A beautiful frosty day.
At Elgin station there was no sign of the 1236 train to Inverness on the displays and confusingly the ScotRail app showed the train already at Forres. It turns out that the train shuttles back and forth between Elgin and Inverness.
A cold morning in Edinburgh, cold in Aberdeen and even colder in Elgin.
As I waited the predicted arrival time of the train got later and later. Would I make the connection in Manchester?
The train arrived. Traveling to Manchester Piccadilly the train got even later. On arrival it was a case of stepping across the platform straight onto the Edinburgh train.
Just before Lancaster the driver announced that the train had been slowed down by a series of red lights to allow another train to pass. The driver said that this made no sense. Arrived in Edinburgh over 30 mins late.
Only 300m bike ride from the station to the Premier Inn hub.
The Oxford to Manchester train I was intending to catch was cancelled.. The latter train was getting in too late so took an earlier one. Due to connections not being so good and an additional change I was only 20 mins earlier than originally planned , despite leaving an hour early,
A beautiful day in the far north of Scotland as I set off.
Arrived in Inverness in the dark- took the train to Aberdeen to catch the sleeper service there as no cabins available on the service from Aberdeen.
Each time I come to London the traffic flows a bit better and the air tastes better. ULEZ doing its job.
A long day on the train. Scheduled times, 4:42 Kings Cross to Edinburgh, 3:35 Edinburgh to Inverness and the final leg 3:51. Distances 631km, 181 km and 130km. Trains getting slower as I travel north.
Caught a long delayed train instead of the one that I was meant to catch so I thought I’d get to London early. But further delays due to signal issues resulted in long delays on the way into London. But got there in the end. The train was 47 mins late according to the announcements. I was only 20 mins late.
Anecdotally the ULEZ is a success. London smells better. The traffic moves more freely. Pollution has reduced in London and I wonder if the pollution outside London has reduced. Pollution rises into the atmosphere in London and then comes down in Oxfordshire. Has anyone measured this?
In last weeks election the Conservative Party made much of the ULEZ. Unfortunately the primacy of the car still exists for a lot of people and is considered a vote winner. To me health and the environment trumps-why do we still think that poisoning people is acceptable?
After a dry cycle ride to the station the drizzle started
Dry ride around and about Wareham in the sun.
It’s a sunny warm day for the cycle to Cholsey station. Two changes at Reading and then Basingstoke.
The train from Basingstoke had ten carriages but only the front five going onto Poole. I made sure I got on the right half of the train.
Lots of interesting things to see on this trip including a view of St Mary’s Stadium, a view of Southampton Port, the New Forrest and various Dorset coastal towns.
Insight 