Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Railways

Friday : Train Journey from Warsaw to Siedlce

My second morning at the Mercure Warsaw Airport hotel and I thought that I’d investigate the fruit section of the breakfast buffet, although I thought I’d better counterbalance that by popping to the pastry section as well. The Polish grow a lot of strawberries, for a period in the summer they seem to be everywhere. These breakfasts cost under £5 as well, very cost effective. As an aside, I’ve cut down to two meals per day in Poland, a large breakfast and one other meal during the day is sufficient even for me. I’ll report back as to whether that helps me lose any weight on this trip.

Waving goodbye to one of the best Accor hotels in the city, near to the airport and only a twenty minute tram journey to the city centre.

The tram stop is located just outside the hotel as well, making it all very accessible. And cheap, I mention frequently just how cheap Polish public transport is, but it’s about 70p for a single ticket.

As I was early (again), I thought I’d walk the final section of the way to Warszawa Śródmieście station, even though the tram went by it. I nearly got heatstroke though it was so hot. That was me pre-annoyed for the day.

My destination was Siedlce, so I appreciated the clear signage.

It’s a slightly different set-up in terms of platforms, as it’s single track and you can access the train from both sides. Back in the day, passengers got out one side and boarded on another, which was enforced until the 1980s. They don’t bother enforcing it now, it’s not really necessary either.

It’s all a little old-fashioned, the signage could do with some modernisation. This railway station was built between 1955 and 1963 and is connected to Warszawa Centralna station. As a practical piece of information, there’s also a ticket office, although I bought my ticket on-line. It cost just under £5 to get to Sieldce and I get a QR code that I can show on my phone, which the guard scans on the train.

It’s always a relief when the signage matches what I’m expecting it to say. Incidentally, the train’s final destination was Mińsk Mazowiecki, not Minsk in Belarus.

Here’s the train sweeping in, operated by Koleje Mazowieckie, or the Masovian Railways. It’s the regional rail company, owned by local Government, formerly part of the national PKP network. It’s a comfortable and well managed service, it always seems reliable.

This was a regional train and so I didn’t need to look for a reserved seat, which, to be honest, is normally a bit of a faff, I prefer being able to sit anywhere. There were plenty of seats available and so all was well. One other thing about these trains is they have little bin bags at every block of four seats, with the trains seeming to always be free from litter. The Polish network also doesn’t have barriers to enter railway stations, they just have guards who actually check tickets, with large fines for anyone who is found to be travelling without a ticket. I’ve wondered before if it would be easier to have that system in the UK, the cost of installing barriers and keeping staff by them isn’t cheap. I can’t recall seeing someone on a Polish train without a ticket, I’m not sure there’s much fare avoidance.

And I arrived safely! I’m going to cover the entirety of my three-night stay in Siedlce in one riveting post (readers should brace themselves for that excitement), so that’s as far as I’ll drivel on for the moment.

June 26, 2022
Wednesday : Toby Carvery Breakfast in Lincoln and Back to Norwich

I wasn’t overly sad to wave goodbye to the Travelodge in Lincoln, although I’d add that I rarely actually physically wave to a hotel as I don’t want people thinking that I’m a bit odd. Being someone that clearly doesn’t have enough to be properly annoyed about, I focus on wanting to say negative things about hotels that refuse to have windows that will open. But, there’s more to worry about in life I accept.

The breakfast at Travelodge was just under £10 per day and I’m not made of money, so I decided to come to the Toby Carvery where it’s all you can eat for £5.49.

There was a friendly welcome from the staff member, but I can’t say that it was particularly busy, perhaps five or six other customers in the entire restaurant. But if you’re going to an all you can eat buffet, the fewer people the better, as it means uninterrupted food grazing.

It’s all self-service, with bacon, sausages, Yorkshire puddings (but no gravy!!!!), potato & bacon hash.

Alongside fried eggs, mushrooms, beans and plum tomatoes. I really can’t complain at just over £5 and customers can go back as much as they like. Which I did, on numerous occasions as I’m quite greedy.

I’ll just link to one photo of food, as more than that is clearly excessive and arguably one photo is too much. The ingredients all tasted of a decent quality and I very much like restaurants which offer plum tomatoes as part of their breakfast offering. I also used the toaster here, which I’m normally scared of for fear of setting fire to the restaurant. Often these spit out bread which is still as raw as when it went in, but put it in again and it comes out blackened and smoking. The toaster arrangement here worked perfectly I’m pleased to report.

The only problem with the Toby Carvery set-up was that I was too thrifty to spend £3 on the unlimited coffee option, although that was partly because I prefer decaff and they didn’t seem to have that. That meant after an hour of over-dosing myself on salt from the bacon I had to rush to the JD Wetherspoon nearby to get about ten decaff coffees for £1.20. Bargain.

The former site of St. Mark’s railway station in Lincoln. As I mentioned in a post a couple of days ago, this railway station was demolished in the 1980s as it was really surplus to requirements. It dates back to when the railways were constructed, which was by rival companies rather than having an integrated transport plan in mind. This is St. Mark’s Obelisk which was originally built between 1762 and 1763 and was on High Bridge, being designed to be a water conduit. It was placed in storage before the Second World War, but was integrated into this shopping centre in the 1990s when the shopping centre was being constructed.

This map (clicking on the image makes it a little bigger) from around 100 years ago shows just how ridiculous the situation was and it’s surprising that the set-up lasted for so long. Two railway stations within a two-minute walk, which kept blocking road and pedestrian traffic trying to go down the city’s main road. I rarely say that removing a railway station is a sensible idea, but in this case, it was.

Central Market had lost its way a little over recent years and a decline in footfall has led to a decision to remodel and modernise the building. For anyone interested, there’s more information about that at https://www.lincoln.gov.uk/news/article/202/works-to-refurbish-lincoln-central-market-begin.

This is the Greyfriars building, or specifically the former infirmary of the Franciscan monastery. Most of the monastery buildings were taken down after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but this one survived and was later used for numerous purposes, including a school and a Mechanics’ Institute. The building is now owned by the council who were using it as a museum, but for reasons unknown, they’ve decided to almost abandon this historic structure and stop people visiting it. There are though finally plans to reverse that decision and some of these ideas seem very exciting and interesting, with more information at https://www.heritagelincolnshire.org/projects/greyfriars-in-lincoln.

Back at Lincoln railway station for a cheap train to Norwich, changing at Peterborough.

Every time I see signs for the University of Lincoln I think of the Inbetweeners.

The East Midlands Railway train to Peterborough, which wasn’t particularly busy.

Table seat and laptop, what more could I need on a train….

Feeling slightly decadent, and not having long to change train, I went to the Waitrose by Peterborough railway station. I spent 60p on flavoured water and also pondered how expensive everything in the store was. I think I’ve spent too long in Poland, if that’s possible (technically, it is possible thanks to the limits of my Schengen Visa, but I won’t get political again here).

And the train to Norwich, another East Midlands Railway (or whatever they’re called, I get muddled up) service which wasn’t too busy, so I got a table seat. No power points that wasn’t entirely ideal, but you can’t have everything….. I enjoyed Lincoln, plenty of decent pubs, no shortage of history and a Toby Carvery in the city centre. I was fortunate to get cheap rail fares, and also a Travelodge at a reasonable price, because this is quite rightly a popular tourist destination.

June 15, 2022
Sunday : Off to Peterborough on the Train

Using the railways seemed exciting a few weeks ago, there was a rail sale, the network seemed in good shape and I got a ticket to go from Norwich to Peterborough for just £4. Rolling forwards, there looks like a summer of turbulence on the rail network with strikes and other outages, it’s really not ideal for those without cars. On a brighter note (for me, as I’m not sure anyone else would care), this was the first day with my new phone, so the photo quality may, or indeed may not, be marginally better. Just to show how unobservant I am, this is the first time that I’ve noticed you can sponsor a flower box (or whatever they’re called) in front of the railway station.

The train on the left is going to London Liverpool Street and the train on the right, which I was catching, was going to Liverpool Lime Street. I mention this as the conductor made three announcements on board about the difference, so there must have been a number of passengers getting confused. It made me wonder which destination I’d prefer, and I’d be happy with either, but I think it’s time that I go to Liverpool again. Although there’s a direct train there, it’s usually cheaper and even quicker to go down to London and back up. Actually, it’s a shame that the conductor didn’t give some numbers about how many people got on the wrong train, to spice the story up a bit. Is this a regular problem he has?

It was a relatively quiet service and these trains must be some of the last not to have power sockets of some kind. The conductor, who seemed quite chatty with his announcements, also mentioned at Ely not to be worried that the train goes into the railway station in one direction and then back again in reverse on the same track. I have mentioned to people in the past not to be worried about this (not pro-actively, I don’t tell people on the off-chance they don’t know, they have to look concerned for me to intervene) so I liked that the conductor explained the reversing technique used here.

We arrived on time into Peterborough and this pleased me, as there’s little point in hoping for Delay Repay when the ticket only costs £4. I’ve been to Peterborough on numerous occasions before and surprised and delighted my readers (or reader) with stories of the previous expeditions, so I won’t linger unnecessarily.

The frontage of Peterborough Cathedral, one of the more underrated religious buildings in the country. Incidentally, I was pleased during lock-down to be asked by the cathedral if they could some of my previous photos on their blog, always useful to know someone is reading something on here.

I didn’t go in again, but I’d recommend going in as it’s free of charge, and the guided tour is only £5 and that gives an extra depth to the history of the building.

The main square in Peterborough, with the sun still shining.

Back in the Travelodge at Peterborough and they kindly gave me a heap of milks and decaff coffees on request. Richard decided to come to Peterborough for the evening, reliving his nearly weekly trips to London last year to hear what gossip was going on about him, and we were both highly amused (admittedly one of us more than the other) when he found that in his room they hadn’t put any cups, coffees or teas, although they had remembered the kettle.

After Richard had arrived into Peterborough and had a good laugh about his room (and got replacement things at reception), we had a quick walk around the Cathedral.

When I visited Peterborough before a couple of years ago, my favourite bar was Stoneworks. The service here was excellent again, but I don’t like entirely their way of displaying beers, it’s not easy to read like that, but they also don’t mention what type of beer each one is. The staff member did offer recommendations, but it’d be much better to display whether it’s a sour, porter, IPA, or whatever.

Trying to unpick their menu, and they really should be on Untappd, meant I ended up with the Sup from Whiplash, which was fine, but I’d had it before, and I suspect there were better options on the menu. No doubt Nathan would have been able to tell me what every beer was, since he seems to have stored most of Untappd in his memory. The bar has quite a rustic design to it and it’s also one of those places which feels ideal for a relaxed Sunday afternoon, so I still like Stoneworks and would recommend it. And I also like the effort they’ve made in having branded glasses.

A perhaps slightly over-engineered sculpture which is meant to commemorate Henry Penn, a local man who cast bells in his foundry. There’s plenty more information about this man and his work at https://www.pennhenry.co.uk/. And I can’t really complain about this artwork, even though I just did, as it taught me something new and that can’t be a bad thing. By writing that, I more mean that artworks should educate or inspire in general, not be specifically designed to teach just me things. I have to clarify, as otherwise someone will email me.

Next was a repeat visit for me to Charters, which has a bar and restaurant on different floors.

I’m pleased to say that Richard didn’t get seasick, although I think the boat is pretty rigidly placed in the water and doesn’t much move at all.

As a comment more about my phone camera, I’m pleased that it doesn’t blur the light around bulbs and the image quality is much cleaner than my previous phone. Technology is moving on quickly and it’s hard to see how phone cameras will be able to improve in the future, although I’m sure that they will.

The boat sitting (I’m not very nautical, I don’t know the official term) happily in the River Nene.

I made a mistake here as I was excited to see a bar in Peterborough where I hadn’t been and listed its beer on Untappd. We decided to spend some time here after popping into the Wetherspoons next door where I could choose what beers I wanted from their Untappd listings. To cut a long story short, we entered Blind Tiger and they then told us that they were closing so couldn’t serve us. In fairness, they closed at their advertised time of 20:00, I just hadn’t guessed that they’d shut so early on a Sunday, which is my fault, not theirs. I was disappointed, I was already expecting to write in some detail (it’s relatively rare to find any venue in provincial towns that list their beers on Untappd, and rarer to find their logo on the window) about the bar, but, it wasn’t to be. It also meant that I didn’t go anywhere new during the evening, but there we go, this was near to being a venue that I would have perhaps returned to on many occasions.

It was too early to go back, so we went to the Ostrich Inn pub where the service was friendly and attentive. I’m puzzled by the placement of this board, as I couldn’t read it when we got to the pub because people were seated in front of it. It’s a nicely laid out board when visible though.

I won’t linger writing about the pub given I already have in the past, but I went for the Chop & Change from Vocation Brewery which was well kept. There’s an informal atmosphere to this pub and although its live music isn’t my thing, it’s clearly got a strong backing from the local community. Some interesting decor, history about the venue and a laid-back vibe, all rather lovely.

And photos of Peterborough whilst playing with my new phone, checking how they came out in the dark, and I thought the photos looked OK. Expect to see lots more photos in the near dark over the coming weeks until I get bored on testing the image quality.

And a final drink of the night in the College Arms, a JD Wetherspoon pub, where I went for a well-kept Benchmark from Bedlam Brewery, alongside a rather delicious pack of Mini Cheddars. It shows how decadent Richard is, not only did he order a jug of cocktail, but he also then complained when he didn’t get a glass. I think many of their customers would have happily drunk their cocktail either directly from the jug or by using the straw, but Richard was having none of it.

June 11, 2022
Sunday : Hike Norfolk Canal Walk and Pizza at Franco Manca

The day started with breakfast at the Heathrow T5 Holiday Inn Express in what is a busy airport hotel and I think I took this photo at the quietest possible moment. This is all high volume turnover food and drink, but it’s all brand standard and what I expected from the chain. I like airport hotels for numerous reasons, and not just because it often means that I’m going away, but because there are people of different nationalities talking either about their excitement for going on a trip or talking about the one that they’ve been on. There were plenty of Americans in this hotel, not perhaps surprising given it’s an IHG property.

The bacon was odd, one side was slightly burnt and the other side was only just cooked, but it was very moreish and I think I rather overdid them and promptly got a salt overdose. That banana isn’t mine, Ross went for that. I didn’t say anything though. Given that the breakfast was included in the room rate, I thought that it was all quite reasonable, I did enjoy the bacon and sausages.

I would have usually taken this photo the previous evening, but it was a bit dark then…. The hotel is unlikely to win any design awards for its exterior, but the staff were helpful and I had no complaints about the stay.

It was a bus to Hounslow West (fortunately there’s a bus stop a short distance away from the hotel), which took longer than I had anticipated, the Bath Road certainly has a lot of stops. Ross got off at Holborn to change to the Central Line to go back home, whereas I had the Hike Norfolk walking day which meant that I stayed on the Piccadilly Line until King’s Cross.

After getting a quick free coffee, I started to walk along the Regent’s Canal from the King’s Cross area to meet the others. I didn’t rush, as the further I walked then the further I had to walk back and I had a very heavy bag after a few weeks away. Indeed, I had quite of little sit downs whilst letting the others walk towards me.

These gas holders at King’s Cross were modernised to be used as housing, this shows real innovation and respect for the local environment and its heritage. The one in Norwich was just pulled down in what I considered to be an appalling decision, but there we go. Mind you, although the properties are properly really lovely to live in, the prices start at £725,000 and there are sizeable annual service charges, so I think I’ll stay living in Norwich.

I could hear them coming (this is a video, if it doesn’t auto-play, then click on the image) as it’s fair to say that there are some loud members of the group. As I am the sole of discretion, I won’t mention any names. The walk was led by the formidable Steve along the route of the Regent’s Canal, which is 8.6 miles long and goes from Paddington in the west to the Limehouse Basin in the east. For my loyal followers, I reccied some of this walk with Steve and Bev a few weeks ago.

Dancing on graves isn’t usually acceptable behaviour, but it is here in Joseph Grimaldi Park. We diverted here because I knew of its existence, and I’ve written about it before.

The canal walk in mid-flow.

There were lots of opportunities for photos whilst walking.

A lock and I do enjoy watching boats navigate through these, always slightly relieved it’s not me that has to be in charge of that process. It looks quite complex and I’m not sure that I’d find a holiday on a boat relaxing if I had to do this more than once. I don’t think that I’m a born mariner though.

The lovely Sarah posing for photos. She was bravely walking the Rodent Wriggle the following week and was just a little nervous, but I did my best to offer helpful advice (did I mention that I’ve walked the LDWA 100?) and I’m pleased that I’m sure that I was useful as she completed it.

I went to the pub as I had a heavy bag and couldn’t be bothered walking any further (we had finished the Regent’s Canal early so Steve thought of another short walk he could lead), well, and I love pubs. This is the Craft Beer Co outlet at Limehouse, which again, I’ve written about before. The music was setting up and I helped pass over a couple of wires, which I think nearly defines me as a roadie (although perhaps I’ve rather under-estimated what they actually do).

I decided to leave at 16:00 with no disrespect to the musicians, but I’m not big on live music in pubs.

After a quick ride on the DLR and then a 15 minute walk (which I rushed in case the others got food before I got there), I caught up with the rest of the group in central London as they were looking for food options and they had chosen Franco Manca, partly because nowhere else was serving food. I had heard of this chain, which has about 60 outlets in the UK, but never visited and so thought this was an interesting choice.

The pizza was reasonably priced and suitably decadent, I was surprised and delighted. Mine was served first, so I had additional reason to like this restaurant. I went for the lightly smoked beechwood spicy salami with organic tomatoes, caramelised red onions and homemade chilli oil. Indeed, I’m making myself hungry two weeks on just thinking about that. I’d come here again, with the pizzas costing under £10 which is very reasonable for central London.

A successful meal I’d say (I didn’t hear any complaints), which meant that we just had a short walk back to London Liverpool Street railway station. They also had numerous charging points, which was handy to reinvigorate my numerous devices.

Steve posing at Liverpool Street, where we had a suitable rest whilst waiting for the train. I had been away for some time, including trips to Nuremberg and Barcelona, as well as a hike up a Welsh mountain on a challenge event, so I was ready to return home.

Boarding the train home, which was suitably uneventful other than for Andy accidentally punching someone, but I’m pleased to say that as it was an accident he wasn’t arrested by British Transport Police. I didn’t mind too much arriving back on time, as usually I look forwards to claiming the Delay Repay, but there was no delay on this service. And, as I’ve moaned about before when they put the bloody Stansted Express service on, I’m pleased to report there were tables and we had an appropriate train.

With that, it was good to be home and thanks to Steve for a really rather lovely day in London.

May 24, 2022
Sunday : Offa’s Twisted Wye Kanter LDWA Challenge Event and Back to London
I might have gotten a little carried away again, this post is mostly about the Offa’s Twisted Wye Kanter LDWA challenge event and I managed to take 155 photos…. For anyone who wants to see them, they’re at https://flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720298765447.

The NEC had met in Bristol the previous day and three of us, Julie, Bill and I went to do this challenge event in south Wales, with Stuart coming along to help with the marshalling. We were fortunate to get a lift with Bill’s son and partner, as the train options seemed a little challenging to get to the start before lunchtime. It was quite sad to leave the comfort of the Novotel in Bristol, but the sun was shining and the walk looked a good one.

As some background, Offa’s Twisted Wye Kanter is an event run by South Wales LDWA and it took place in 2017, 2018 and 2019. It’s back this year and there were four different routes and it uses routes such as Offa’s Dyke, Wye Valley Walk, Wales Coast Path and Gloucestershire Way. As some added excitement, there was also a series of questions from key points along the walk although GPX and route descriptions were available as well. Having a GPX is fortunate, this is the way that I like to navigate….

After a quick snack of toast at the beginning of the event, I mentioned to Dave and anyone who I suspected might listen that I was being very brave taking part. The trained sympathiser that I had asked for wasn’t available, but the volunteers at the event were endlessly helpful and supportive. After a final failed effort to swap with Stuart so that I could sit and eat cake whilst he went walking, it was time to collect my tally card for the adventure ahead.

And off we go through the sunny town centre of Chepstow.

I don’t think that I’ve been to Chepstow before, but I will go again as there are numerous things worth seeing including pubs and also the impressive castle, which apparently is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain. It seems a charming town, with plenty of information about its history, definitely worth another visit.

Unfortunately, Chepstow is in the footlands of mountains, with this being a long slog up the hill although the locals have kindly provided a bench. I messaged Stuart here asking for a car to pick me up, but that request was refused. I had a feeling that there might be more slopes ahead…..

An atmospheric path.

I’m slightly annoyed that this photo doesn’t show how big these rocks were that entrants had to clamber over.

That’s better, they look much more challenging in these photos, and there’s Julie charging over them. To be fair, Dave warned me about these rocks and I sailed over them as I needed to get to the other side quickly to message everyone at HQ about how brave I’d been. Imagine a mountain goat, well, that was me.

My friend Liam would take one look at this and want to cycle down it….

I accept that the Wye Valley does look rather lovely.

The ruined St. James’s church at Lancaut, one of the earliest Christian churches in the Wye Valley area and it’s thought that there has been a religious building here since the seventh century. The Vikings kept interfering with arrangements here (mainly by pillaging and destroying stuff), with this current structure dating from the eleventh century. The village of Lancaut doesn’t exist any more, it was likely abandoned after the Black Death, although a few residents continued to live in the area. The church was used until the 1860s, but then the Rector decided to take the roof and interior fittings away, which it’s fair to say wasn’t ideal for the building’s future. It nearly fell down in 1980s and since then the structure of the church has been secured and it’s an interesting building, with some remnants of lime plaster visible.

The ruined church was a little bit more ruined when a part of the door mechanism fell off in my hand, but the LDWA are a responsible organisation and we ensured that the issue was resolved….

I thought for a moment that we were allowed to get the bus back.

A standing stone.

This was not what I wanted to see.

I took this opportunity to message Dave and question in a very positive manner why the route went through a wood which was evidently packed full of snakes ready to attack anyone walking through. It seems the snakes have been left without supervision as well, there were no snake wranglers in the area.

I’m sure there’s an interesting back story as to what has happened with this gate, but it wasn’t anything to do with us or the LDWA.

The view from Devil’s Pulpit (or a few metres away from it) which overlooks Tintern Abbey. Judging from the number of people, this is clearly a popular walk with locals and visitors to the area, and I can see why. Very picturesque.

There’s Devil’s Pulpit and I didn’t feel the need to stand on it as it didn’t look secure enough to me.

Over the river at Tintern.

Whilst we had a little break for lunch, Stuart decided to message at this point as he realised that I was about to summit another mountain on this walk and frankly, I think he was trying to deliberately annoy me, but I didn’t say anything…. I think Dave also found my messages useful about my thoughts on this mountain, as I sent several to reinforce what I was saying.

Some bluebells.

This tells a story of its own about Covid and then, later on, Putin.

St. Mary’s Church at Penterry and this is another mostly abandoned village, devastated by the Black Death. Platforms are visible in the field showing where some of the buildings were and there’s also an area which has been identified as a plague pit.

Simon interviewing Julie for the video about the event. Simon is a runner who completes these things far too fast, including the marshals’ event for the 100 last week.

One of the clues for the challenge walk was on the mast. Fortunately, just on the boards at the base and not higher up.

It’s always rather lovely to have a walk which goes past several churches.

Beautiful, the Wye Valley.

Woodland is one of my favourite terrains to walk through, I really enjoyed this section.

The history behind this property is substantial and it’s a real shame to see it in its current condition. It’s Piercefield House which is Grade II* listed, with the park around it being Grade I listed, not that this has helped in the building’s preservation. It dates from the late eighteenth century and its history is quite intertwined with that of slave owners, which was turned slightly on its head when in 1802 it was purchased by Nathaniel Wells, the son of a white slave owner and a black slave. He had a successful career as a magistrate and also as the first black sheriff in Britain. It’s also thought that Horatio Nelson, the hero of Norfolk (we have a lot of brave people) stayed a night here.

I’m not sure what can be done with this now, with a problem that there’s a limit to what can be done with the structure because of its historic listing. Some compromise is going to have to be made with regards to its heritage as very little of the building is left, but this would make a lovely hotel, craft beer venue or Greggs.

This is why I don’t eat lamb, look at their little faces…..

How very sweet. I decided the jolly happy one in the middle, who bounced into where he probably shouldn’t be, should be called Leon ?

Back at the end, there’s Dave and Stuart at the back and Julie at the front. I’m not one for gossip, but Dave mentioned he had hurt his back or something whilst standing around the checkpoint. I, however, completed my mountain expedition with no ill effects although I imagine that’s my tough Norfolk training coming to the fore. I’d also like to thank all the marshals who put this event together, it takes a lot of work and everyone was helpful and kind. There was a major controversy when Julie got a time that was one minute faster than mine, I think she must have slipped someone some Twixes for that, but I didn’t say anything.

Very lovely, although the Viennetta promised by Stuart didn’t arrive…. However, there was a marvellous selection of cakes.

Back into Bristol (thanks Bill and son!) and at Temple Meads, ready for the train back to London.

I spend quite a lot of time in waiting rooms and here’s the one at Bristol Temple Meads railway station, with power I’d add, as well as an excessively hot temperature. But I did think that perhaps my body was still at the 8,000 metre height that I had spent some of the challenge walk at, so maybe that was just me.

The GWR train sweeping into Bristol Temple Meads. I didn’t bother trying to get my reserved seat as there was a table seat without any reservations on it, meaning I could get some work done on the train.

The Crossrail train at Reading.

Not very busy, but that didn’t entirely surprise me on a Sunday night.

The Southall sign that has caused some controversy because of the translation at the bottom, although I fear the negativity is perhaps a little unwarranted as it’s hardly a substantial change.

I was annoyed by the time I got into this Ibis Budget Hounslow hotel room. The receptionist randomly said “I need your ID” in quite a blunt manner when checking in. I thought this was very odd, as there’s no need for them to see my ID at all, but I had my passport and just handed that over, as I’m quite compliant at hotels in case they offer me a lovely upgrade. Although I accept that there’s a limit to what an Ibis Budget can do. I thought that the service was terse, but it was late at night and I guessed that the staff member had perhaps had a long day, although I was slightly disappointed that I couldn’t tell her how brave I had been on the walk.

Anyway, a youngish black guy next to me (and I mention his colour for a reason) said “they wanted your ID as well?” to which I replied “yes, which was unusual”. The receptionist then started on me, saying that it has always been the hotel’s policy. The guy next to me said that he thought he was a victim of racism, and I can’t possibly comment on that, but the service was very odd from the receptionist. I replied saying I had stayed at the hotel several times and had never been asked for ID, but she was insistent that it was a policy at the hotel and that it was in the booking e-mail. I know bloody well it isn’t in the e-mail and so I perhaps unnecessarily asked her to show me where it was mentioned. She couldn’t find it and said that she didn’t know about third party booking sites and their emails.

I was a little annoyed at this service and mentioned I had booked with Accor directly so it was their email and I didn’t understand her hostility. Her claim was that the hotel was having problems with people pretending to be other people and that’s why ID was needed. At this point I couldn’t be bothered to argue any more, it isn’t the policy of Accor, Travelodge, Premier Inn or just about anyone else, although it is the policy of YHA but that’s because of child protection issues. I hope the poor guy got into the room that he had paid for, as the staff member’s attitude towards him was I felt completely unnecessary. It was nearly midnight and so this was an unkind and potentially reckless way to treat one of their customers, although I was just relieved that I had my ID so as not to be caught up in the same dispute.

Fortunately everything in the room was fine as I hardly dared go back down to reception anyway…… But with that, my day was complete and I could reflect on the glorious views that I had seen on the challenge event and all of the mountains that I had summited without complaint.
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May 22, 2022
GWR + South Western Railway : Reading to Farnborough (Delayed and Cancelled Trains)

After a rather pleasant few days in Reading, it was time to return to the railway station and to try and leave. In the centre is the Three Guineas pub which was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, although as a station building rather than a hospitality outlet. On either side is Reading railway station, much developed over recent years following the arrival of Crossrail. I was conscious in advance that this journey would be at least slightly challenging, as GWR had cancelled trains and issued a “do not travel if you can avoid it” notice, although I couldn’t much avoid it.

My rail ticket was for Farnborough North, which is a short direct journey operated by GWR, but the rail network was faced with a large number of cancellations and delays given the weather situation. GWR told me online that I could use any route to get to Farnborough, which adds some excitement to proceedings to work out what is possible. It transpired that the direct line to Farnborough North didn’t re-open for 24 hours, so waiting for that service would have been a mistake, I’d need to loop around into the main station in Farnborough.

I went and asked a staff member how I could get to Farnborough and he said that it was best to go via Basingstoke. I mentioned that the line from Basingstoke to Farnborough was seemingly closed, so after a little conference and debate with a number of other staff, the friendly staff member said that it was indeed currently closed but they were very optimistic that it would reopen soon. He agreed that although it was possible to go into London and back out, that was a much longer route, involved crossing the city and was on the same line as Basingstoke to Farnborough anyway, so it’d be open or shut whatever way I went.

So, I thought that I’d go to Basingstoke. There’s not a huge amount of jeopardy here really, in a worst case scenario I could have got a taxi (although I’d have recalled the cost for some years no doubt) and wouldn’t have been entirely stranded. I’m not sure that I’ve ever been to Basingstoke, but it seemed the best plan that was available. As an aside, one of the many unfortunate outcomes of the destruction of the rail network in the 1960s was that many lines were removed that would allow passengers to divert around any issues. Fortunately, the situation in this part of the country still allows that flexibility, otherwise my journey would have been impossible by public transport. It seems as fast as Network Rail staff were removing trees and branches from lines that more were falling elsewhere, so it was a challenging day and a reminder as to why they pro-actively cut down trees near to railway lines (even if that does annoy the locals sometimes).

It wasn’t an overly busy train from Reading to Basingstoke and it was running nearly enough to schedule. A guard was checking tickets, although he seemed to be just making very cursory checks.

It seemed a shame to be in Basingstoke and not go and pop into the town for a little bit. I went and asked the member of staff at the gateline if I could pop into Basingstoke and she seemed surprised that anyone would really want to do that, but she willingly let me through and thanked me for asking.

And there’s the station, a modern frontage constructed in 2012 hiding the older building behind it, which I’m not entirely sure is that aesthetically pleasing.

A slightly blurry photo unfortunately, but these the bushes outside of Basingstoke railway station. This will mean little to anyone unless they have heard the story told by the comedian James Acaster about his time there, but it’s a tale that is worth listening to. It felt quite an honour to be in the same location, or at least in the same area, I didn’t climb into the bushes.

The same staff member at the gate line let me in after my sojourn around Basingstoke and it transpired that the information provided by Network Rail was complete nonsense. I thought I’d better just ask a staff member and he said that they had abandoned trying to get Network Rail data to match up, so the screens were mostly wrong, but they’d make clear announcements to assist passengers. He told me where to wait as the service I had hoped to catch wasn’t running, and it transpired the information that he gave was correct. There were plenty of customer service staff about, I thought that they were dealing with the problems with trains with some confidence and accuracy.

This screen was vaguely up-to-date, but nearly every “please enquire” was for a destination where the trains had been cancelled.

I was faced with the potentially confusing situation that I needed a train to London Waterloo, but only the 17.34 stopped at Farnborough, so I had to avoid the one at 17.31.This was made easy as they shifted my train to another platform and there were frequent announcements.

It’s always a relief to see any form of public transport which is the one that goes to my final destination and here’s the South Western Railway thunderbolt coming into London.

It wasn’t very busy and passengers could have an entire carriage to themselves if they wanted.

I’ve often wondered what people have tried to plug into these power points in the past to warrant stickers saying laptops only. I remember an edited sign on a train several years ago which said “no microwaves”, so I can only imagine that someone tried that once.

A fair bit after I was meant to arrive, here we are. As a station, it’s a little quirky as there was once a central platform island, but this has now been removed, and more about that in another post.

The exterior of the station building at Farnborough.

And welcome to Farnborough, late, but safely there. Given the mess that the railways were in because of the storms, I thought that the whole situation was handled well by the rail companies and it all added a little adventure to my day.

February 21, 2022
Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

As this is a journey that I often take, I wasn’t going to write about it, but Greater Anglia’s choice of train annoyed me. So, I have.

Norwich railway station on a Wednesday lunch-time in February, it’s getting busier, but I’m sure that passenger numbers aren’t there yet. Shame that West Cornwall Pasty, which was to the left of Starbucks, has closed, but that unit could perhaps be turned into a Greggs…. The M&S at the railway station is still closed, it’s been like that for two years now.

Here’s the train, all shiny on Platform 2.

And then I realised this. It’s the bloody Stansted Express train they’re using again. I thought to myself just how not ideal this was.

I have no idea why Greater Anglia keep using these Stansted Express trains, they were never designed for this route. They don’t have tables, they don’t have first class (not that that much matters to me) and they don’t have a buffet car (actually, that doesn’t much matter to me either). Other customers have asked Greater Anglia why they use these trains on social media, but it’s seemingly a mystery to customers and Greater Anglia alike. Two groups came walking by me on the train on a hunt for tables, but their search would have been forlorn. The conductor, who was friendly and helpful, made an announcement saying that a last minute train change was required, but this train continually goes up and down the Norwich to London mainline so it’s not a rare occurence.

A lack of table is annoying when using a laptop, although the power points worked. It’s quite hard to sit at these seats without wanting to put your feet on the chairs opposite, because that would make using a laptop much easier. However, I consider that to be a crime against humanity, although it’s possible to put one foot on the heating panel below the window. Greater Anglia have also decided they’d like their trains to be like rolling furnaces along the track in some sort of commemoration of the heat of steam engines, and there’s no way for a customer to cool the carriage themselves.

We arrived into London Liverpool Street at the unusual platform 4 (unusual as in this train doesn’t usually stop there, it’s otherwise a normal platform) which I guess is because they’ve decided that the Stansted Express train was going to be used to go to Stansted.

London Liverpool Street is definitely looking busier. All of the e-tickets were failing (again) so the gate guard was busy checking tickets manually, which I’m not sure is how the system is meant to work.

As an aside, I went to the rear of the station and this is all looking much tidier.

I don’t know when this was landscaped, but the whole area around London Liverpool Street appears to be being modernised, it’s all a clear improvement.

I suppose it’s hard to complain with a fare that’s only £10 from Norwich to London (although, as is evident here, I’ve had a good go), but this would be a nicer journey if the train was more comfortable. But, the staff on board were friendly and conversational, although the train was rather hot, but everything ran to time and was efficient.

February 17, 2022
Crossrail : London Paddington to Reading

One thing that I have realised is just how confusing the rail pricing is from London to Reading, with the rail fare being at least £20 if looking to use rail booking web-sites. I discovered, to my surprise and delight, that it’s a little over £11 if travelling off-peak on the new Crossrail service, which is much more realistic. It’s not ideal though that this train journey pricing isn’t on the rail matrix for those trying to book tickets, another failing of the whole Crossrail set-up. Anyway, complaining aside, the signage at London Paddington is clear and I caught the train with just a minute to spare.

Inside the Crossrail train carriages, this really could do with power points, but they decided early on that they weren’t going to bother with that burden. Nor does the train have toilets, despite the length of the journey and they had to bend the rules as a train service of this length would usually require toilets on board. I suspect they’ll retrofit power points at some random time in the future, it’s rare for services not to have them now. But, to be fair, these decisions were made by Boris Johnson when he was London Mayor, so it’d be unkind to expect them to be any good. Anyway, enough politics.

At the moment the train is departing from London Paddington to get to Reading, they still haven’t quite finished the testing of the middle section between London Liverpool Street and London Paddington. This whole line was meant to open in 2018, just as an indication of how messed up the entire project has become, billions over budget. However, it is a very useful line to cut across London and it increases capacity as well as speeding up many journeys. Unfortunately, the Crossrail 2 project which would have been equally useful was scrapped by Boris Johnson in his Prime Ministerial role in 2020. It will probably be reinstated in the future, although the earliest opening date would now be in the late 2040s at very best according to TFL.

It wasn’t a particularly packed service, but it was clean throughout.

There’s the journey section between London Paddington and Reading. Hopefully this signage will all be removed this year as the entire line should be formally opening in late 2022.

And getting off at Reading, on time and as expected.

I didn’t linger at Reading station as the weather was quite stormy, but the railway station feels quite modern with a new section added onto the older building.

This proved to be an easy way into Reading from London, with the journey taking under an hour. The facilities have actually been downgraded since GWR ran this line, as they offered more comfortable seating, power points and toilets. But, there has been an increase in capacity and for any passenger wanting to go through to east London, this is a much more efficient service than changing at Paddington and then switching to the underground and then another train.

February 17, 2022
PKP – Tczew to Gdansk

After a week of visiting a number of towns in Northern Poland, it was time to go back to Gdansk. As mentioned when I arrived in Tczew, this is a modern railway station but it’s a bit soulless and lacking in much character.

The main foyer area isn’t as grand and historic as the one in Malbork. There’s a fair amount of seating dotted around the station, both in this area and in the corridor above the platforms, although it was warmer in this bit.

The usual sheet of train times, mine was the 11.25 into Gdansk.

It’s not easily visible from this photo, but the train was delayed by 15 minutes, which was far from ideal. The train going to Vienna is listed above the train to Gdynia and it was apparent to me that it was unlikely to come in on the same platform as listed here, as the trains were coming from different directions. My train knowledge is sufficient to know that two trains due within one minute of each other and coming from different directions is a problem for signallers.

As an aside, this train on another platform belongs to http://shortlines.pl/ who were an open access operator with high hopes, but their services have been dramatically reduced over the last few years.

I’m not sure what the police (I think these are the equivalent of the British Transport Police) were doing with their big dog, but it looked quite friendly and was safely muzzled. This is the Vienna train coming in and it’s by now apparent that the train I want is coming in shortly and they’re going to have to use another platform. And that’s what happened, in Polish only (I mention this as in Gdansk there would usually be an announcement in English as well) there was a last-minute announcement that they shifting the Gdynia service to platform 2. So we all rushed over there…..

I have to add, this travel can be a bloody nuisance and public transport operators don’t make things as easy as they perhaps could as they must have known some time before there was a platform change needed. There was a fallback that I could see a train to Gdynia with the regional network was leaving soon if I missed my booked service, but it’s all quite challenging to work out where to go.

Apparently this is steam engine TKh 5699, in use on the Polish rail network between 1961 and 2002, when it was brought here to sit on the concourse.

On board the train, I frankly couldn’t be bothered to find my reserved seat as I was getting off at the next stop and this group of chairs was empty. The screen gives updates on the service and that it’s running 15 minutes late.

They’re quite a comfortable arrangement, the table extends for those wanting to use a laptop of spread out their bakery purchases, with power available under the seat.

My ticket wasn’t checked during the journey, and there’s the train to the right and Gdansk railway station (still under modernisation) on the left.

And back into Gdansk….. The journey was a nuisance in terms of trying to board the appropriate train, but everything was comfortable enough after that. The cost of the journey was about £2 and I purchased my ticket on-line in advance, although there are ticket machines at the railway station.

February 1, 2022
PKP – Malbork to Tczew

Moving a bit closer to Gdansk again today by going to Tczew, this is the railway station in Malbork which dates from 1891, with a previous building serving the railway from 1852.

This was a Prussian railway station until the end of the Second World War and the decoration is certainly quite Germanic. This was the railway station that the Poles managed to stop the Red Army from setting on fire in 1945 and they did well to protect it given its heritage.

The grand entrance foyer, with a shop to the left, a waiting room straight ahead and a ticket machine to the right. It really is a beautiful building and money was deliberately spent on it so that it could be the pride of Malbork. It was also a border railway station between the two wars, so the Polish and German trains used this as a changing point.

The inside of the large waiting room, with several rows of wooden seats and a television for some entertainment. It was rather cold today, but this waiting room had been heated to ensure passengers didn’t have to endure the Arctic outside conditions.

The entrance foyer again, from the other side to the previous photo. The ticket desk is visible in the background and there is a change visible just above it, they changed the Prussian emblem to the Polish eagle after the war.

There’s the train I was getting, the 11:15 to Tczew. I hadn’t realised that this is also the train that comes from Krakow and Warsaw, before going to Gdansk and Gydnia.

The very wide platform at Malbork, the reasons for which I haven’t worked out.

I’m not really sure those narrow chimney things at the railway station are entirely ideal, although most are now propped up with metal supports.

This was another short journey, so safely into Tczew within twenty minutes or so. The train, which is on the left, was quite busy and there were numerous school parties on board. I had carefully reserved a window seat this time so that I could video Tczew Bridge when going over it, but more about that in another post. Unlike many stations, such as Malbork, there’s an overhead corridor between platforms at Tczew rather than an underground one.

Tczew railway station, not as glamorous as the Malbork buildings and its interiors, but it was functional and organised. As it was on the same line then as well, this railway station first opened in 1852, just as in Malbork. Tczew is a railway junction town which means that the station is relatively important, being the 32nd busiest in the country, which is proportionally much more than the town’s population. The fare was just under £2, so again, another comfortable and efficient journey with PKP Intercity.

January 30, 2022