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?
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.
After the epic and throughly enjoyable train trip from the far north of Scotland to Porto I am going to continue to blog on less environmentally expensive transport. Looking at some of my trips and some big issues out there.
The trip to Porto. https://my-insight.org/2023/06/01/no-fly-zone/
Cycled to the Tour d’Eiffel. Paris is really cycle friendly and it turns out that this is a really good way to see Paris. I was surprised by the tunnel with the street art.
No Window seat on the Eurostar means it’s not easy to get pictures from the train.
No seat booking but I am booked on the train. Stood up until we reached York.
Edinburgh Waverley
Not enough time in Madrid due to the late arrival and catching the 1030 train.
The next leg on the very fast Spanish service is not covered by Interrail. So had to pay for the ticket in advance on Trainline. But I had not realised that there is a baggage allowance. So I had to pay extra to get my luggage on the train.
Changed to TGV at Barcelona,
Not enough time in Madrid due to the late arrival and catching the 1030 train.
The next leg on the very fast Spanish service is not covered by Interrail. So had to pay for the ticket in advance on Trainline. But I had not realised that there is a baggage allowance. So I had to pay extra to get my luggage on the train.
Changed to TGV at Barcelona,
While on the bus I checked google maps and discovered that I would get to Madrid far sooner by train .
The train was delayed by 35 mins. Would I make it before midnight?
Interestingly baggage get’s scanned before boarding.
Yes! Made it to Madrid before midnight local time. But not to the hotel. Better than 0330.
Insight 