Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: London

2022 US Trip – Day 2 (Aer Lingus Flight from Dublin Terminal 2 to London Heathrow Terminal 2)

As is just about visible for anyone zooming into the image to look at the screen, I arrived at the gate at 05:29 for my 06:30 flight. I left the lounge at 05:28 thinking it might take twenty minutes to get to the gate. It didn’t. I refuse to ever be realistic in case the one time that I’m not, I’ll be delayed somehow en route and miss my flight.

Here’s the Aer Lingus flight having landed into Heathrow T2, as I couldn’t get a photo in Dublin. The aircraft was at capacity and I boarded towards the end (no status with Aer Lingus) which didn’t much matter as I had an aisle seat. Nothing is provided free of charge on Aer Lingus in terms of refreshments, but there is a trolley going around selling food and drink. I can’t add much detail to the flight since I was asleep for the entirety of it, but I’m sure it was lovely.

For reference (more mine than anyone else), this was an A320, registration EI-DVE, which Aer Lingus have operated since they acquired in new in 2007.

It felt appropriate to land at Heathrow T2 on the day of the Queen’s funeral, as this is the Queen’s Terminal. Despite dire warnings from Aer Lingus about delays on the day of the funeral, including trying to get me to change my flight, everything went to clockwork in terms of the flights. Although to be fair to Aer Lingus, they did have to cancel some of their flights later on during the day, so the situation probably felt quite fluid last week.

September 20, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 1 (Getting to Heathrow T5)

Well, we’re off (I say we, it’s just me on this trip) and the first part of the expedition was getting to Heathrow T5. Luckily my ever-ready friend Liam was willing to take me to Heathrow T5, avoiding a potentially expensive hotel which I would have only been in for a short period of time.

As Liam has an electric car we had to factor a couple of charging points, with the first meant to be at Harlow. However, a horde of taxi drivers (is that the correct name?) were using the facilities and we would have been quite some time waiting for them. They’re not in the photo, I didn’t want to look rude by taking a photo of them. There seem to be ever more electric charging points being added to the network, but it’s still not comprehensive coverage and there’s little protection from a queue of taxi drivers wanting to use them.

We drove on a bit and found what seemed a slightly ridiculous set-up at a business park which seemed in the dark to be in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure it’s very vibrant in the day, but it felt rather shady at night.

Car charging doesn’t get any more decadent than this. Parking is free on Sunday, so I got a ticket printed from the machine in case we were meant to have one. I didn’t expect to see a parking attendant though at this time of the morning.

All was going very well, Liam’s had checked the app of where people were charging and that saw us glide into our second location at Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire. He went off to get a coffee for £1, a perk that you get when charging cars at BP petrol stations it seems. After 25 minutes or so, we were good to to.

Heathrow annoys me, it doesn’t let you walk in, it has scrapped the free travel zone and it now charges for drop offs. Far from ideal, but they do at least allow free drop-offs at the long-stay car parking. You get 29 minutes to park there for free, with buses operating every ten minutes or so. Liam, who built some of Heathrow T5, was pleased to see that this is on the site of his former works car park. I did wonder where to get the bus from at first, then Liam realised that it was the huge big bus shelter at the entrance to the car park, which is a very sensible place to put it.

I was busy taking photos having just got to the bus stop when I realised that the bus to T5 was coming to the stop, Liam had timed the drop-off perfectly. So, it’s quite a blurry photo, but the driver had a big smile and seemed unnervingly content for 04:30 in the morning.

It’s only a five minute or so journey on the bus to Heathrow T5, so in terms of drop-offs, it is convenient and saves paying the £5 fee.

Some professional signage there. But the service was timely, the bus was clean and it’s fast and efficient, so definitely worth considering for those who want to avoid the Heathrow drop-off charges. I’m not sure if you’re meant to, but you could actually just avoid paying for the TFL bus into Heathrow T5 and just get on this bus from the long-stay car park.

My obligatory “welcome to our home” photo, which has again come out blurry. I didn’t get the sleep that I had hoped for, which is also not ideal, but I’ll muddle on by. I’m not going directly to the United States, that’s not until tomorrow, I’m first going to Dublin.

Heathrow is commemorating HM Queen Elizabeth II in numerous ways, including on these large signs.

Timing wise, this was all rather lovely, the security process took around twelve minutes and I arrived at the entrance to the lounge one minute before it opened at 05:00. Liam is getting very good at this timing thing (he has been known to cut things far too fine) and it was very kind of him to do the dropping off. Hopefully he has good fortune using the chargers on his way back to Norwich.

September 18, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 1 (BA Galleries South Lounge Heathrow T5)

Liam’s impressive timing meant that I got to the airport at a perfect time, not too early (my usual style) and not too late (his usual style). I arrived at the Heathrow T5 BA lounge complex at 04:59, one minute before it opened. Very handy.

I was the first person into Galleries South lounge, that’s never happened before. I can’t claim it’s something that I should get a badge for, but it did let me get some photos without other passengers cluttering them up. This is the main food area in this photo where they were laying out breakfast.

One of the seating areas, this one is just behind where passengers enter the lounge. These lounges do sprawl and there are three of these Galleries Lounges for BA customers at T5, two in the main terminal and one at B Gates (plus the First Class Lounge and the Concorde Room, which are too decadent for me).

The seating area at the end of the lounge which overlooks south security, with the cinema room off to the right.

And my favourite seating area, high chairs and power points, very convenient for my laptop arrangement.

Another photo at the back of the lounge. You used to be able to overlook security until they put that sea of grey over the windows, which is understandable, but I did used to like watching it.

One of the coffee stations and sets of beer fridges, where I was pleased to see that Brewdog Jet Stream was available. I had a few espressos to wake me up, although I’m not sure that they worked that well.

The cinema room.

I only had one beer as it was a bit early. I was pleased to see that the lounge had burnt the bacon, which is good as that’s just how I like it. Those sausage patties are very moreish as well. The BA food offering has definitely improved recently at this lounge (and non burnt bacon was also available).

Some healthy eating. Along with some grapes.

Anyway, my three hours in the lounge was very productive, although I was a little sleepy. The lounge was starting to get very busy when I left, so I was pleased with my timing.

I’ve photographed this before, but it’s just an iconic image and so I thought I’d have another image of it.

September 18, 2022
Thursday – Crossing London on a Rail Strike and Flying to Newcastle with BA (Part 1)

Starting Thursday having stayed at the YHA at Lee Valley, I was fully rested and ready for the excitement of crossing London during a rail strike. Although I’ve trailed that bit with the title of this post really.

Much of Britain has been a bit short of water recently and this is the River Lea looking the driest that I’ve seen it. Incidentally, it can be spelled either Lea or Lee, or as Wikipedia notes “the spelling Lea predominates west (upstream) of Hertford, but both spellings (Lea and Lee) are used from Hertford to the River Thames”.

The railway tracks for the Greater Anglia services are on the left, but they weren’t running at all from Cheshunt, although there were some trains shuttling up and down the line. The Overground was operating, although it wasn’t going to be the next day, but only from 08:00 which is later than usual. I wanted to get across London as quickly as possible for my 13:20 flight, so I caught the 08:02 service. I’m not entirely sure why the Overground was operating later than usual, but I assume it was because there were difficulties in getting drivers in on time.

The service was busy when I got off at Seven Sisters, but I think that was just a lot of people switching to the underground network who would have otherwise got the train into central London. It wasn’t busy for much of my journey, but I can imagine it was nigh on intolerable for many.

This is how I spent much of my journey, in the peace and quiet of the underground. I arrived at Heathrow T5 at around 09:40, which was as fast as I could have expected even on a day without strikes, so I was more than pleased with TFL.

I don’t often fly on domestic flights for environmental reasons (and my flights will be decreasing sharply next year anyway), but I have to note, it is much cheaper and convenient than using rail. However, I didn’t have many options when I needed to be in Newcastle and the trains weren’t running. A single fare cost £30 on BA, which I thought was very reasonable and compared to the railways, it’s just far better in terms of comfort, speed, efficiency and cost.

They’ve changed the security queueing system around a bit and I was stopped from going to the premium security bit by a staff member who said that there was no access via the way I wanted to go. I asked how I could get to the premium security line and she pointed me the way that I had been going. I suspect my dishevelled look must have slightly disorientated her. The staff were all friendly, but there was a woman complaining that her liquids were being seized. Again and again this happens, surely people must realise they can’t sneak stuff through, although I’m always impressed how surprised people pretend to look.

I had time to visit the BA Galleries South lounge and the breakfast spread here has improved no end recently. I’m not saying this is world class, but it’s more than sufficient and everything has reverted to being self-service once again. I’m pleased that they’ve stopped insisting on putting the bacon and sausages into rolls, it’s now served separately.

How decadent.

There’s now a market table as they’re calling it, with salad items and the like, as well as rolls.

And it’s the first time that I’ve seen nachos in a BA lounge as well.

Some of the hot options, which includes pies, chicken curry, vegan curry, chilli and the like. I was very pleased that the gravy was self-pour. They took the breakfast options away just before 11:00 and brought the hot food out just after 11:15, which I think is earlier than it used to be.

I was pleased to see the gravy was self-serve because that meant I could drown my pies in it, just as I like them. I’m easily pleased I accept. They’ve changed to pea and ham pies this month, and the quality is very acceptable indeed. I could have had quite a few of these. I know that as I did have quite a few of them.

There seem to be a lot of screens down around Heathrow at the moment, although the number of staff seems to have increased.

Boarding was a mess and it took them nearly 40 minutes from announcing the gate was open to letting people through. It’s easy to be critical, but they could have explained what was happening as I could see the annoyance on the faces of some people. And, if I couldn’t, the man next to me shouted down his phone to someone “it’s blasted carnage here”. I’ve changed the “blasted” word to be less rude, but readers (if it’s plural) of this blog can guess the word he used. I privately thought that the word “carnage” was a bit strong for a queue of this length, but sometimes people like to recount their stories of drama.

It transpired, as the pilot mentioned it on board, that the computer system had gone down and the gate staff were trying to fix it. They probably could have just said that whilst we were waiting, but they did look short-staffed and perhaps they were just focused on getting people through quickly. Boarding by group fell apart, although the queue I was in moved quickly and so I boarded relatively early. It was all fine, but it isn’t helped that there aren’t enough seats in this part of the terminal, so it’s not entirely comfortable waiting.

I can’t recall many air bridges that are so long, the terminal building is visible at the rear of the photo.

The flight was impeccable as ever and I had plenty of space and no-one seated next to me. The snack was the same crisps and water as with every other flight, but I’m content with that. Helpful and personable crew, but that’s fairly standard in my experience of British Airways.

Safely in Newcastle in under an hour from taking off. We had taken off 44 minutes late and arrived 38 minutes late, but I wasn’t in any hurry, so all was well. The boarding had been a bit odd as people were trickling on the aircraft for over half an hour, but on a day of a national rail strike, I was just glad to have arrived safely.

The aircraft is G-NEOR which as the registration suggests is an Airbus A321 NEO which BA have had since new in 2018. Of no interest to anyone else, but just for my own interest, I haven’t been on this aircraft before. The weather was colder than I’ve experienced in Norfolk over recent weeks, which to be honest was just a relief.

And I’ll leave this post here, starting off again soon enough with getting on the Newcastle Metro into the city and then checking that the pubs were all still open.

August 22, 2022
Wednesday – Sagardi Restaurant, Mikkeller, the Dundee Arms and Lee Valley YHA (Part 2)

Continuing on from part one.

I arrived at Sagardi restaurant in Shoreditch just a little damp from the rain, even though it’s only a four minute walk from Goose Island. I had £50 to spend thanks to The Fork, otherwise I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t have thought to come here and it’s a bit out of my price range anyway. The welcome was immediate and I was offered a choice of seats, but I thought it best to dry off at the rear of the venue and I’m sure they were pleased with that. They didn’t want upmarket and decadent customers entering to see damp patrons sitting near to the door.

Starting with still water and a pint of Txapeldun from Whym, which I didn’t even attempt to pronounce. It was a perfectly acceptable Spanish pale ale which was well kept, although it’s fair to say that this really is a restaurant which focuses on wine. The beer wasn’t much more than the water and it cost £6.50, which was perhaps the only element that seemed even vaguely keenly priced.

My rather blurry photo of the restaurant’s interior. Not ideal, but it’ll have to do. Handily, they sat me next to a power outlet which was useful in charging my phone back up which I had managed to discharge by spending about an hour staring at it. The interior design is functional and not too over to the top, but there has been some effort made with some decorative features around the place such as the coat hangers in the shape of horses’ heads.

And the wine collection. I’d have rather it was an extensive craft beer collection, but there we go. I accept what they had was in keeping with the theme of the restaurant.

An anchovy and olive concoction that was brought over as some sort of amuse bouche. This was delicious, strong and clean flavours.

I raved on about tomato bread when I went to Barcelona (indeed, I think Bev got fed up with me raving on about it) and I think I ate about six loaves of it at one restaurant. The version here was less interesting, there was no depth of flavour, the bread was too thick for my liking and it didn’t take me back to Barcelona in any shape or form.

The pan-fried codfish in the style of Zapiain cider house, although of what relevance that last bit is I have no idea as there was no taste to the sauce. I probably should have gone for something more exotic off the menu (I had been tempted by the octopus, but it’s served in so many different ways I’m never sure how it’ll turn up), but the cod had an odd texture which only just seemed cooked. There was some texture from the garlic, but no flavours of note and it all felt rather basic and uninspiring. Not that I had paid for it, but if I had, I would have been disappointed given that this dish was priced at £22.

Just on the presentation, it’s neat, but it’s quite minimal on the middle of that plate. I accept that the Spanish style might be to serve a variety of items on different plates, but nonetheless, it does look a bit barren there. A few vegetable elements, and I don’t write that lightly, would have enhanced this a little.

The side of Sagardi style potato wedges, which meant that I had effectively ordered fish and chips, was rather more generous in the portion size. They were cooked fine, although heavily salted, and this was really the pinnacle of the meal for me, which probably isn’t much of an advertisement for the restaurant. It mentions on the menu that it’s “grandma’s home cooking”, but I’m wondering exactly whose grandmother they’re referring to.

There’s a butcher’s shop inside the restaurant, as part of the theme, but there were people standing in front of it and so I thought better of taking a photo, but it’s visible here through the glass windows. Overall, I left feeling uninspired and I could see why it was nearly empty inside, and they’re perhaps reliant on link-ups from companies such as The Fork. The service was polite, but the food was mediocre at best, although judging from the reviews, perhaps I didn’t order the right menu items to get the best experience.

TFL has a two-tier pricing system which has ridiculous differences between on-peak and off-peak fares. Off-peak is between 09:30 and 16:00 and from 19:00, which means that it’s cheaper to sit in a pub and get a drink whilst waiting for 19:00. So, that’s what I did, popping to Mikkeller at Hackney Road.

Twenty different beers, with the usual decent range of different beer styles and they had one from Adroit Theory which looked interesting.

I don’t like the third glasses that Mikkeller use, they’re too prone to spilling, but the triple IPA brewed by them, Luxury Fries, was decadent and delicious. As an aside, I’m pleased that I know what they mean by being dry hopped now (effectively adding them later on in the brewing process), it gives me confidence than in fifteen years or so I’ll have a decent understanding of brewing. The bar isn’t the largest and it got reasonably busy, but I had a seat by the window looking out over to the church opposite.

I didn’t go in the Royal Oak on Columbia Road, but I liked the external architecture of the pub, with some of the interior fittings surviving as well.

A quick visit to the Dundee Arms to wait the final thirty minutes before the cheaper fares. The pub has been trading since the later part of the eighteenth century, so that’s some heritage tied up in the property.

There’s a slightly divergent mixture of historic building, modern on-trend elements and darkness, although I still quite liked the whole arrangement. Service was friendly and immediate, the surroundings clean and comfortable. It feels something of a locals’ pub, although I mean that in the positive sense and not as a hint that I thought a riot might break out at some point.

I have no idea about the artworks in the background, but the beer was better than I had anticipated, the Sicilian Harvest from the Five Points Brewing Company who are just down the road in Hackney. I’ve somehow not been to their taproom yet, but it looks appealing.

Now able to tap in at the reduced rate, I was safely at Cambridge Heath station, first opened back in May 1872 and now part of the London Overground.

At the back is a Greater Anglia train flying through, but I don’t think that the mainline trains stop here anymore.

And I was heading to the end of the Overground line, at Cheshunt, which is where this photo was taken whilst I was waiting to cross over. The railway station here dates to 1846, but more interestingly perhaps is that nearby is where the Cheshunt Railway opened in 1825, known as the first monorail to open anywhere in the world. There’s a little bit more about this at https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/topics/transport/railways/cheshunt_railway_1825, but this makes Cheshunt one of the more important locations in the world in terms of the development of the railway in the early nineteenth century.

I was heading here, to the YHA London Lee Valley which I’ve stayed at before. I choose to come here as although it’s miles from London, it was by far the cheapest accommodation option that I could find. It takes just over thirty minutes from London Liverpool Street making it more accessible than its geographical location might suggest. Friendly staff as ever and they have a range of food and drink to buy at reception, although it’s more expensive than at some pubs which I’ve always thought is slightly odd. I think they’re more thinking of a captive market than the price point of the people staying there.

This YHA works on the lodges concept.

There’s a communal kitchen in each lodge, although I had already eaten an adequate (at best) meal and so didn’t need to use anything here.

And the private en-suite room for £40, which is very good value for London at the moment, as even the cheapest Travelodge room was twice that. Indeed, it would have been the same price for an extra person, if they want to climb up to the top of the bunk bed arrangement.

It’s not going to win any design awards, but it was clean and comfortable.

And, thanks to this, lovely and cool.

There was some external noise from over-excited youngsters (which I define as anyone under 30), but it had stopped by midnight and so I wasn’t too bothered, bearing in mind it is a YHA. Although, to be honest, the average age at a lot of YHAs is older than I am, which is marginally over 32. It all meant that after several weeks in Norwich, I was at least staying somewhere different.

August 21, 2022
Wednesday – Greater Anglia Trip to London, Brewdog, Goose Island and Rain (Part 1)

I’m not going to be travelling as much next year, so make the most of this riveting content whilst you still can. Because next year, it’ll be limited to the Vulgar Dictionary, graves from the Rosary Cemetery and photos of chips from the market. For now, this is Norwich railway station in all its glory. They still haven’t found a replacement for West Cornwall Pasty which is unfortunate, nor has the M&S ever re-opened from its “temporary closure” in March 2020.

I always get everywhere early, on this occasion so early that the train hasn’t arrived yet at platform 2. The eagle eyed would have noted that if I had decided to depart from another platform, I could have gone to visit Cromer Carnival. I’ve also never noticed that some London trains have eight carriages and others have twelve carriages, but I can’t imagine that sort of information will excite or delight many people.

Wooo, it’s not the Stansted Express train, it actually has tables. The service was relatively busy, but there were always seats available during the journey. Not that I’m one for complaining, but these new Stadler trains do make for a bumpy journey, but I’ve noted that before when the man in the on board cafe was struggling to even pour a coffee.

London Liverpool Street was busier than when I arrived at 4am two weeks ago. I think I prefer it quieter. Note the new Greggs is open, and there’s another one just opened opposite the entrance to the station, they must be quite an opening drive. I can only imagine that it will be Pret who lose out here.

Then a quick visit to Brewdog Shoreditch to take advantage of my new Brewdog Plus subscription, more on which in another post. Like the Norwich outlet, they struggled a bit with the QR code, but it all worked out in the end. The beer is the last of the Donut Series that I hadn’t tried, this is the peanut butter cup with salted caramel glaze. The flavours were pleasant enough, but it was a bit thin and it needed a bit more salted caramel taste for my own personal preference.

It would be wrong to be in the Shoreditch area and not pop into Goose Island. As usual, everything was in order, and although Daniel the manager was there, this bar seems to run efficiently all the time. I mention that as it can’t be easy to run a venue in this part of the city with an often fraught atmosphere outside, but with calm inside. Nicely done as ever. This is the Cold IPA (I had to Google what that beer style was, apparently it’s an IPA fermented at lower temperatures) and it was rather decadent, quite a touch of grapefruit flavour in there. I expect Nathan would have known that without looking it up, he knows a lot of irrelevant stuff.

I’ve complained that it’s too hot for weeks, and then at the very moment I need to go to the nearby restaurant, it pours down in Biblical terms.

Well, how lovely. I can’t really complain, I’m happy with rain as it makes things much cooler.

I’m standing under a railway bridge here trying to wait out the rain, whilst admiring the street art.

On the Zeppelin walk that Des led a few weeks ago, he mentioned that this area had Shakespeare connections, something that I hadn’t been aware of before. And, since late 2019, there’s been a statue of him (Shakespeare I mean, not Des, although I’m sure his time will come), marking the nearby Curtain Theatre.

And for anyone interested, here’s a bit more about the uncovering of the Curtain Theatre. The theatre had opened in 1577, remaining in use until at least 1624 and one of the discoveries was that it rectangular shaped and not round. The stage was 14 metres long and despite it clearly being well attended, it’s not entirely cleared why it closed. I’m impressed that so many bits of it survived, including remnants of ceramic boxes where admission fees were placed before being taken to the office to be opened, a forerunner of the phrase ‘box office’.

Anyway, with that I meandered across, whilst quite soggy, to Sagardi, but more of that in the next instalment.

August 20, 2022
Thursday : From Prague Airport, Walk Across London at Night and Back to Norwich

Carrying on from the previous post, this is now late Wednesday evening. After a hot day of public transporting around Prague, I arrived four hours early at the airport, ready for my 21:15 flight back to London Heathrow with British Airways, albeit operated by Finnair.

The security process at Prague Airport is just before boarding, so I was able to get to the Mastercard Lounge quickly and without delay. The staff member politely mentioned that entry was only allowed two hours before my flight, but then she asked who I was flying with and when I said British Airways, she said I could enter immediately. I don’t know whether BA offer a higher rate than lounge pass schemes such as Priority Pass, but I was very appreciative.

I was here a few months ago with Richard, but that was a morning flight and this was one of the last flights of the day, so there was a different feel to the arrangements. It was all clean and organised, there’s a self-serve soft drinks machine, snacks in the fridges and self-pour alcohol. They had a separate beer fridge with a couple of choices in it, nothing exceptional, but perfectly acceptable given it was free. I’m not at all picky when stuff is free, I’ve noticed I’m more inadvertently generous on Untappd. Nathan would no doubt tut at my lack of consistency….

The two hot options were pasta and chicken drumsticks. It seemed an odd choice for a lounge, as the chicken was a little greasy and they were going to end up with bones dotted around the place on places. However, I wasn’t let down with the taste of the chicken, although the pasta was a bit bland.

The food menu and the meat platters were rather lovely.

It’s a relatively large lounge, although it wasn’t particularly busy when I was there. They have very few power outlets, although I was fortunate to find one as I did need my devices fully charged given that I might not get chance later on. They had views over the runways, although no power points in those areas of seating. They also have unlimited popcorn…..

The seating was comfortable, it was practical for those with laptops and the like, although there were some more comfortable chairs for people who prefer just to relax and not always sit and stare at a screen as I seem to.

The flight was showing as delayed by one hour, but after three hours in the lounge I thought that was enough, so I meandered over to the gate. There was plenty of seating available, with a few power points dotted around.

The boarding process was efficient and customers were called in group order.

There’s the Finnair aircraft, which BA are wet leasing as they seem to have managed to not have enough of their own, a situation which seems far from ideal.

And as it was the Finnair aircraft, I opted for my favourite seat with lots of legroom.

Excellent crew again, although the Finnair cabin crew nearly always seem very professional and personable. I had the entire row of three exit row seats to myself. Whilst I was in the lounge, I had received a message from British Airways saying that there would be no catering on board the flight due to operational reasons. I had another chicken drumstick to fill me up in case there was no mini bags of crisps and water on board. It transpired they had water, but no crisps, which I could manage without, although I’m not sure that the Club Europe passengers would have been quite so impressed as they get meals provided. The crew said that the catering lorry couldn’t reach the aircraft due to a crash at Heathrow, which meant that they didn’t have their food either, so they were wondering where they could eat at nearly midnight at Heathrow.

We arrived into C Gates of London Heathrow about thirty minutes late, although I was in no rush. It’s not ideal to be at C Gates usually, as it’s quite a walk as the internal trains don’t run when it’s close to midnight. But I was in no rush and I like walking.

The UK border was moderately busy, but their automated machines were rejecting a lot of people, including myself, which meant a bit of a queue as there weren’t many border control officers. They were doing some quite detailed checks on some people entering the country, but I was waved through after a cursory check of my passport. I tried to look and act as British as I could in case they thought I pinched someone else’s passport or something.

As my flight was arriving late, I decided against a hotel in London, which at the moment are ridiculously priced compared to what they were. I had a great idea of just getting the 06:00 train from London to Norwich, which was £10, and getting the night bus from Heathrow into central London. That meant I wanted my devices fully charged, so this was the arrangement I set-up for myself, I found the chair and moved it towards the power points and refused to leave (not that anyone asked me to) until everything had full battery. This travel isn’t as easy as people think when there’s a fear of devices without power….

The arrivals floor at Heathrow T5, not very busy at night. For anyone who wants to stay the night at the terminal, it’d be on this level, they remove people from the departures floor. It’s not particularly comfortable, but there’s power, wifi, toilets and I think one of the shops stays open overnight.

I was pleased that the weather was overcast and not too hot.

Heathrow still have no date of when pedestrians can walk into the terminal, something they’ve currently banned from doing, although cyclists can cycle in from next year when the tunnel reopens. The free travel zone has been scrapped and they’ve introduced this new drop-off fee, all adding to the expense for many people. But, Heathrow have shareholders who need cash…..

I’ve never caught the night bus N9, but it’s a bargain really at £1.65 to get from London Heathrow to Trafalgar Square.

The bus timetable if anyone should want it, but the services are regular throughout the night and it’s an 85 minute journey from one end to the other.

On time and not very busy.

The passengers who boarded were just using the bus to get to T3, so I was on my own on the bus for a while after that. Well, with the driver obviously as I’m not sure what my bus driving is like…. (although, I have driven a bus without incident when the driver let me near Cromer, but I’m not sure that was entirely within the rules so I best not go too far down that line). It was a very peaceful journey and it’s actually really quite nice to be able to watch the city go by without stopping at literally every bus stop. There was a mixture of night workers coming back from work, going to work, some early morning commuters, party-goers and travellers.

Sad to see the Admiralty pub like this, certainly different to the last time I was in it a few months ago.

The pub was badly damaged by fire a couple of weeks ago and it looks very serious in terms of the repairs that will be needed.

It was gone 03:00 by this time and I was surprised just how many people were still around Nelson’s Column and Trafalgar Square. It all felt safe and non-threatening, although I was careful taking photos as I didn’t want any mugging incidents.

The Royal Courts of Justice. I had intended to pop into the 24 hour McDonald’s on the Strand to kill an hour, but it was at near capacity and I didn’t want all that raucous noise and party excess. I’m over 30 now and can’t be dealing with that.

St. Paul’s Cathedral and it was a real treat to walk across the city when it’s so quiet, it feels like such a different place. Buses still shuttle around the city, so it seems alive and energetic, but yet with a sense of calm.

The Royal Exchange.

It took me around 40 minutes to walk across London, so I arrived at London Liverpool Street at 03:45. I’ve never seen the railway station all locked up, but the side entrance to McDonald’s was open so I thought that I’d get a little snack.

Back in the day, there used to be seating in this McDonald’s, but this is it now, just self-ordering kiosks. They were all switched off and I wasn’t sure what to do, but a security guard came up when I looked confused and got a crew member to come and take my order at the counter.

McDonald’s probably wondered what they’d do with the £1.80 I gave them for two burgers….. But just as I had finished, the gates of London Liverpool Street railway station swung open at 04:00.

It’s not often the concourse is so quiet.

By now it was 04:02 and the first train out is at 04:40 to Stansted Airport, which is where most of the waiting passengers were heading I think.

It’s very hard to get a photo of this statue as there’s often rubbish on or around it, and it’s also used as a seat or somewhere to lean against. I don’t entirely like this sculpture here, it’s not prominent enough and I hope they can rearrange things a bit. Note the uncomfortable seating behind it designed to avoid anyone homeless sitting on it.

Für Das Kind, or For the Children, designed by Flor Kent, which I’ve written about before.

I sat down for an hour in view of where the new Greggs will be opening soon.

There was nearly no-one around after the first train to Stansted Airport had gone.

I was pleased to see that this wasn’t the Stansted Express with no tables.

This wasn’t a busy service at all. I managed to fall asleep as soon as the train departed, but was conscious that the train guard was checking tickets nearly straight away as there were so few of us on the train.

And safely into Norwich Railway Station at 08:00. The blog will be quite quiet for the next month, with the exception of some odd random and irrelevant (not that they ever really cross the boundary into relevant) posts which I’m sure I’ll feel the need to make, as I’m doing nearly no travelling. Expect a few bits about the LDWA AGM weekend, the Summer Poppyline and some pub photos, but not much else.

July 31, 2022
Friday : Off to Canterbury for Hike Norfolk Weekend

After a little milling around central London, including around St. Paul’s where it was too hot, I shuffled in the intense heat to get the Central Line to the delights of Wanstead. Richard and Dave were picking me up from Redbridge and since I wanted to get there early, I thought I’d wait in the nearby Wetherspoons, around a fifteen minute walk away.

I’m not sure what interesting things I can say about Wanstead Underground Station. Work started on it in the 1930s, but the Second World War got in the way, so it didn’t open until 1947. It was designed by Charles Holden (1875-1960) who had been heavily involved in designing War Graves Commission cemeteries after the end of the First World War.

More a photo for Untappd than for entering in any photography competitions, but this is the Tropical Crush from Portobello Brewing. I found a table with a power point nearby and got myself fully charged for the big journey, as it’s best to be prepared with Richard driving. He’ll read this, but he only reads the post that gets emailed to him when I publish it, I don’t think he’s worked out I change posts afterwards if I find that additional gossip is needed.

The Wetherspoons is the George, a rather grand former hotel and it’s relatively well reviewed, and I found everything to be in order. I quite liked this review though:

“I went to the George pub and the service was very bad as the food took so long to arrive and I did not get served until 8.45pm when I did order at 7pm, so I was very angry with the people who served me so I will not be going there ever again.”

There’s something about the very angry that intrigues me. It’s quite an early JD Wetherspoon outlet, they took it over in 1992 and dropped the Hotel from the pub’s name, although I do wonder what they’re doing with all that space. The hotel had been built in 1903, replacing an earlier pub which was called the George and the Dragon.

Anyway, with that drink enjoyed and my devices fully charged, I walked along the side of a busy road (on a pavement, but nonetheless, the walk isn’t ideal) to meet Richard and Dave at Redbridge. A quick phone call to the restaurant to confirm the evening’s meal arrangements were as I expected, and we were off. Now, Richard told us some funny stories about his trip to France, but, unfortunately, he has imposed a DSMA-Notice on this blog so I can’t post about those details. Dave or I can recount them on request though.

After checking into the B&B, which was an experience I’ll return to, we then rushed off to the pub, as Richard is pub obsessed. This is the Tribute from St Austell Brewery at the Three Tuns pub, which I choose as a quick stop despite it being Greene King. It was well kept, although it’s never going to be a beer to write home about. The pub dates from the fifteenth century and apparently there are remains of a Roman theatre underneath the building. And today, it’s a Greene King pub which isn’t quite as exciting.

Next it was a stop at the Foundry Brew pub, which is Untappd listed and Good Beer Guide pub listed. Unfortunately, I was unable to secure this location for the group meal, but I did need to have a little examination of their beers as they’re the brewpub of Canterbury Brewers. I won’t drone on for too long here, the beers were all well kept and tasted of a reasonable quality, but nothing particularly stood out other than the Itzamna, their imperial porter. Decadent with tastes of vanilla and chocolate, all very lovely. I liked the care they took with noting which beer was which on the laminated sheet, that was much appreciated and rather professional.

Gordon in front of Patisserie Valerie, as it’s a location he likes telling a funny story about.

I had struggled to book a table for the Friday night, but this was the location of choice, the Millers Arms. Steve kindly gave an excellent little talk about the Camino that he’s just walked, several weeks of 22 miles a day on average, all very courageous. I think it’s fair to say that he inspired a fair few people around the table. He also gave details of the walk that we were undertaking on the following day, which was part of St. Augustine’s Way.

Onto the food, which exceeded my expectations to be honest. Tender fish, a rich batter which remained crispy and had a depth of taste, with skin on fries which had a suitable fluffy interior. Nicely garnished, well presented and with sufficient tartare sauce, although that’s hidden at the back of the photo. It complemented the Double Stout from Shepherd Neame, who operate this pub, really rather well. Although, to be fair, I think stout complements nearly anything, I’m not that fussy.

The Millers Arms was a decent pub, I liked it, and it’s a hotel as well for those who want somewhere to stay. Everything felt professionally managed, they certainly didn’t let me down.

And with that, it was time for a few of us to visit the pub. Gordon ran off, which was really not ideal, but sufficient numbers stayed out as there was a Good Beer Guide pub that I hadn’t been to still left to visit.

The Thomas Tallis Alehouse was where I took everyone, a quirky arrangement as the pub doesn’t even have a bar. I liked pubs that are different and the Good Beer Guide didn’t let me down here.

There’s a nice little beer selection there, I think young Nathan would have been happy with that.

I had thought that it would be busier on a Friday evening, but unfortunately, not, although a couple of tables were taken later on. It was rather lovely to see Sarah and Andy come along at this point, they’re hard core drinkers though, so it wasn’t an entire surprise.

As for the drinks, I went for thirds of a number of different beers, including the Bone Machine from Whiplash, the Double Juice Punch and the Wake Up Call from Brouwerij Frontaal as well as the It’s Me or the Solar Farm from Turning Point. An attractive range of beers, with the Double Juice Punch being particularly notable.

A very decorative toilet.

Richard and I were the last two standing, or, technically, sitting. He’s reliable like that is Richard. That just meant we had to get back to the B&B which was a twenty minute walk.

All very atmospheric and I’d add it’s very difficult to take a photo of the cathedral. Despite its size, it remains hidden behind these narrow streets.

It was all rather quiet, although it was nearly midnight. There was a big party going on at the venue underneath the Hilton by Hampton though, which we realised by walking in front of it, and also from Gordon who was staying there and who couldn’t sleep until 3am despite spending £220 per night. How the other half live….

And the castle, which was constructed by William the Conqueror shortly after his invasion of the country in 1066. It was used by a gas company in the nineteenth century who took the top floor down, which isn’t entirely ideal, although there were plans to entirely demolish it, so the outcome is better than it could have been. I’m pleased to report that we got back to the B&B unharmed and in good shape, with Richard really excited for the walking the following day. I was busy to complain all day that it was too hot.

July 20, 2022
Thursday : London to Luton by Train

Starting the day at the Linton hotel in Luton, I was moderately perplexed why they installed all the power points the wrong way up. Not that I suppose it matters much in the grand scale of things, but I like having things to be perplexed about. It’s a slightly strange set-up throughout the room, they seem to put the beds up against the wall when they’re not in use.

Breakfast was included in the room rate and it was all a bit odd. I got just about the last table, even though I was there at 07:00 when they started serving. There were juices and bread to toast, which took about four minutes in the toaster (not the juices), whilst the rest of the meal was cooked to order. There was no choice, the overwhelmed staff member went from table to table saying “what would you like for breakfast?”. He was polite, but just about everyone replied they hadn’t seen the menu. He replied “there’s a full English breakfast or toast” which a couple of people declined so I assumed they expected something else.

It’s not my favoured choice of breakfast as it’s all a bit stodgy, and it was a little barren on the plate, although the quality was OK, but it was nothing particularly exciting.

The hotel is keenly priced though, I would stay there again if I was in Luton and it was the cheapest option.

It’s about a twenty minute walk from the hotel into the town centre of Luton and it goes under this really rather well designed underpass. Numerous images representing the history and culture of the town, it was impressively free from vandalism. What is more impressive is that it has been there since November 1998.

Luton 2040 and the mission statement for the future is apparently:

“In 2040, our vision is for Luton to be a vibrant, fair, and prosperous town where people can live their lives to the fullest. We will all achieve our potential and reduce inequality. A town where no one lives in poverty.”

Very noble.

Luton town hall and war memorial. This town hall was completed in 1936, built on the site of the previous building, which had been raided and set on fire during rioting in July 1919. What was annoying for the authorities wasn’t just the huge loss of an asset, but the disruption to the provision of services to locals and also it took place on Peace Day.

There was a week-long court trial and a debate about whether it was technically a riot, but it was decided that it was. 28 men were sent to trial, 9 were found not guilty, 2 were bound over, 16 received prison sentences of between two months and eighteen months and 1 man was sent to prison for three years. The longest sentence, and for one of the most violent of the men involved, was Frederick Plater, a 27 year old labourer who was not only found guilty of destroying property, but also assaulting a fireman. He sounds nice… What is perhaps worse about Plater is that his child had been born the month before. He remained living in Luton until his death in 1943, so he saw the new building constructed. He lived at 69 Chase Street, so his route into the town centre was the same one that I took from the hotel.

Anyway, I had a train to catch. It’s not the most glamorous of railway stations. The railway station has been on this site since Midland Railway built it in 1868, although it was rebuilt in the 1930s. There was once another railway station (operated by GNR) located almost opposite, Bute Street which remained in usage until the 1960s when it was pulled down.

At least the waiting room had power points.

The East Midlands Railway (EMR) service from Luton to London St. Pancras, which only cost £5 as I booked in advance, which I thought was rather excellent value for money. The train also had plenty of space, although the interiors of these trains need ripping out, although EMR do note that “by 2024, we will operate our new fleet – which includes our state of the art Aurora InterCity trains”.

It had been a relatively busy service, the train I arrived on is on the right hand side of the photo. Those two trains on the left are the Meridians which will likely be withdrawn next year and replaced by the Aurora Class 810 trains. I’d add that I didn’t know that, I looked it up.

There was quite a wait to get through the barriers, and I’ve wondered before why we can’t be more like the European mainland where they rarely have barriers. They don’t really deter fare evaders, it’s easy to get through the barriers without a ticket.

I had a free Greggs coffee with my O2 app, which meant watching the world go by in St. Pancras for ten minutes.

A quick stop at the Euston Tap.

They had some rather decadent options, but they don’t serve in thirds, so I didn’t get the Fatal Deviation from Whiplash. Without wanting to sound like someone who is too easily annoyed, I must admit to thinking slightly less of them for not serving in thirds, it limits people from trying more beers, so I will probably find another favourite pub in the area. The staff are friendly and engaging though, there’s a nice atmosphere at this pub.

The Dennis Hopp’r from Mondo, a decent enough IPA.

Then off to North London on the delights of the 253 bus.

The bus interior, I noted quietly that the driver went through two red lights which didn’t seem ideal.

The Coronet pub, operated by JD Wetherspoon, in Holloway.

The grand interior of what was the Savoy when it opened in 1940, then later an ABC cinema which remained open until 1983. JD Wetherspoon have done what appears to me to be a excellent job here, very sensitive to the heritage of the building.

The Orange Zeus from Twickenham Fine Ales, not exceptionally reviewed, but I rather liked the orange marmalade type taste. It was well-kept and at the appropriate temperature, with the usual low JD Wetherspoon prices.

And this is where the post ends, I’ll pick up on the story of the following day when it was time for the big Hike Norfolk trip to Canterbury that I had sort of organised. How exciting!

July 18, 2022
Tuesday : Nearly Missing the Bloody Train in Krakow, Finn Air to Heathrow and Ibis Budget

After a few days in Krakow eating pizza and complaining about the heat to anyone who would listen, whilst calming my overheated nerves with the large hotel breakfast every day, it was time to return to the UK. The old railway station is visible in the photo above, but they’ve built a new station building which is linked it to the Galeria Krakowska shopping mall. It was also surprisingly busy for a Tuesday morning at just before 09:00.

The new platforms are in this photo, the old railway station is behind me. Like nearly everywhere in Poland, it’s all very clean and organised.

There were no ticket machines to be seen on the platform which seemed odd. I discovered on the way out that passengers could buy tickets on the train, but I wanted to get this sorted in advance and so I bought mine from the PKP web-site. It’s a ticket that doesn’t need validation and is for a specific train, which is the one that should be leaving from the platform I was standing by after the 09:01 to Gdynia got out of the way. Anyway, the train didn’t move and I heard part of an announcement which was only in Polish, stating that my train to the airport was switching to another platform. I was moderately annoyed as that meant I had to rush, but obviously I didn’t want to run in the Krakow heat. Or indeed run at all, it’s exhausting.

I caught the damn train with thirty seconds to go, but I noted some others didn’t and were still on the wrong platform. They didn’t even check the ticket (I mean the ticket inspectors on the train, not the people on the wrong platform). Anyway, I arrived into the airport as expected, but could have done without the rushing about the place. Clean train and on-time, so I can’t really complain.

I was through airport security in under two minutes and so next was the non-Schengen airport lounge at Krakow Airport, which was small, although luckily I had given myself three hours to sit in it. It reached near capacity by the time that I was about to leave the lounge, and it does feel a little under-sized. Very friendly staff and there are toilets and showers within the lounge complex.

Lard and bits of pepper sliced up, it’s not exactly Greggs is it?

Now we’re talking though.

My starter.

The amuse-bouche. They had a couple of different beers, nothing exceptional, but sufficient for me.

In fairness the chicken salad was very lovely, so that proved to be a useful main course. I never had the lard.

There was a ten minute delay, but nothing too bad, for the return flight to Heathrow.

This was as clear as mud, with a Ryanair and British Airways flight departing at the same time, as well as separate queues for Groups 1-3 and Groups 4 and 5. I guessed the queue correctly when the Groups 1-3 were called, but numerous other customers didn’t, finding themselves in the wrong place. Anyone who tried to access the Groups 1-3 queue without having the correct number on their ticket was sent packing, albeit politely.

As with my outward journey, this was a British Airways flight that they’ve wet leased to be operated by Finn Air. It’s the Airbus A321 with registration code OH-LZN, which Finn Air have operated since the aircraft was new in 2017.

This annoyed me, it started to pour with rain just as I boarded. All week I waited for rain and the moment I get on board to come back what happens?

I’ve blurred this (again) by mistake as I was trying to rush, but I was the first to board. The person in the photo is flight crew and they were all exceptional during the journey, again Finn Air should be proud of their professionalism. Someone in my row seemed quite seedy in the way he was talking to the crew member, but she professionally batted him and his attempt to take her for an Indian meal away.

Got my seat with lots of leg room again. The flight was near full, but the boarding was efficient and well managed. At this point we sat there for around 45 minutes, as the rain that I craved all week was now flooding the airport and so they had to temporarily shut down operations.

The chatty and friendly crew came around with the snack before take-off to ensure everyone remained happy. The water was served after we had taken off.

Safely back at Heathrow T3, ready to spend ten minutes walking around their slalom course. You could practice for an LDWA 100 walking around this.

I’m starting to feel that I know Heathrow T3 far too well.

The Central Bus Station, ready for me to pay for a bus to get me to the Ibis Budget on Bath Road since Heathrow have removed the Free Travel Zone. Yes, I will complain about that in every post for some months, there’s nothing like repetition to cheer the soul.

I had pre-paid for this room at a much cheaper rate, but this is a sign of the ridiculous prices in London. For an Ibis Budget which isn’t that well located to be charging £100 is far from ideal.

I stayed here a few weeks ago, it’s the former Travelodge they’ve converted into Ibis Budget. The windows here don’t open and I asked for a fan, which they said they’d bring to the room, but they didn’t bother. However, I decided the air conditioning worked sufficiently well for me to not traipse down again to ask where the fan was. The hotel though is still receiving deluges of negative reviews about the air conditioning not working, but it appears they should have it all fixed soon enough.

Not that I’m one for complaining, but just I got in the room it started to rain again. That weather is just ideal for me, cloudy and rainy, perfect for exploring a city.

July 6, 2022