forever. As it stands, there are just two sleeper services in the UK, the other one is the Night Riviera which goes down to Cornwall. Anyway, I’m very pleased that I tried the service.

  • London – Southwark (Borough of) – UEFA Football Village

    London – Southwark (Borough of) – UEFA Football Village

    My modern day football knowledge isn’t great, but since Ross had popped down to London for the day (and his football knowledge is rather more substantial) we thought we’d pop into the UEFA football village which is located by Tower Bridge. It’s free to get in and there are places to watch matches (other than the England match, which isn’t shown here), get food and drink, look at a giant ball and numerous other experiences that I didn’t really entirely understand.

    The aforementioned giant ball.

    The large screen and there were football fans from numerous different countries watching the match. It was a convivial environment and there were lots of volunteers around to help and assist visitors. It wasn’t a large space and there were a limited number of tables, but there was social distancing and it was carefully laid out.

    This is a real person dressed up, all adding to the occasion. Anyway, nice atmosphere and a pleasant place to walk around, all a good idea to add some excitement to the Euros.

  • London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Canary Wharf – Manjal Indian

    London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Canary Wharf – Manjal Indian

    A few weeks ago, I went to Hard Rock Cafe on an offer with The Fork (who annoy me, but we won’t go there today) which gave 50% off the food and £20 to spend at another restaurant. I was sceptical whether that £20 offer would actually arrive, but it did and I decided to spend it at the Manjal Indian at Canary Wharf. I also forgot that Richard was coming down to London for his decadent purposes, which made things more confusing but, fortunately, nothing that the restaurant couldn’t handle.

    The view from the restaurant. Indian cuisine is one of my favourites and I’ve had a long-running project of visiting an Indian restaurant in every country that I’ve been to. Unfortunately, I haven’t added many restaurants to my list over the last couple of years as travel has been just a little impacted. I’ve decided that India do the best Indian food, which is not really a revelation that I will send to a local newspaper….. The United States and Poland also manage to deal with Indian food very well. Anyway, I digress.

    The entrance is a little fiddly as there’s an Italian restaurant on the ground floor, which has to direct customers to the Indian one upstairs. Perhaps they’re jointly owned, but the signage really isn’t entirely clear here. When diners get upstairs, there’s a seating area (see above photo) for those waiting for their meals. The welcome from the staff member was polite and he was able to understand my exacting requirements of £20 off for me and charge Richard what they like (I didn’t put it like that, but that was my priority).

    The interior of the restaurant, all clean and comfortable. They also had a private dining room which had glass doors facing the main part of the restaurant, although this wasn’t used when we were there.

    The mango lassi, one of the better ones that I’ve had. Very mangoey (is that a word?). Richard had a cocktail. I didn’t like to ask why.

    Richard’s food is cluttering up my photo here, mine is the peshwari naan on the left, pilau rice and chicken chettinad. Richard had a cheese naan as it makes him sneeze, more rice and some egg curry thing. My naan and rice tasted as they should, although there was perhaps a little too much rice (but not enough for us to have shared one). The chicken in the curry was thigh meat, which was tender and rich in flavour. The curry had a depth of flavour and comprised of yoghurt, turmeric (which is where the restaurant name of Manjal comes from) and spices, with a decent amount of heat behind it. I’m sure that Bev would moan that it wasn’t very authentic, but I liked it.

    The reviews of the restaurant are broadly positive and that’s what gave me confidence to book it in the first place. Service was efficient, but we were never rushed and I was delighted to get a little chocolate at the end (I always feel the need to mention these little touches) because I’m easily pleased. The restaurant also managed to give me my £20 reduction without any issue, so my meal cost £5 including the service charge (which they added automatically and without advance notice), which I thought was very reasonable. I’d merrily recommend the restaurant to others, which must be struggling at the moment given the reduced number of people currently coming to Canary Wharf.