I shared a cabin with five other travellers.
The train set off late evening? Travelling through Denmark in the early hours.
The train was a bit dated with a seventies vibe,
Now getting close to Stockholm,
Hamburg to Stockholm- through the night
Hamburg
It’s cold and wet in Hamburg.
Went to visit the Hamburg Bunker.
Good views from the top.
Towards the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
Then to the old Elbtunnel.
Then visited the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, a few photos from the top.
And then into the centre.
London to Hamburg-four countries in a day
It’s an early start to catch the 0816 Eurostar to Brussels. The ticket tells me to turn up at 0701.
Not off to a good start, there is a 24 minute delay. But this should not be a problem as there is plenty of time for the connection at Brussels,
We travel through Kent.
Difficult to get decent photos from the train in Kent.
Struggled getting decent photos in France too.
I checked the notice board for the train to Cologne. Spotted that there was an issue, it looked like the train was delayed and was leaving from a different station, Brussels-Nord. I confirmed this, and was told what train to catch.
The next leg is to Hamburg. This train is also delayed, by maintenance work on the track.
Didcot-Kings Cross
A short leg to London from Didcot, via the underground.
Oxford
Nice to be back in Oxford, which is vibrant and benefiting from many of the streets in the centre becoming traffic free.
It was wet, but no issue. I visited the Art Café and had a very nice chocolate and coconut flapjack, with no animal products involved.
The Oxford Illusion Museum is worth a visit.
The Botley Premier Inn experience.
A bit of a walk from the station, I could have got a bus, but all good.
However two problems with the room. Firstly, the knob on the plunger to switch between the bath tap and the shower was missing. Second, after five minutes of being on the TV started glitching. But too late to get a change on the first night.
I found the knob the next day fixing the bath/shower issue. But the TV still was not working. I spoke to a very helpful member of the Premier Inn team and I swapped rooms.
New room was smaller but had a proper shower, so a win. The TV works.
The Far North, London, Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxford
A February far flung journey, starting in the north,
The downside to travelling this time of year is that it is dark for most of the journey, so not many views.
I had a really good nights sleep, waking up for breakfast in the buffet car.
Caledonian sleeper have added a new stop at Birmingham International. This looks potentially very useful. I saw the airport just after sitting down for breakfast.
No bike with me this time. I had an appointment in London within walking distance. The time to get there was pretty similar either by foot or public transport, so off I walked.
Then it was off to Marylebone Station, for my first ever visit. Also by foot.
Also first time I had seen the BBC buildings.
Things went a bit awry at this point. A goods train had broken down so the route was blocked.
Take a picture or filming shows how much the boards must flicker.
The intention is to get to Oxford to change trains. Eventually a train is provided with loads of carriages to enable taking all the passengers from the cancelled trains. The route to avoid the blockage involved travelling to Princess Risborough, the train then reversed heading to Bicester Village, where again it reversed, eventually arriving in Oxford.
At Oxford some of the tracks are sectioned off. There are no trains to Didcot, only rail replacement buses. This is why I went via Marylebone rather than Paddington.
Smooth onward journey to Moreton-in-Marsh.
After my appointment in Moreton-in-Marsh it’s back to Oxford in the dark.
Northwards in the sun
Manchester, Birchwood, Inverness – drama in Edinburgh
The train is delayed by trespassers.
The delay meant I could not get a decent lunch.
The train to Edinburgh was delayed due to trespassers. However there was plenty of leeway to catch the connecting train, especially if I changed at Haymarket.
As we headed north the delayed train lost time rather than catching up.
We arrived at Haymarket. As I got off the train. I heard the Inverness train leaving. That added another hour to the journey. Why can’t the trains cooperate to avoid these problems. It was minutes. And why was the Edinburgh train continually slowed down.
Time to kill so time to grab food.
Now this is when things got crazy.
I was looking at the display times for the trains on platform four. A man stumbled down the stairs grabbed hold of one my belt loops, span round out of control, falling off the platform, onto the train track. At that point my thoughts were , was a train coming, how do we get this man off the tracks, going down onto the tracks was not an option, too risky. We coaxed the man to his feet, and four complete strangers hauled the man onto the platform.. We restrained the man to stop a further incident.
I thought that the next train was mine, got on discovered it wasn’t. After getting on the correct train I realised just how traumatic I had found the incident.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The problem with catching the late afternoon train in autumn is that it’s dark. No views.
The ride from Euston to Paddington was less affected by the traffic lights than normal. As a result I managed to catch an earlier train to Reading.
Then on to Mortimer.
What a smooth journey, all the trains on time. No overcrowding. I had slept very well on the sleeper. A good journey.
And then……
On to the train at Reading to Manchester Piccadilly. It was rammed. Totally overcrowded.
Things started going really wrong and confusing as we went to Oxford. Announced that we would have to change trains. Then announced we would not have to change trains but we needed to go past Oxford into a siding and then come back. A long wait in the siding then back to the station. Then it was announced we would have to change trains after all.
There was a signal failure near Banbury.
We crossed Oxford Station and caught a train towards Hereford, changed at Worcester, heading to Birmingham. This was bad as now I was due to be in Manchester two hours late.
Change at Birmingham New Street. This is a very badly designed station. The signage is poor. Very confusing, The ugly side of architecture.
More delay due to trespassers on the track. The train had to go slow as a precaution.
The Premier Inn is a quarter mile from the station.
Insight 